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A musical about a Mexican cartel boss who fakes their death, transitions and is reborn as a heroine searching for the forcibly disappeared is sweeping international film awards, but prompted amusement and outrage in Mexico.
Emilia Pérez, directed by Jacques Audiard, has been largely praised by international critics, though some noted it risked trivialising extremely sensitive issues. It scooped the jury prize at Cannes before winning four Golden Globes on Sunday, including those for best musical or comedy and best non-English language film.
People in Mexico won’t be able to see it until later this month, and most of them were unaware of it until clips started circulating online of Selena Gomez delivering bizarre sexual lines in stilted Mexican Spanish.
Eugenio Derbez, a Mexican actor, described Gomez’s acting as “indefensible”, before apologising when his comments blew up online and Gomez responded that she had tried her best.
But then Mexicans began observing that Emilia Pérez was a film about Mexico where just one main actor was Mexican, made by a French director who speaks no Spanish, shot in France, scripted with unnatural-sounding dialogue, and heavy with stereotypes.
Comments online were by turns amused and annoyed, but also baffled that the film was being garlanded at international film awards.
“Emilia Pérez makes history as the first winner of Best Motion Picture – Non-English Language written with Google Translate!” one user wrote on X.
Karla Sofía Gascón, the Spanish transgender woman who plays Emilia Pérez, shot back on X saying the “unjustified hate” was coming from “a few people with their own interests”.
“It’s a pity that they use so many profiles to (uselessly) attack a film with such a beautiful message and representation, instead of using them to support Mexican films and creators,” said Gascón. “It’s a pity they don’t use these same bots and paid attacks to demand justice and a fairer society in the world.”
Mexicans responded to the idea that it represented their country with ridicule. One account quipped that Gascón must be “the first winner of a Golden Globe to have blocked half of Mexico.”
Activists have also questioned the film’s trans representation, noting its use of trans identity as an “inherently redemptive” tool for its criminal protagonist.
Glaad, an LGBTQ+ advocacy organisation, described the film as a “profoundly retrograde portrayal of a trans woman” and a “step backward for trans representation”.
But the aspect of the film that sparked most outrage in Mexico is the frivolity with which it treats the issues of violence and the disappeared. Gaby Meza, a film critic, told the BBC it had been perceived in Mexico as “exploiting a current tragedy … to generate an entertainment product”.
There are roughly 30,000 homicides a year in Mexico, and more than 100,000 people are missing. Organised crime, the police and the army have all been implicated. Impunity is almost absolute.
“I didn’t study [Mexico] much,” admitted Audiard in an interview. “What I needed to know I already knew a little bit.”
“That [Emilia Pérez] wins the Golden Globe for best foreign film, in the midst of a human rights crisis for trans women in Mexico, transfemicides, drug trafficking, thousands of disappearances and victims, is NOT VISIBILITY,” wrote Natalia Lane, a transgender activist in Mexico.
Hot off its success at the Golden Globes, Emilia Pérez is a favourite for the Oscars next month – where it has been put forward as France’s entry for best international feature film.
In any case, Mexicans will be thrilled to know that Audiard has already teased a prequel.
