Part of Best Picture Marathon
Nominated for 13 Academy Awards® including Best Picture, Directing, Actress in a Leading Role (Karla Sofía Gascón), Actress in a Supporting Role (Zoe Saldaña), Writing (Adapted Screenplay), Cinematography, Film Editing, Makeup and Hairstyling, Music (Original Score), Music (Original Song), Music (Original Song), International Feature Film, and Sound
From renegade auteur Jacques Audiard comes EMILIA PÉREZ, an audacious fever dream that defies genres and expectations. Through liberating song and dance and bold visuals, this odyssey follows the journey of four remarkable women in Mexico, each pursuing their own happiness. The fearsome cartel leader Emilia (Karla Sofía Gascón) enlists Rita (Zoe Saldaña), an unappreciated lawyer stuck in a dead-end job, to help fake her death so that Emilia can finally live authentically as her true self. Written and directed by Audiard (RUST AND BONE, A PROPHET), the double Cannes-winning film also stars Selena Gomez, Adriana Paz and Edgar Ramírez.
“Very rarely does the right movie arrive at precisely the right time, at a moment when compassion appears to be in short supply and the collective human imagination has come to feel shrunken and desiccated…. Audiard orchestrates the craziness of the plot with the assurance of an ace conductor. The musical numbers are exuberant, extravagant in feeling, without being overly polished. This isn’t a movie about showing off how much money you’ve spent but about how willing you are to go for broke.” —Stephanie Zacharek, TIME “You’ve never seen anything in your life like Jacques Audiard’s Spanish musical about violent passions starring Zoë Saldaña, Selena Gomez and trans actress Karla Sofia Gascón in career-defining performances that take a piece out of you. This you don’t want to miss.” —Peter Travers, ABC News “The songs are often exquisite, the duets heartbreaking. The performances are trophy bait, Saldaña’s especially. And the go-for-broke direction belies the notion that a septuagenarian like Audiard should be making movies of autumnal wisdom. This is a vivid, high-energy film, one of the year’s best.” —Kevin Maher, The Times
