Emilia Pérez: The Film's Wildly Unrealistic Representation Of Mexican Narco-Violence And Trans Lives Is Insulting

(MENAFN- The Conversation) You would think that Jacques Audiard's 13-time Oscar-nominated Emilia Pérez was the most watched film of the year given the discussion it has generated. The Mexican-set, French-made film's opening weekend in Mexico tells a different story.

Emilia Pérez sees the eponymous antagonist-heroine experience a transformation, undergoing gender-affirming procedures in order to leave behind her former dangerous, violent life as a cartel leader in Mexico.

It came eighth at the box office in Mexico, which is hardly surprising. The effects of narco violence saw 613 murders and 626 disappearances between September and December 2024 in Sinaloa State in northwestern Mexico as its eponymous cartel's factions fight for territory.

Considering the context in which it was released, little positive noise has been made about Emilia Pérez within Mexico given its sensationalist, reductive representations of violence. Internationally, its representation of trans experiences has been criticised .

Though well acted, it is thoughtless. The luxurious life Emilia lives as a trans woman is far detached from reality of most trans people in Mexico, where the average life expectancy for a trans person is 35 .

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We follow Rita Mora Castro (Zoe Saldaña), an underappreciated lawyer who works hard only for men to take the credit. Rita is hired by cartel head Juan“Manitas” del Monte (Karla Sofía Gascón) to find a surgeon for her transition to start again as Emilia Pérez. After the transition, Emilia has Manitas declared dead, leaving behind her mourning wife, Jessi (Selena Gómez) and their two young sons who she has relocated to Switzerland for their safety.

After four years, Emilia tracks down Rita to have Jessi and the children moved back to Mexico, posing as Manitas' distant relative. Emilia then works with Rita to launch a non-profit,“La Lucecita”, that helps the families of missing persons after Emilia becomes appalled by how many disappeared people there are in Mexico.

Emilia's immediate reaction to such social injustice demonstrates a naivety on Audiard's part. Despite Manitas having destroyed lives, Emilia wants to dignify them. We are asked to believe that she had no idea about these wretched, miserable souls. But thankfully, Emilia's“La Lucecita” is here to rescue them. The NGO will find the remains of the disappeared, making them visible again. Good thing Emilia made all that (drug) money to fund the work...

Trailer for Emilia Pérez.

The sheer unbelievability of Pérez not knowing about the violent reverberations of her work aside, I was gratified to see the disappeared of Mexico centralised in the film. The stories of Argentina, Chile, Uruguay, Guatemala and Colombia usually dominate when it comes to the consequences of human rights abuses in the region.

Political prisoners, state terrorism, death flights and extrajudicial murders date back at least as far as the 1960s in Mexico, with the Indomitable Memory Museum in Mexico City doing fantastic work to highlight this history and dignify victims. In particular, the story of the Ayotzinapa 43 , who were disappeared en route to Mexico City for an annual march against state corruption and human rights abuses in 2014.

But, considering its direction, Emilia Pérez takes on a white saviour narrative and our heroine simply throws (drug) money at the problem. Audiard's (admitted ) lack of serious thought given to violence ,wealth and power in this context is laughable. Ask“searcher” groups, who go looking for the remains of their disappeared loved ones, like Las Rastredoras de El Fuerte to conjure up money for their work at a fancy gala (and watch I Called for You in Silence , a heartbreaking documentary on their struggles) and see what the reaction is.

Emilia Pérez had the chance to add some nuance to the violence in Mexico today, to demonstrate that this does not exist in a vacuum. It had a chance to go beyond what the transfeminist philosopher Sayak Valencia and the expert in feminist visual culture Sonia Herrera Sánchez would term a kind of sensationalist, colonialist “pornomisery” to present gender fluidity and sexuality in a troubled and troubling context.

I was disappointed. I found it impossible to watch the film without seeing constant instances of what Sayak Valencia deems gore capitalism in action.“Death has become the most profitable business in existence,” according to Valencia.

She outlines that in the era of drug war Mexico (2006 to the present) power is the new capital in a moment where hyper-masculinity and levels of violence are out of control. The lifeless body signifies a capital of fear and power.

Rather than Emilia Pérez forming any coherent commentary on this, the film contributes to it – how much will Audiard make from a film about bodies, what is done to them and how they are destroyed by Mexico's drug war? How many awards? How much (more) power gained?

Zoe Saldaña sings“El Mal” from Emilia Pérez.

Bodily transition – from living to dead; from male to female – is a motif in the film, and one used as a lazy plot device. Emilia is no longer Manitas; in fact, she's Manitas' antithesis, who, therefore, does good for society. This dichotomy between“giving woman” and“violent man” only serves to perpetuate outdated views of womanhood . Karla Sofía Gascón was strong in this role, though I must ask why a Mexican trans actress couldn't have played Pérez. For instance, Nava Mau of Baby Reindeer.

We know that Emilia Pérez isn't that bothered about nuance, being one reason the film has been so ripe for satire . It is a narco-telenovela-cum-queer musical from the perspective of a 72-year-old white French man.

If you are looking for a show or film that does what Emilia Pérez should have, I can only recommend the one-off series Somos , a thoughtful take on the 2011 Allende massacre to temper such thoughtless representation.

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