“Emilia Pérez” by Jacques Audiard, a musical and crazy fairy tale that enchants the cinema

Culture “Emilia Pérez” by Jacques Audiard, a musical and crazy fairy tale that enchants the cinema

It’s the cinema release of the week. The film starring Selena Gomez, Zoe Saldana and Karla Sofia Gascón is in theaters, three months after the Cannes Film Festival.

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Jacques Audiard’s “Emilia Pérez” is released in theaters on Wednesday, August 21.

CINEMA – Jacques Audiard is back. After Deepan or The Olympicshere is Emilia Pereza cinematic UFO mixing a tale of transition, drug war and tragic love stories which is, in addition, a catchy musical comedy. The feature film, led by a trio of mesmerizing women (Zoe Saldana, Karla Sofia Gascón, and Selena Gomez), is pure enchantment. It has been in theaters since August 21.

It’s hard to know where Jacques Audiard got this fabulous idea from. On paper, the bet is crazy. The film follows the destiny of Rita (Zoe Saldana), a lawyer who is bored stiff in her mediocre firm. Her life changes the day Manitas, the leader of the most powerful cartel in Mexico, asks her to help him complete his gender transition and then disappears, abandoning his wife Jessi (Selena Gomez) and his children. Manitas becomes Emilia Pérez (Karla Sofia Gascón) and radically changes her life, before her past comes back to haunt her.

Audiard’s genius is to have made this already powerful story into a musical comedy. And the fate of Emilia Perez into a modern-day fairy tale.

Because without a doubt, Emilia Perez has (almost) everything of a fairy tale. The change that the heroine has been waiting for all her life and for which she is ready to sacrifice everything opens the doors to a new life. To achieve this, she can count on the help of an ally, almost a good fairy. And what would this new life be without love so that this woman can finally feel like herself?

A true invitation to introspection, Emilia Perez is also a fable about redemption. By changing gender, life and identity, the heroine makes the greatest of changes, one that is invisible to everyone except her friend Rita and her family: she becomes a good person.

A lively musical comedy

If you’re totally allergic to musicals and the first few notes of a sung sequence in a movie give you hives, you won’t necessarily be as excited as we are about this completely crazy project. If, on the other hand, you whistle Grease or Chicago in the shower, you will enjoy yourself.

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Zoe Saldana in Jacques Audiard’s “Emilia Perez.”

Emilia Perez is a very varied musical comedy. Melancholic ballads, love songs, more rock and rap songs blend harmoniously, all tinged with catchy Mexican sounds. We challenge you not to shed a tear during « Papa » or not dancing when Selena Gomez launches into wild steps in her pajamas.

The songs are so successful thanks to the lyrics and choreography of formidable precision, but also thanks to the quartet that performs them. Zoe Saldana, Selena Gomez, Adriana Paz and Karla Sofia Gascón sing “for real” and double their interpretation with a game that borders on perfection. A fact that did not escape the jury of the Cannes Film Festival, since they won the prize for best actress together.

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Selena Gomez stars in Jacques Audiard’s “Emilia Perez.”

Zoe Saldana plays one of her first leading roles here, but certainly not her last. Selena Gomez demonstrates once again (after Only Murders in the Building) that she is much more than a former Disney Channel child star. And Spanish actress Karla Sofia Gascón radiates the entire film with her presence. With Emilia PerezJacques Audiard proves once again that you don’t need a magic wand to be a true enchanter.

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