Emilia Perez, a film that has been lauded by critics and audiences alike since its October 25 premiere, is now available for home viewing on Netflix.
Penned by Oscar-nominated French filmmaker Jacques Audiard, the musical drama follows the lives of four women in Mexico as they seek happiness. The plot revolves around Emilia, a cartel leader who hires a lawyer to assist her in faking her death through gender-affirming surgery.
The star-studded cast features Karla Sofia Gascon as Emilia, Zoe Saldana as attorney Rita Mora Castro, Selena Gomez as Jessi Del Monte, and Adriana Paz as Epifania Flores. Viewers can anticipate an unusual blend of genres from the drama. Gascon described it to Netflix as “An action movie that’s not an action movie, a drama that’s not a drama, a comedy that’s not a comedy.”
But what was the inspiration behind this genre-defying film, and is it based on a true story?
Unlike Netflix’s recent hit thriller, Woman of the Hour, Emilia Perez is not based on real events. However, Audiard has disclosed what ignited the idea for the story, which Rolling Stone labeled a ‘Transgender Cartel-gangster musical,’ reports the Mirror.
In a conversation with renowned filmmaker Guillermo del Toro, Audiard revealed that a small segment of a 2018 French novel gave birth to the concept for the drama. He shared: “I have a friend, Boris Razon, who’s a novelist. I read his novels. I read [one], it’s called Ecoute, and about halfway through the book, the central character, [who is] a lawyer, meets a gang leader who asks him to help him make a transition and change his gender.”
He continued: “I turn the pages and then the author doesn’t follow through. I [was] very surprised. I called him the next day [to ask,] ‘Boris, do you have any plans for the character in the novel?’ And Boris says, ‘No, no that’s it.’ So, I stole the idea. I ran with it.”
While the main character was inspired by Ecoute, Audiard found the musical style of the film during the Covid-19 lockdown. He initially wrote the script as an opera and consequently filmed in a studio instead of on location to mimic the stage atmosphere of a live opera. Later in the conversation, he candidly added: “[…]There’s very little contemporary opera repertoire, and I have sought to fill that by making Emilia.”
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