The Most Nominated Film At This Year's Oscars Is Also The Most Controversial

Even though Emilia Pérez is a Spanish-language film, the director Jacques Audiard is French, the movie was shot in Paris, and of the four main cast members, Adriana Paz is the only one that was born in Mexico. 

Selena Gomez, who isn't a fluent Spanish speaker, was also bashed for her Spanish in the film.

Actor Eugenio Derbez criticized Selena Gomez's performance in a clip from the Hablando de Cine con podcast shared on TikTok. Derbez called Gomez's performance "indefensible" and said that as he watched the movie, he thought, “Wow, what is this?”

Gomez responded to the backlash saying:

I understand where you are coming from. I'm sorry I did the best I could with the time I was given. Doesn't take away from how much work and heart I put into this movie.

Derbez then apologized to Gomez:

I truly apologize for my careless comments - they are indefensible and go against everything I stand for. As Latinos, we should always support one another. There's no excuse. I was wrong, and I deeply admire your career and your kind heart. Emilia Pérez deserves to be celebrated, not diminished by my thoughtless remarks. I'm walking away from this with an important lesson learned. While I understand if you cannot accept my apology, please know it comes from the heart.

Despite the criticism of Gomez's performance, some have noted that her character also doesn't speak Spanish as a first language, so Gomez's Spanish is actually fitting for the situation. 

Though Emilia Pérez has been hailed by some as an important depiction of trans people, GLAAD (the Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation) argued that the movie does more harm than good. 

The organization called the movie a “profoundly retrograde portrayal of a trans woman” and points out that the movie's glowing reviews at the Cannes film festival were not written by trans people. 

GLAAD also highlighted reviews from some trans writers, and the results certainly weren't in the film's favor. Amelia Hansford called the movie “sub-par, disingenuous, harmful nonsense”: 

It’s a script that is so alienated from the process of transitioning as a trans woman - and yet blurts falsehoods out with such bold, intense conviction…

Drew Burnett Gregory wrote that “you’ve never seen a bad movie about a trans woman like Jacques Audiard’s Emilia Pérez” and further explained the movie's extensive use of dated trans stereotypes: 

Whether made by us or about us, I want more trans stories that are audacious, ambitious, and new. The problem with Emilia Pérez is that while it’s new in some ways it’s very, very tired in others.

The film hits just about every trans trope you can imagine:
1. Trans woman killer
2. Tragic trans woman
3. Trans woman abandons her wife and children to transition
4. Transition treated as a death
5. Deadnaming and misgendering at pivotal moments
6. Trans woman described as half male/half female

I’m not offended by anything on that list. It’s not about offense or something being not allowed. It’s that it’s boring. I don’t understand why a movie that’s so bonkers in other ways chooses to undercut its strengths with this shallow understanding of its titular character.

While the horrors of drug violence in Mexico have been covered in depth, some took issue with the way Emilia Pérez approaches such a serious issue in a campy and overly simplistic manner. One user on X, Héctor Guillén, posted:

This is a message to the Academy. Mexico hates Emilia Pérez. ‘Racist, Eurocentrist, mockery.' Almost 500K dead and France decides to do a musical.

Another user, Mexican Myths and Folklore wrote that the film is:

the unfortunate consequence of years of exporting audiovisual productions that glorify drug trafficking. The Mexican cultural elite is full of insensitive vultures who, for simple money, have contributed to this cancer called narco culture.