Emilia Pérez (2024)

Emilia Perez is as bizarre and discordant as it is contrived and predictable. It’s astounding how it was ever positively received even before the Karla Gascon drama. 

Besides its only bit originality of being a “genre-bending” musical thriller (honestly even this is a stretch), there is not a single thing this film does well. The story is messy and unfocused. The characters are flat and poorly developed, the relationships between them abrupt and  stunted. The musical numbers are barely even songs. 

With the titular being trans, you’d expect the movie to touch a little bit on cultural issues related to being trans. But it does not. Emilia’s problems are entirely results of her completely illogical actions, not her trans identity. If you switch the gender reassignment operation with an elaborate plastic surgery, the plot might even work better. 

I feel bad for the cast (except Karla for obvious reasons). They really tried to make this movie work with what they were given but you can’t give a compelling performance with the material has no substance. 

Good candidate for a hate-watch party, which is how I consumed this movie.