"Emilia Pérez" Review: A Crazy, Daring Tale (with Songs!) of Crime, Revenge and Gender Identity

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Zoe Saldaña, Selena Gomez and Karla Sofía Gascón are an electric trio in the Netflix movie

Emilia Pérez is the year's biggest, strangest movie extravaganza: It's like a fireworks show exploding above a three-ring circus that's adjacent, perhaps, to a mariachi band playing behind a line of high-kicking chorus girls. If the film weren't set in Mexico, there might even be penguins on a slide.

It's a wild, genre-bending ride, a musical that sizzles with outrageous passion and outrageous camp. It's as if Pedro Almodóvar teamed up with John Waters.

The film begins when criminal attorney Rita Moro Castro (Zoe Saldaña) finds herself locked in consultations with a drug-cartel kingpin named Manitas Del Monte (be patient — the performer is identified later in this review).

Manitas, who looks a bit like the late Fidel Castro after smoking an exploding cigar, wants to transition from male to female. But the operation must be carried out in absolute secrecy, after which Manitas will play dead, leaving behind his criminal syndicate and Jessi (Selena Gomez), his baffled, angry wife.

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With Rita assiduously managing the highly risky transition — imagine booking a dermabrasion appointment for Pablo Escobar, then multiply it by 10 — Manitas reemerges as Emilia Pérez. Emilia is a sort of earth mother (but wealthy) played by Karla Sofía Gascón (who, of course, is also Manitas, only under heavy makeup). A trans actress, Gascón brings honest humor, physical heft and the occasional melodramatic flourish to the part. It's a commanding performance.

However, despite the bliss of her new identity, Emilia isn't done making demands — she wants to facilitate a reunion with Jessi and their children. This is a welcome twist, because Gomez adds a note of pampered, petulant comedy. Not at all happy to be living with Emilia, who claims to be Manitas' aunt, Jessi is a small but unstable force, like an explosive device hidden in a designer handbag.

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Emilia, meanwhile, has put herself forward as a major public figure, a justice-seeking philanthropist dedicated to recovering the remains of the disparus who were typically (probably) the old Manitas' victims.

The movie, oddly, shows no interest in whether Emilia is a newly minted saint or Mexico's biggest hypocrite. (Outrageousness shouldn't rule out ambiguity.) Luckily the story is soon heading for a fiery finale — you can thank Gomez for that. 

One complaint: For a musical, the songs are too brief, too small, to convey much. Imagine if West Side Story were hummed.

Emilia Pérez is now streaming on Netflix.