Zoe Saldaña and Selena Gomez’s new Netflix movie is an empowering story of women taking control of their own lives

Every year, a handful of new movies are described as being so groundbreaking, audiences will have never seen anything like them before. More often than not this is simple hyperbole, but in the case of Netflix’s latest release Emilia Pérez, it is surprisingly accurate.

The new film by French auteur Jacques Audiard really is extraordinary, so much so that i'’s hard to describe. Based on the director’s own opera libretto of the same name, which is a loose adaptation of Boris Razon's 2018 novel Écoute, Emilia Pérez blends together several genres to tell the story of a feared cartel leader, known as Juan 'Manitas' Del Monte, who begins a new life after transitioning into a woman. Oh, and did I mention that it is a musical too, featuring several original song and dance numbers? It’s no wonder our very own five star Emilia Pérez review ultimately describes the movie as being "miraculous".

Given that it encompasses so much, the question is, then: how exactly does Audiard ultimately view it? As the filmmaker explained in an interview with 12DOVE at the recent BFI London Film Festival (via interpreter), he sees Emilia Pérez as being "a film about changing one’s life and how many chances you get to change your life".

And here he isn’t just referencing the character of Emilia Pérez, as the events of the film see the lives of many changed. Whilst of course the main focus is on our lead, who is beautifully played by Karla Sofía Gascón, Emilia Pérez is actually the story of four very different women, all of whom are trying to discover who they really are.

Taking risks

For Emilia herself, she is adapting to living a completely new life, with a new name, new body, new home, and new desires. On that journey she is aided by Zoe Saldaña’s Rita, a lawyer who feels unappreciated in a crappy job, desperately searching for an opportunity to break free. She unexpectedly finds that when Emilia approaches her for help, as whilst it was a bold risk becoming involved with the dangerous cartel leader, it allows for her voice to finally be heard. Not only does she help Emilia with her transition, but afterwards she takes on a key role at a charity the former cartel leader begins to run.

The role of Rita actually shifted dramatically when Avatar star Saldaña was cast, with Audiard changing the character’s age and more upon meeting the actor, tweaking the role so she could take it on. In fact, the film was even put on hold for a whole year whilst they waited for Saldaña’s schedule to clear – that’s how much Audiard believed in her.

As he explains: "I would have waited two years for Zoe if I had to! I spent a long time looking for actors so once I met them, and I knew they were right for the parts, they were worth waiting for, so if we had to delay by another year I would have done so."

Continuing, Audiard details the changes he made to Rita upon casting Saldaña: "The character in the original script was going to be 25 but, when I met Zoe, I thought, 'She can’t be 25, she has to be in her 40s.' One important characteristic that I hadn’t thought of for Rita is that Zoe is mixed race, so that became the character, which adds another dimension to her journey but isn’t something I thought of initially."

Setting free

Just like Saldaña’s lawyer, Emilia’s wife Jessi also sees her life turned upside down when she is led to believe her partner, Manitas, has died, with Rita helping fake Emilia’s death so the gender reassignment surgery can be carried out unnoticed by rival cartels. Naturally, Jessi is distraught, believing she has lost her husband, also suddenly being sent to Switzerland for her family’s safety. Jessi was content with her life as a cartel leader’s wife, but although this dramatic change is initially distressing, she soon discovers too that it actually sets her free.

Jessi is played by a terrific Selena Gomez, who we are usually used to seeing in lighter fare such as hit show Only Murders in the Building. Audiard took a gamble then casting the pop star in this role but, as he reveals to us, within 10 minutes of meeting Gomez he knew that she was his Jessi, despite the actor not being who he initially pictured for the role: "When I write a script I don’t picture the characters in my mind, which is why I get things wrong sometimes. I imagine they would be younger than they actually should be.

"Unlike Rita and Emilia, I hadn’t done any castings for Jessi yet. Selena was pretty much the first person I met and she was immediately right for it. I didn’t have any pre-conceptions for the role so it was immediately hers to claim. It’s quite a curious thing as soon as you see that person you never question again what that character looks like, you just forget everything that came before."

As Jessi pursues new romances, believing her partner is dead and having no knowledge of the surgery, Emilia does too, falling in love with Adriana Paz’s Epifanía Flores, who she meets at Emilia’s new non-profit organization. Their initial encounter is fascinating as whilst at first we fear for Emilia’s safety as Epifanía is told that the organization has identified some human remains as being those of her husband, she soon shares her delight, explaining that he was abusive. Now free of the abuse, she opens up to Emilia and we see their relationship blossom, forever changing both of them.

Side by side

The film ultimately, then, is a story of rebirth for these four women and so it’s quite fitting that at the Cannes Film Festival this year, the quartet jointly walked away with the Best Actress award, which is something that has never happened before. For Audiard, it was a perfect result. Whilst he states he didn’t expect it, he also admits that, perhaps subconsciously, this was something he was maybe aiming for.

As he concludes: "It was completely unexpected as it had never happened. I was hoping that Karla Sofía would be noticed for that role but the fact that all four of them were rewarded, I was incredibly proud. And maybe, subconsciously, that’s what I did it for. The fact they are all so different, come from different backgrounds, there is such a diversity so kudos to the presidency at Cannes."

Emilia Pérez is out now in theaters worldwide before heading to Netflix on November 13.

For more on what to watch, check out the rest of our Big Screen Spotlight series as well as our guide to the best Netflix movies.