Emilia Pérez won big at the Golden Globes on Sunday, and the future looks bright for the movie amidst awards season.
As one of the second most nominated films in Golden Globe history with 10 nominations, the Spanish-language French musical crime comedy took home four wins, including Best Motion Picture, Best Foreign Language Film, Best Original Song for "El Mal," and Best Female Supporting Actor for Zoe Saldaña.
The movie was written and directed by French filmmaker Jacques Audiard (Rust and Bone, A Prophet) based on his four-act opera libretto loosely based on Écoute, a 2018 novel by Boris Razon.
Emilia Pérez stars Zoe Saldaña as Rita Mora Castro, a lawyer who helps a Mexican cartel leader disappear.
Karla Sofía Gascón stars as the Mexican cartel kingpin Juan "Manitas" Del Monte, who dreams of disappearing and transitioning into a woman and becomes the titular character.
Selena Gomez stars as Jessi Del Monte, Manitas's wife and the mother of his children.
All the Spanish-language music performed in the film was written by French singer Camille and French film composer Clément Ducol.
From winning the Jury Prize at the 77th Cannes Film Festival to dominating the Golden Globes and becoming a leading contender for other awards, Emilia Pérez is highly regarded by critics and filmmakers.
While filmmakers and actors from Denis Villeneuve to Meryl Streep have praised the movie, many LGBTQ+ folks and people online have not shared the same positive sentiment.
And the backlash doesn't stop there! After a big night at the Golden Globes, many people have taken to the internet to share shock, surprise, or disdain for the film's success.
it's always cultural appropriation until the latinos speak. you have a french production company, a french director and writers & everyone's clapping while they accept awards in FRENCH because they don't know spanish... mind you mexico is the last county emilia pérez came out in
we’re actually witnessing history this awards season tbh. we may never see a film as dogshit as emilia perez win awards. this is generational delusion from voting committees that we may never see again.
Not to be friend that’s too woke but the Emilia Perez cast and crew not using any of their platform tonight to talk about securing and protecting the right to gender affirmation care given the nature of the film and the climate we’re in is mad dark nasty evil spirit behavior
So you are telling me that the voting body for the Golden Globes thought Emilia Perez was a better musical than Wicked?#GoldenGlobespic.twitter.com/cwVQgrE4TJ
With such polarizing reactions between film critics, filmmakers, actors, and the general public, it's interesting to see how different a film's intention and impact can affect people based on how they relate to the body of work.
If you haven't seen Emilia Pérez yet, it's now streaming on Netflix.
