Oscar enthusiasts know this – each good ceremony must have its big bad guy. That of the 2025 edition has a name: it is called Emilia Pérez. Jacques Audiard’s film, who has a big favorite of competition with 13 appointments, is now stretched across the Atlantic. Last episode to date: the exhumation of old messages to say the least virulent by Karla Sofia Gascon, the star of the film. The transgender actress defended himself this weekend to be “racist” In an interview with CNN In the Spanish version, and then be removed from the statuettes campaign by Netflix, which distributes Emilia Pérez in the United States. Despite the expensive campaign conducted since the end of the summer by the streaming platform, Emilia Pérez gathered all the ingredients to attract criticism. Since fall, behind the scenes, the contemptors of the film have been working.
Emilia Pérez Arrived in the United States arrived from its critical success internationally. The film was awarded twice in Cannes – the jury prize and the female interpretation prize for its three main actresses, Karla Sofia Gascon, Zoé Saldana and Selena Gomez. In France, this recognition was accompanied by a nice in the dining room – it totaled over a million hundred thousand entries – and a favorable look at the general public – it obtains the note 4.2 out of 5 on Allociné. Between the end of summer and December, the film was still described as “spectacular” (the American The Atlantic), “unmissable” (by ABC News) and “ruffling entertainment” (the British The Guardian), by part of the Anglo-Saxon press. Let us recall the intrigue: a Mexican lawyer exploited by her bosses is engaged by a narcotraficent to help him change his sex in all discretion. Tour-à-tour musical, Télénovela and Drama, the latest opus by Jacques Audiard is, moreover, turned more in Spanish than in English. On this occasion, he succeeded in a small tour de force, being the only film in a foreign language to have received as many appointments from the Academy of Oscars.
Heavily criticized online
Emilia Pérez Triomphe at the Golden Globes, anteroom of the prestigious ceremony. Named ten times, the film won four trophies on the night of January 5 to 6 – Best foreign film, best actress in a supporting role for Zoé Saldana, and the best original song. The means spent by Netflix for the promotion were up to the craze. After buying the film $ 12 million in Cannes, the platform has multiplied the premieres in Los Angeles and the interviews of its actresses in Late-Nights Showsthese very popular second part of the evening in the United States. An international film par excellence (produced in France, shot in Spanish language, with American and Spanish actresses), the work goes perfectly with the increasingly global ambitions of the Academy.
To this is added, finally, a message that stuck a priori perfectly to the political signals that the Hollywood industry wanted to send. “The Academy of Oscars is made up of 8,000 voters, cinema professionals who also make their choices according to a political environment, notes Alain Le Diberder, former advisor to Jack Lang and director of Arte programs from 2012 to 2017. In the current American political context, Donald Trump attacks on transgender people, they could want to send a signal. “
But even before the Academy thinks it has found a symbol, the film was already heavily criticized online. On the Rotten Tomatoes and Letterboxd sites, two criticism aggregators from American spectators, Emilia Pérez Assuming only 18 % of favorable opinions respectively, and 2.2 out of 5 stars – historically low notes for a work named in the “best film” category. These notes express in particular the anger of Mexican spectators, very critical of a film mainly shot in the studio, in France, and whose main cast is American or Spanish (like its main actress, Madrid). Accused of lightly dealing with the subject of drug cartels, Jacques Audiard’s work is also mocked for the hazardous pronunciation of his actresses (the pop star Selena Gomez, in particular, and his difficulties with song in Spanish). So much so that a parody making fun of the French in the name of a “tribute to Emilia Perez“,” Johanne Sacrebleu “was published on YouTube in January by a Spanish director.
Controversy
Accused of nourishing stereotypes on Mexico, Emilia Perez was also criticized by … LGBT activists, such as the powerful American association Glaad. As of November 15, a statement from the organization denounced a film which is “not a good representation for the trans community”, painting “a retrograde portrait of a trans woman”. Criticized abroad and on its left, Emilia Pérez was, at the same time, the subject of inflamed criticism of conservative sites, such as the Daily Wire. In the fall, the film praised by the Hollywood establishment was therefore attacked on both sides of the political spectrum on the Internet. “It was run in advance. The film handles so sensitive themes that he is in any case a controversial call,” said a consultant responsible for several campaigns for films named to the Oscars.
In the world made of low and big sous of Hollywood, the idea of a deliberately orchestrated denigration campaign against Emilia Pérez Floot in the air. Even before the scandal pierces the internet bubble, the film had become a hot topic, happily fueling the click machine. On YouTube, the videos spurring the film often exceed 300,000 views, some neighboring the million – in English … and in Spanish. “But even without thinking of an orchestrated campaign, the phenomenon feeds on itself. From the first projections in Los Angeles, in October, I remember that we all said to ourselves’ it will explode. When “continues this consultant.
As a result of this incredible attention to the favorite of the year, the slightest movement of the actors and their past has been scrutinized. Until, inevitably, an independent journalist, Sarah Hagi – denying having been commissioned by a third party – ended up finding the past tweets of Karla Sofia Gascon. In the latter, the actress attacks Islam (“become an infection home”), to the “slaves descendants” and criticizes diversity to the Oscars. In a consensual campaign, these statements make a task. After apologies from the actress, on February 2 on CNN, Netflix decides to land her star, and hide it from promotional content. The adventure Emilia Pérez will continue without it, in the hope of limiting damage. What about cinema in all of this?