Emilia Pérez review: A musical that redefines what's possible in the genre

But Emilia Pérez is a film that cherry-picks from the genre to craft something entirely new and enlivening.

The film begins with the dedicated but overworked counsellor at law Rita (Avatar star Zoe Saldaña) taking a mysterious and slightly ominous call. Summoned to a newsstand, Rita is bundled into a vehicle, where she meets drug lord Manitas Del Monte (Karla Sofía Gascón).

Requesting Rita’s services, this is not to get Manitas out of a sticky situation with the law. Rather, for the past two years, this feared cartel boss has been undergoing hormone treatment. Manitas wishes to transition to a woman and wants Rita to help orchestrate the surgery.

Loosely adapted by Audiard from journalist and author Boris Razon’s 2018 novel Écoute, Manitas’s desire is the first of many plot twists that could easily have toppled Emilia Pérez into extreme melodrama.

But Audiard somehow keeps his balls circling in the air, even with the film’s dramatic tonal shifts as Manitas becomes Emilia. With the drug lord’s death staged, even his spouse and mother to his children Jessi (Selena Gomez) is left believing that her husband has been killed.

When the action resumes, years on, Rita meets Emilia over a dinner, initially unaware of who she is. As it transpires, Emilia not only wants to reintegrate with Jessi and her estranged family, but also spotlight the problem of 'the disappeared', those in Mexican society who have fallen foul of the shady authorities.

And so, a Narcos tale that morphs into a story about gender identity transforms into a narrative about social justice, which is a hell of a feat as far as Audiard and his regular co-writer Thomas Bidegain are concerned.

Propping up this twisty story is a memorable score and songs by French husband-and-wife duo, composer Clément Ducol and songstress Camille.

Equally vivid is the choreography by Damien Jalet, who previously worked on Luca Guadagnino’s remake of Dario Argento’s giallo horror Suspiria, with its stylised dance sequences. Some routines, like 'Vaginoplastia', a full-on Busby Berkeley-style number, as Rita implores a Tel Aviv surgeon to take on Manitas’s case, will simply leave you slack-jawed.

Read more:

• Salem's Lot review: Stephen King adaptation lacks bite
• Joker 2's biggest problem is it doesn't commit to being a musical

However, it’s all brought to life by the female leads, Gascón, Saldaña, Gomez and Adriana Paz, who plays the mysterious Epifanía, who all took a share of the Best Actress prize at this year’s Cannes Fim Festival.

Despite Saldaña and Gomez performing forcefully in Spanish, even they are outflanked by Gascón, who herself went through sex reassignment surgery and here gives a masterful dual turn as Manitas and Emilia. Surely, she will be the first transgender performer to gain a Best Actress Oscar nomination next year.

As for Audiard, who also saw the film win the Jury prize in Cannes this year, this is a release that pushes him far from his comfort zone – even if the gritty underworld milieu will still feel familiar, right back to films like 2005’s Fingers remake The Beat That My Heart Skipped. His conducting of the musical numbers, in league with his collaborators, is exhilarating, but it’s the way Emilia Pérez hops between genres that really impresses.

A cartel tale that makes Breaking Bad and Narcos feel oh-so-run-of-the-mill, this is unlike any other movie you’ll see this year.

Emilia Perez is is released in select cinemas on Friday 25th October and will stream on Netflix on Wednesday 13th November – sign up from £4.99 a month. Netflix is also available on Sky Glass and Virgin Media Stream.

Check out more of our Film coverage or visit our TV Guide and Streaming Guide to find out what's on. For more from the biggest stars in TV, listen to The Radio Times Podcast.