Beyond just the problematic nature of killing your trans protagonist at the end, Emilia Pérez has come under intense scrutiny for a host of criticisms: GLAAD called its representation of trans people “a step backward,” though Gascón is herself trans. PinkNews claimed the screenplay was “so cisgendered” that Audiard “might as well have the word ‘cis’ tattooed on his forehead.” Others, meanwhile, suggest it is a ghastly inauthentic depiction of Mexican culture, including criticisms about Selena Gomez’s Mexican accent in the picture (although her character is an American who learned Spanish as a second language). Some go so far as to claim Audiard appropriated real problems in Mexico—cartels and disappeared people—as window dressing for a storyline written by a Frenchman oblivious to the plight he was dramatizing.
“We are still immersed in the violence in some areas,” Mexican screenwriter Héctor Guillén posted on X. “You are taking one of the most difficult topics in the country, but it’s not only any film, it’s an opera. It’s a musical. So for us and many activists, it’s like you are playing with one of the biggest wars in the country since the Revolution [in the early 20th century].”
These and more are genuine criticisms that are worthy of being added to the discussion of a film which initially was being evaluated merely for its ambition, or emotional heft as a piece of melodrama. Yet what’s interesting about the online feeding frenzy around the movie—it currently enjoys an abysmal 2.5 score on Letterboxd—is how counterintuitive it has been at thwarting Emilia Pérez’s momentum in the awards season. In fact, the film just earned 13 nominations at yesterday’s Oscars nominations, the most ever for a foreign-language film. This in turn has only heightened the controversy in the last 24 hours, with many lamenting this is Green Book all over again.
It’s an interesting comparison, because as someone who much more vocally rooted against Green Book winning Best Picture in 2019, I see parallels that Emilia Pérez’s fiercest critics might not anticipate: mostly in how little good it does to vilify the Oscar voters, admirers, and otherwise mere Netflix users who like the movie. A thin line is being drawn where the implication seems to be that if you like the movie you are “transphobic,” “racist,” a “fake progressive” (also read: neo-liberal), or are merely enabling those who are.
Suggesting likeminded folks are being morally bankrupt, or progressive in the wrong way, can have a habit of causing those you disagree with to dig in their heels. It can cause them to champion the art you hate all the more. This occurred when I joined in the chorus of championing Roma or The Favourite, or BlacKkKlansman over Green Book, and it very well seems to be happening again in the narrative around Emilia Pérez.
Is Mexican filmmaker Guillermo del Toro willfully perpetuating negative stereotypes about his native country when he told Audiard, “I, as a Mexican, adore melodrama and adore the telenovela, the pitch of melodrama… and for me your view of Mexico was hypnotic and beautiful”? Is James Cameron a bad ally to say, “[Emilia Pérez is] just not like any other film that’s ever been made; it’s bold, daring, a vision”?
