Not on the Best of 2024 List: Emelia Perez

At the beginning of Emilia Perez, an evil Mexican druglord transitions to female. She is told by her doctor that this transition will also transform her soul. For the next few years of her life, it seems as if this is true: She has gone from being a totally evil male to a totally saintly female, now employed running a foundation for victims of cartels. In the last half hour of the movie, things are complicated somewhat as some of her former behavior begins to resurface, but only slightly, and when it does, it’s clearly supposed to be shocking to us that she’s acting anything like her former self.

But why would it be? When friends of mine have transitioned, their personalities haven’t changed, and why would they? By all reports, the writer-director of this movie does not seem to have known many trans people, and is simply assuming that it also involves a brain-transplant. I’m not trans, but it’s my understanding that a transition is just an external change. Inside, a transwoman has always been a woman, and a transman has always been a man. They’re just choosing to share their true self with the world.

The bizarre twist, of course, is that the trans star of Emilia Perez has had her Twitter feed exposed and it turns out she was a pretty terrible person before and after her transition, which certainly didn’t make her saintly. She wouldn’t be the first racist to win an Oscar of course, and she does give a good performance in the movie, but the narrative that giving her the award would be a step toward justice is long gone.

Now let me say, I found this movie very watchable. Unlike many others, I thought the musical element mostly worked. Who knew that Zoe Saldaña could dance? I didn’t find the lyrics very catchy, because they were written in French, crudely translated into broken Spanish, and then subtitled in English, but the music is good, and the choreography and production design are excellent.

But ultimately, this movie is snake-bit. The director has made himself look bad in various ways, the star has made herself look awful, and everybody else seems tainted by association. It’s a shame. There’s a great version of this movie that could have existed, if made by actual Mexicans in Mexico, rather than by French people (and Americans and Spanish people) in France.