EMILIA PÉREZ

Do you feel afraid of [gangster] Manitas at the beginning of the movie? You need to watch this movie in German. [Audience laughter] It’s another movie, a horror movie…

For me this has been a wonderful experience. It’s a gift of life, thanks to Jacques… It was wonderful for me to be able to play these two different roles, because [Jacques] didn’t want me to play them both… It was quite a bit of voice work and movement work, which was a collaboration with many teachers… This is a character that is not easy to find in the movies, or pretty much anywhere… I’ve been reflecting on something that just happened to me in Mexico. Someone said to me, “Hey, you should be nominated as Best [male] Actor.” And I said, “So, what, if I play a vampire, am I going to be nominated as best vampire?” — Karla Sofía Gascón*

The public Los Angeles premiere of EMILIA PÉREZ—at the Directors Guild on the opening night of The American French Film Festival—was, so to speak, a dazzling night at the opera. In a brilliantly productive act of fan fiction, several years ago filmmaker Jacques Audiard latched onto an undeveloped character in a friend’s novel—a male crime lord seeking to disappear/reappear as a woman—and wrote (in Audiard’s description) a “libretto” treatment for a screenplay. In the director’s telling, Manitas (Karla Sofía Gascón) hires hard-luck attorney Rita (Zoe Saldaña) to facilitate the transition, allowing the emergence of “Emilia Pérez” into the world.

The result is a sui generis achievement, an uncanny blend of crime thriller and full-blown musical that rarely devolves into camp. The song and dance numbers appear as integral parts of a whole rather than mere sketches. Performing original compositions by Clément Ducoi and Camille—including “El Alegato,” “Lady,” “La Vaginoplastia,” “El Mal,” “Papa,” and “Mi Camino”—Gascón, Saldaña, and Selena Gomez (as Manitas/Emilia’s wife Jessi) are revelations in this set-in-Mexico saga, filmed almost entirely on a French soundstage.

For the exclusive initial engagements and screenings at the Egyptian Theatre, the Nuart, the Vista, and the Aero, EMILIA PÉREZ will screen in 35mm. See info and links below for details and director Q & A’s.

EMILIA PÉREZ

Directed by Jacques Audiard

Music and lyrics by Clément Ducoi and Camille

Now playing

November 1 through 7, November 18 and 20, and December 11

Jacques Audiard post-screening Q & A

Monday, November 18, at 7:30

Wednesday, December 11, at 7 pm, moderated by Olivia Wilde

Egyptian Theatre

6712 Hollywood Boulevard, Los Angeles

egyptiantheatre.com/film/emilia-perez

Jacques Audiard post-screening Q & A

Monday, December 9, at 7:30 pm

Aero Theater

1328 Montana Avenue, Santa Monica

americancinematheque.com/emilia-perez

November 1 through 14

Alamo Drafthouse

700 West 7th Street, downtown Los Angeles

drafthouse.com/los-angeles/show/emilia-perez

November 1 through 14

Nuart

11272 Santa Monica Boulevard, Los Angeles

landmarktheatres.com/movies/emilia-perez/

Tuesday, November 12, at 6:15 pm

Vista Theater

4473 Sunset Drive, Los Angeles

ticketing.uswest.veezi.com/purchase

*Karla Sofía Gascón at The American French Film Festival Opening Night, October 29, 2024, Directors Guild of America, Los Angeles. Gascón is a trans woman.

Jacques Audiard, Emilia Pérez (2024), from top: Karla Sofía Gascón; Zoe Saldaña; Selena Gomez; Gascón and Adriana Paz; Saldaña; Emilia Pérez 35mm special engagement poster; Gomez; Edgar Ramírez; Gascón.