CANNES.- A Mexican drug lord wants to change his life and sex and to do so he prepares his disappearance: that is the surprising, and musical, bet of the film “Emilia Pérez”, which French filmmaker Jacques Audiard presented this Saturday at the 77th Cannes Film Festival. .
Audiard, 72 years old and already with a Palme d’Or for “Dheepan” in 2015, surprises with a bold film entirely shot in Spanish, with spectacular choreographic numbers and a soundtrack that includes reggaeton, classic melodies and mariachis.
The central character, played by the Spanish transgender actress Karla Sofía Gascón, begins as the boss “Manitas”, an all-powerful leader of a cartel who wants to become a woman and, with the help of a lawyer (Zoe Saldaña) to transition to his new gender, ends up becoming Emilia Pérez.
The entire cast, which includes singer and actress Selena Gomez, has already Edgar Ramirezwas present on the red carpet at the premiere.
Among the many stars who also attended the gala were actresses Salma Hayek, Marisa Paredes and Rossy de Palma, wearing a polka dot dress.
The first reviews praised Audiard’s original proposal and pointed to a possible Palme d’Or, when almost half of the 22 films in contention have already been screened.
Deadline said it was “crazy but also wonderful” and for The Hollywood Reporter it is an “original, full of vitality and emotion” film.
Between Spain and Mexico
The film is a springboard for 52-year-old Karla Sofía Gascón, an actress with a career mainly in soap operas and reality television programs, after making the leap from Spain to Mexico.
He started in the world of entertainment as Carlos, in Spain, until he decided to change his sex at the age of 46, with a wife and a daughter, and was able to do so in 2018. He published a book to tell his story, “Karsia.”
The interpreter has acknowledged in interviews that she was not familiar with the work of Audiard, a French director also with an unusual career, with forays into Hollywood.
In France Audiard is known for films that caused an impact due to his direct style, such as “A Prophet” (2009), which narrates a clan fight in prison, “Of Rust and Bone” (2021), with Marion Cotillard, or ” Olympiades” (2021), which follows the sentimental and sexual adventures of a group of young people in Paris.
In 2018 he presented an atypical western in Venice, “The Sisters Brothers”, with John C. Reilly and Joaquin Phoenix.
In statements to the French magazine Telerama, Karla Sofía assures that the role of Emilia Pérez “was almost too easy for me.”
“What interested me was facing the male character, his conflicts, his weaknesses, his difficulties. It was a more complex and copious role,” he explained.
The participation of Yves Saint Laurent
And to add more difficulty to the project, Audiard wanted to make a musical comedy. After several failed attempts with names like Tom Waits, the director ended up choosing Camille, a French singer, to compose the songs.
This eclectic artist, who rose to fame 20 years ago with “Le fil”, manages to impregnate the film with electronic rhythms, reggaeton and Mexican folklore. The songs and dance scenes break into the story and are part of the narrative.
The film has been financed, among others, by Saint Laurent Production, the production company founded by the current artistic director of the fashion house, Anthony Vaccarello.
This production company helped the Spanish Pedro Almodóvar fulfill his dream of filming a western, “Strange way of life”, presented last year in Cannes.
This Saturday, the film “Caught by the Tides”, by Chinese filmmaker Jia Zhang-Ke, in contention for the Palma, was also screened.
The film, starring his muse and wife Zhao Tao, tells a love story frustrated over 25 years, but it is an excuse to reflect on cinema, the passage of time and the profound changes that China has experienced.
The filmmaker uses material that he has been filming during more than two decades of exploring his vast country to illustrate this story, sparse in dialogue and abundant in long shots.
Source: AFP
