All controversies surrounding "Emilia Pérez"

As the lawyer Rita Moro Castro, played by Zoe Saldaña in Emilia Pérez, would say: “Habla, esta gente habla, pero ahora lo van a pagar, a pagar, a pagar…”. It is true that during the sequence of El mal, one of the original songs from the gangster-musical by Jacques Audiard presented at Cannes and winner of the Golden Globe for Best Musical or International Film, the character refers to a group of unscrupulous businessmen and women. However, the song could also be a retort to all the controversies swirling around the movie in recent months, as it leads the awards season, even receiving negative ratings on aggregators like Letterboxd, where the film currently holds a 2.8 out of 5-star rating. These controversies, following the Golden Globes' night, reignited social media outrage over a work set in Mexico that centers on a former cartel boss who decides to embrace their true self and become a woman. The film has been criticized for having very little connection to Latin culture, from the locations to its actresses and its depiction of Mexican culture. Voices like Mexican singer and actor Mauricio Martínez expressed discontent, noting in a post that Emilia Pérez is directed by “a Frenchman who has never set foot in Mexico and publicly admitted he didn’t need to do research.” Martínez, like many other detractors, highlighted the film’s stereotypical and shallow portrayal of the country, offering an ignorant profile of Mexico and trivializing its deeper issues.

The plot, in particular, has been criticized for its approach to the issue of drug trafficking, a persistent scourge that the country battles daily, and its treatment of the topic of missing persons, often linked to organized crime. The disrespectful handling of these themes was noted by Mexican journalist Luis Pablo Beauregard in El País, where he wrote that what is truly unforgivable in the film is the frivolity with which the director narrates Mexico’s crisis of missing people. Moreover, during the entire production of the movie, Mexico served as a location for only five days, with most of the filming taking place in French studios in Bry-Sur-Marne. Another critique of the film is its detachment from its native land, as well as the non-Mexican heritage of its three lead actresses: Zoe Saldaña, Karla Sofía Gascón, and Selena Gomez. The only actual Mexican actress in the cast is Adriana Paz, who plays Epifania Flores. Casting director Carla Hool, a Mexican professional dedicated to giving more opportunities to Latin actors, explained that she tried to assemble an all-Mexican cast but, failing to find suitable options, extended her search to other Latin American countries. Her explanation, however, only fueled more indignation.

In Emilia Pérez, the characters of Saldaña, a U.S. actress of Dominican and Puerto Rican descent, and Gomez, a U.S. actress with a Mexican father, were adapted in the script to justify their accents. The lead, Gascón, is Spanish. Pronunciation and accents became another contentious issue, even though the trio received the Best Female Performance award together at the 2024 Cannes festival. Of the three, singer and actress Selena Gomez faced the harshest criticism, such as from actor Eugenio Derbez and host Gaby Meza during an episode of the Spanish podcast Hablando de Cine. Regarding Gomez’s portrayal of Jessi Del Monte, Derbez said, “She’s indefensible. While watching the film with others, every time her scene came on, we’d look at each other and say, wow, what is this?” Meza added, “Spanish isn’t her first language, nor her second—I fear it’s not even her fifth. I felt she didn’t know what she was saying, making her performance not only unconvincing but embarrassing.” Gomez, who spoke fluent Spanish until age seven, lost the language after moving from Texas to California but reacquired it in six months before starting the film. Responding to the podcast’s viral clip, Gomez said in a TikTok video, “I understand your opinion. I’m sorry—I did what I could with the time I was given. That doesn’t take away from all the work and heart I put into the film.” Following her response, host Gaby Meza issued an apology.

There were also comments about the portrayal of the trans lead character, directed by a cisgender male filmmaker. While the casting of Karla Sofía Gascón, a trans actress, was seen as a step forward for inclusion in the entertainment industry, and her Cannes award alongside Saldaña and Gomez as a milestone, the film still drew criticism. GLAAD (Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation), an organization focused on LGBTQIA+ representation in media, called Emilia Pérez a “profoundly regressive depiction of a trans woman.” Will the criticisms derail the movie’s Oscar run? For now, the film appears to be advancing steadily this awards season, but in the unpredictable world of Hollywood, the backlash could prove to be a significant obstacle.