French filmmaker Jacques Audiard’s Emilia Perez tells a layered story about a powerful figure, Juan “Manitas” Del Monte (Karla Sofía Gascon), who embarks on a profound journey of self-exploration.
A film with dialogues in French, Spanish, and English as well as music as an integral part of the storytelling, Emilia Perez is a testament to Audiard’s skill as a filmmaker and his ability to craft complex and compelling narratives.
The film, which had its world premiere at the 2024 Cannes Film Festival, is dropping on Mubi in India soon. The cast also includes Zoe Saldana as an attorney named Rita Mora Castro and Selena Gomez as Jessi Del Monte, key figures in the world of the drug cartel.
The film explores themes such as redemption and forgiveness, as well as the impact of cyclical violence within the drug cartel and systemic inequality. However, it mainly delves into the complex relationship between gender identity and biological sex, the challenges of gender affirmation surgery, and the impact of gender on societal roles and power dynamics.
In a recent interview with Cinema Express, Neela Nira Sooriyan director Samyuktha Vijayan stated, “Sex is what you are biologically, gender is what you think you are.”
Responding to a question about it in the context of Emilia Perez, director Audiard echoes the sentiment, as he highlights the profound journey of individuals who do not align with their assigned sex.
“I completely agree with that statement. It is one of the most provocative ideas that we still discuss. The topic would not have sprung up 20 or 40 years ago the same way it now does. When you think of a person born into a sex that they do not identify with, what do they go through before they can transition? There must be so many difficulties for them to be able to feel true to themselves.”
The filmmaker goes on to add, “Emilia Perez is born out of this topic, especially its protagonist Manitas, who exists in a patriarchal society with plenty of violence and virility.”
One of the most fascinating aspects of Emilia Perez is how it explores the protagonist’s odyssey of self-discovery from a societal perspective. Usually, in a film about the drug trade, a cartel boss does philanthropy to conceal the true nature of their existence.
In Emilia Perez, the protagonist, after transitioning, does charity for redemption for her past crimes as a drug lord. Talking about this aspect, Audiard reveals, “Cartels in South America and Europe are very populist. There are villages there that depend on the cartels and their charity. That is how they buy the loyalty of the villagers."
"The second half of the film mainly delves into the protagonist’s regrets for past mistakes and crimes and the need for redemption, which is very much a Christian concept. In that sense, Emilia Perez is almost like a Christian drama,” he adds.
Another compelling aspect of the film is its exploration of identity and the complexities of perception. Emilia Perez delves into the idea that it is possible to express identity in various ways, often beyond the physical. The film highlights how some characters are able to perceive and connect with the protagonist’s true self through subtle sensory cues and emotional bonds, while most others remain oblivious to it.
Elaborating on this, Audiard shares, “There are such moments in the film, involving the main character, which create suspense. Like when the little boy recognises the presence of his father through touch and smell. If the other character recognises the protagonist in the same way, the secret would spill out way too early and the story would be over then and there.”
Speaking further about how the aforesaid aspect adds to the drama, Audiard explains, “The film tells its story in such a way that the audience knows more about its protagonists than the characters themselves do. For the audience, the suspense comes from an anticipation of knowing when the characters will learn about one another. It is not the ‘what’ part of it that keeps them on their toes but rather the ‘when’. I would like to call it a dramatic irony.”
