Emilia Perez (2024)

Set in Mexico, a lawyer (Zoe Saldana) who's frustrated by the lack of opportunity in her current position is contacted by the notorious head (Karla Sofia Gascon) of a drug cartel. He offers her a massive amount of money to help fake his death so he can transition his gender to female. This would necessitate abandoning his wife (Selena Gomez) and children. Four years after her reassignment surgery, she meets the lawyer in London and asks another favor. Based on the opera by Jacques Audiard by way of the novel ECOUTE by Boris Razon and directed by Audiard (RUST AND BONE). Winner of the Jury Prize and the best actress award (collectively by its female ensemble) at this year's Cannes film festival. This is an extraordinary film! An intense "gangster" crime musical about four different women (Adriana Paz as Gascon's lover is the 4th woman) searching for the freedom to be true to themselves. The songs (by Clement Ducol and Camille) are the inner voices of these women and the only time they can express their true selves. It's a risky venture that could have been a disaster or even worse, "camp" but Audiard knocks it out of the ballpark. Anyone looking for a film about a transgender victim in a hostile society is going to be disappointed, this is no A FANTASTIC WOMAN. Gascon's Emilia Perez is a complex and flawed character who can't quite shake off her thug past though she tries to redeem herself. Original and audacious, you've never seen anything like it. The choreography is by Damien Jalet. With Edgar Ramirez and Mark Ivanir.