This past weekend, cinephiles across the globe turned their attention to coastal France, where the 77th edition of the prestigious Cannes Film Festival came to a close with a history-making awards ceremony.
The fest’s top prize—the Palme d’Or—went to sex worker romp Anora, from Tangerine filmmaker Sean Baker, but one of the annual event’s biggest winners was a film called Emilia Perez, a musical crime comedy about a trans cartel leader co-starring Selena Gomez.
Yup, you read that right: A musical crime comedy about a trans cartel leader co-starring Selena Gomez. And who says there are no original ideas at the movies anymore?!?
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From French filmmaker Jacques Audiard (The Sisters Brothers, A Prophet), it’s the story of Emilia (Karla Sofía Gascón), a feared cartel boss who turns to American lawyer Rita (Zoe Saldaña) for help undergoing gender-affirming surgery so she can leave the crime world behind and reunite with her family, including her estranged wife Jessi (Gomez).
There’s even a brief teaser trailer to show you a bit of what’s in store:
Now, if Emilia Perez sounds wild, that’s because it is! For as heavy as the subject matter may seem, the film operates with a uniquely madcap tone, where even the most serious of moments can burst into a vibrant song-and-dance number (including, apparently, a musical moment all about vaginoplasty).
Though that no doubt will make it a divisive watch, it won over a number of critics and audiences at the festival, and impressed the Cannes jury—which included Greta Gerwig and Lily Gladstone, among others—so much that they honored it with two major awards, including the Jury Prize.
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But it’s Emilia Perez‘s other major festival prize where the film truly made history. This year, the Cannes award for Best Actress was shared by its four female stars: Karla Sofía Gascón, Zoe Saldaña, Selena Gomez, and Adriana Paz.
So, yes, the former Wizards of Waverly Place star and “Come & Get It” singer now has one of the cinema’s world’s highest honors. More importantly, however, is the fact that this makes Gascón the first-ever transgender woman to win best Actress at Cannes!
It represents a major breakthrough for the 52-year-old Spanish actress, whose previous credits include a number of telenovelas, like the recent reboot of the hit Rebelde.
In her emotional acceptance speech on Saturday, Gascón shouted out her co-stars (“Selena Gomez, I am in love with you!”) and then dedicated her win to “all transgender people who suffer and must keep faith that changing is possible.”
“Tomorrow, there will be plenty of comments from terrible people saying the same things about all of us trans people,” she continued in her speech. “But I want to end with a message of hope. To all of them, like Emilia Perez, we all have the opportunity to change for the better, to become better people. If you have made us suffer, it is time for you also to change.”
Unfortunately, Gascón knows the realities of this world all too well, as a number of hateful, transphobic comments were made online in the wake of her win, including far-right French politician Marion Maréchal-Le Pen, who deliberately misgendered the actress and wrongly claimed “progress for the left is the erasure of women and mothers.”
In response, a number of French LGBTQ+ organizations filed a complaint against Maréchal-LePen for her transphobic insults, citing “illegal behavior” that “reinforces the climate of violence in which LGBT+ people live in France.”
Anyway! Back to the good news.
Gascón’s defiant speech was met with rapturous applause at the Cannes awards ceremony, marking a major win for LGBTQ+ inclusivity in international cinema, and pointing to big things ahead for the actress and the film itself.
Prior to the ceremony, Netflix acquired North American and U.K. distribution rights for Emilia Perez, meaning we can likely expect the film to hit the streaming platform later this year—and possibly even make a play for awards season.
Could Karla Sofía Gascón become a contender for Best Actress at next year’s Oscars, too? Let’s hope so! There’s no word yet on when Emilia Perez might make its stateside debut, but we’ll be rooting for Gascón all the way!
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