The lead actress gives the performance of a lifetime
BY YASMIN VINCE, IMAGES BY NETFLIX
As Karla Sofía Gascón walks across the screen, she is utterly captivating. She steals every scene, even when acting alongside Hollywood darlings Zoe Saldana and Selena Gomez. Like the film, Emilia Pérez, she is bold, energetic and a joy to watch. No wonder she’s being tipped for an Oscar nomination. If she is shortlisted for the Best Actress award, she will be the first trans woman nominated. And it would be incredibly well-deserved.
The film is a genre-defying feat, but if you had to put it into one category, it would be a musical. It’s titular character is Emilia Pérez (Karla Sofía Gascón), a trans woman and cartel leader who must fake her death in order to transition safely. She enlists Rita Mora Castro (Zoe Saldana), an underappreciated but brilliant lawyer, to supervise the whole process. What follows is just over two hours of broadway-level songs, jaw-dropping choreography and influences from more genres than you can shake a stick at.
Emilia Pérez, the film, refuses to be shoved into a box. It shifts from opera to comedy to drama to crime thriller and is often trying to be all four at once. Just as you settle into one genre, something else is thrown at you, keeping you on your toes. The ambition is remarkable and pays off. Director Jacques Audiard barrels through so many different styles but gives each an intense amount of passion and fervour. Each genre shift crackles with energy.
As does the relationship between Emilia and her girlfriend Epifania (Adriana Paz). The chemistry between Gascón and Paz was undeniable, while the romance between the characters blossomed into a strong, healthy relationship. As the cherry on top, at the centre of this beautiful connection was a sense that it is completely normal. Bar one comment from Jessi (Selena Gomez), Emilia’s wife who is unaware her spouse is still alive and a woman, the film treats a sapphic relationship like nothing could be more natural.
Gascón doesn’t just make this relationship shine, but the whole film. A trans woman herself, she tackles the complexities of Emilia’s life and relationships beautifully. Her version of the former cartel leader is so touching that it actually makes you empathise with someone who ran a cartel. Before faking her death, Emilia committed horrendous crimes and ruined hundreds of lives, yet she’s still someone you root for. Every glimpse into Emilia’s life that Gascón gives us is simultaneously heartwarming and heartbreaking, almost effortlessly so.
These achievements are not the work of the script. Based on that alone, we may have had a rather outdated version of a trans story, as Emilia is constantly deadnamed and misgendered by those who know she is transitioning and frequently referred to as “half a man, half a woman”. But the sensitivity Gascón brings to the performance transforms Emilia into someone who feels real. Because of her, the film has been elevated to something that wouldn’t be out of place at the Oscars. Especially if she is nominated. Karla Sofía Gascón deserves to be the first trans woman to win Best Actress.
Emilia Pérez is on Netflix now
DIVA magazine celebrates 30 years in print in 2024. If you like what we do, then get behind LGBTQIA media and keep us going for another generation. Your support is invaluable.
