MUSICAL; 2hr 12min (Spanish with subtitles, English)
STARRING: Zoe Saldaña, Karla Sofía Gascón, Selena Gomez
Star turns: from left, Gascón and Saldaña
Under-appreciated Mexico City attorney Rita Mora Castro (Saldaña, blasting the stuffing out of everything she touches) is about to take on the client of her life between seamlessly enhancing musical numbers in Rust and Bone film-maker Jacques Audiard’s tumultuous spree. Juan “Manitas” Del Monte (transgender actress Gascón) is a sinisterly whispery cartel boss who is determined to become a woman and, having taken note of Rita’s courtroom smarts, hires her for an extremely cool chunk of cash to arrange the top-secret gender-confirmation surgery.
The operation doesn’t come more tricky, what with Manitas’s unsavoury former day job and the ongoing welfare of his hot-tamale wife, Jessi (Gomez), and their two young sons. The trio is completely in the dark about everything and destined to stay that way, courtesy of fake IDs and a new life in Switzerland (Rita again). And with Manitas’s untimely death duly staged, bombshell Señora Emilia Pérez (the fabulous Gascón again) is finally free to claim her spotlight.
So much for best laid plans. Four years later, desperately missing her sons, Emilia ropes Rita back in to return them to Mexico City with Jessi for yet another restart, this time in the cushy casa of Manitas’s Cousin Emilia. Irrespective of the lady’s caring intentions, their new home thrills the little family not at all. Meanwhile, the zealous Emilia has made it her mission to atone for the mortal damage done by men, like the one she used to be, to the members of the many families who don’t deserve it.
The risks entangled in Emilia’s radical arc are what the dips and twirls of this multi award-winning creation, inspired by Boris Razon’s 2018 novel Écoute, are really all about. Its songs flow with the smoothness of poured cream but Audiard’s dance card is no light fantastic. Any reinvention bears the burden of the past, no matter how seductively it plays.
