Emilia Perez

Narcos Sing!

Emilia Perez is a wishful thinking fantasy about a narco redeeming himself in which the only way this can happen is by him transitioning to a woman. This is only believable because these criminals have zero moral compass so unless they transform into something else, their redemption in real life is not within the realm of possibility.
I appreciate Audiard’s daring in doing a musical about narcos and he is such a confident filmmaker that I was engrossed for the first half of the film. Mild spoiler: The first thing I thought was that gender transitioning is a great idea in a movie for criminals who want to escape the law. Just become a woman and continue ruining everyone’s lives with impunity, as it would cross no one’s mind if ever El Chapo became La Chapa. But the movie lost me when Manitas, the evil narco, now transformed into Emilia (Karla Sofía Gascón), tries to redeem herself by opening a foundation and becoming a saint. I don’t buy it. The gigantic death toll in Mexico and the lives destroyed beyond its borders are too tragic to banalize into a story of redemption. There is no redemption for the illegal drug trade. So Emilia Perez feels foreign and awkward in relation to its topic.
I am a huge fan of Audiard: A Prophet, Rust and Bone, Read My Lips, The Beat My Heart Skipped are all powerful, excellent films, unafraid of big human emotions. Emilia Perez is also unafraid of big human emotions and the…