The announcement of the 2025 Oscar nominees marks the countdown to the most important and most revered awards ceremony in leisure, and though I had a powerful thought of which new motion pictures could be nominated (because of the 2025 Golden Globe awards) that’s not saying that I wasn’t left bewildered past comprehension when a sure Netflix film scored large with nods. I’m after all speaking about Emilia Pérez (2024), the crime-thriller musical hybrid that follows a cartel boss’ gender transition.
I received’t lie, I used to be anticipating Jacques Audiard’s drama to get some recognition on the 2025 Oscars, however I wasn’t anticipating Emilia Pérez to obtain 13 nominations. 13 nominations?! This places Emilia Pérez above fellow nominees The Brutalist, Conclave, and The Substance, which make up a number of the finest motion pictures of 2024. If you happen to had been to ask me, Emilia Pérez doesn’t even come shut and albeit, I’d fairly put myself by means of Joker: Folie a Deux once more.
I’ve little doubt that this can go down in historical past as some of the divisive motion pictures to flow into cultural discourse, and never simply within the historical past of the Oscars. Alas, what’s achieved is finished, and all will probably be revealed on March 3 when the 2025 Oscars will air and for individuals who are nonetheless undecided whether or not you like or hate Emilia Pérez, hear me out.
Placing 13 Oscar nominations into context
Relying on a film’s anticipation, advertising, and viewers reception, singular motion pictures can attain a comparatively excessive quantity – simply have a look at how the ‘Barbenheimer’ double invoice influenced final yr’s awards season. Sadly, Emilia Pérez is that this yr’s Oppenheimer (2023), and 13 nominations for a single film means a lot greater than it’s possible you’ll assume.
For the reason that 2025 Oscar nominations had been unveiled, Emilia Pérez has since been inducted into the so-called ‘13 Membership’, an elite choose group of flicks that earned a grand whole of 13 Oscar nominations on the time of their launch. That group contains, however isn’t restricted to the next motion pictures:
Forrest Gump (1994)
Oppenheimer (2023)
Mary Poppins (1964)
Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? (1966)
Gone with the Wind (1939)
Chicago (2002)
Stunning, I do know, proper? Not solely has Emilia Pérez earned a spot amongst motion pictures which are thought-about to be cinematic staples, it has gone on to earn extra Oscar nominations than the primary installment within the unique Star Wars trilogy, A New Hope (1977), and has the identical quantity of Oscar nominations as Stanley Kubrick had all through his complete profession. Excuse me, whereas I’m going and slam my head towards a wall.
Jacques Audiard doesn’t care about trans tales, he simply desires an Oscar
If you happen to’ve seen Emilia Pérez and stand on the identical facet of the fence as me, then I hope you perceive what I imply once I say that Audiard’s crime musical feels formulaic and manufactured for Oscar attraction. On paper, Emilia Pérez may’ve been a compelling and influential story, one that would’ve rewritten the illustration of trans individuals and Mexican communities by means of an genuine narrative. As an alternative, it’s an unlucky mess of three totally different plotlines, with a variety of head-scratching.
Along with its voice enhancement controversy, GLAAD has described Emilia Pérez as a “retrograde portrayal of a trans lady” and lots of trans film critics difficult Emilia Pérez for its ‘transition equals loss of life’ remedy, the movie has come below fireplace for its equally questionable portrayal of Mexican communities, with the BBC highlighting each the dearth of involvement from Mexican people within the manufacturing of Emilia Pérez, and the mockery that the movie makes of the continuing violent hardships of drug warfare by means of its musical format.
Although my disappointment speaks for itself, that doesn’t imply I might inform individuals to keep away from Emilia Pérez. If something, I encourage you to observe it if you happen to haven’t but already, simply so you may see how abysmal it’s as each a drama, and an outline of a weak minority that’s already the goal of an more and more worrying social and political assault.
