Yahoo Lifestyle How ‘Emilia Pérez,’ The Most Nominated Film Of The Year, Became (One Of) The Most Hated
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A movie musical other than “Wicked” has been the talk of the town lately, but not all the buzz has been positive.
Earlier this month, “Emilia Pérez” — Netflix’s song-filled narco-thriller starring Karla Sofía Gascón, Zoe Saldaña and Selena Gomez — racked up a whopping13 Oscar nominations, becoming the most-nominated non-English-language film in Academy history. The film became a breakout hit at the Cannes Film Festival last May for its audacious plot, which follows a Mexican cartel leader who fakes her death to undergo gender-affirming surgery, and has been sweeping awards season ever since.
In the past few weeks alone, “Emilia Pérez” has collected nominations for 10 Critics’ Choice Awards and three nods for SAG Awards. It’s also scored four Golden Globe awards, including one for first-time winner Saldaña. Many believe the movie could potentially take home the coveted Best Picture win at the Academy Awards in March, where it’s also up for Best International Feature Film.
None of these accolades, though, have saved the film from controversy. For all its awards show success, “Emilia Pérez” has received harsh backlash from critics and moviegoers.
Some point to its poor depiction of trans identity and inclusion of transphobic tropes (LGBTQ advocacy group GLAAD called it a “step backward for trans representation”). Others have called out the movie for an “inauthentic” portrayal of Mexican culture and cartel violence. Still others have criticized the movie’s bizarre musical numbers — namely, one about vaginoplasty — but the “Emilia Pérez” controversies don’t stop there.
This week, the film’s lead star came under fire after accusing fellow Oscar nominee Fernanda Torres’ team of “speaking badly about me and ‘Emilia Pérez,’” per an interview with Brazilian outlet Folha de S. Paulo.
“What I don’t like are social media teams — people who work with these people — trying to diminish our work, like me and my movie, because that doesn’t lead anywhere. You don’t need to tear down someone’s work to highlight another’s,” Gascón said, reportedly. “I have never, at any point, said anything bad about Fernanda Torres or her movie. However, there are people working with Fernanda Torres tearing me and ‘Emilia Pérez’ down. That speaks more about their movie than mine.”
The actor’s comments sparked concerns that she may have violated the Academy’s promotional campaign rules, though the Academy reportedly told Netflix that wasn’t the case.
In a new statement, Gascón also clarified that her comments weren’t aimed at anyone “directly associated” with Torres (who she called a “wonderful ally”) but rather toward “the toxicity and violent hate speech on social media that I sadly continue to experience.”
But the lead star’s online presence has continued to threaten the “Emilia Pérez” awards campaign.
On Thursday morning, people who disliked the film began recirculating a series of years-old X (formerly Twitter) posts from Gascón. In them, she expressed controversial views about everything from George Floyd and Muslims to diversity at the Oscars, multiple outletsreported. Though posts have slowly disappeared from her page, screenshots have made the rounds on social media.
Even with the actor reportedly issuing an apology, the only thing that could save her film’s reputation now is winning more awards, but the controversy “Emilia Pérez” has caused may have already cemented its place in cinematic discourse history.
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