Critical response On
AlloCiné, the film received an average rating of 4.1 out of 5 stars, based on 38 reviews from French critics.
Kevin Maher from
The Times rated the film 5 out of 5 stars, stating "this mad musical is one of the year's best films."
Stephanie Zacharek of
Time considered that a film such as
Emilia Pérez feels "fierce and glorious, a radical act of the imagination with kindness in its heart".
Manohla Dargis of
The New York Times determined that "it's Gascón's performance that centers and grounds the story".
Richard Brody of
The New Yorker lamented that the film "presents twists and turns that exhaust themselves in the strain to stoke excitement; the movie is a wild ride to nowhere".
Peter Bradshaw of
The Guardian rated the film 3 out of 5 stars, billing it as a "slightly bizarre yet watchable musical", also writing that Gascón "carries it off with queenly flair".
Leonard Maltin called the film "unique and amazing", writing: "Phrases like 'game-changer' and 'cutting-edge' can't capture just how audacious and original
Emilia Pérez is. [It's] a knock-out."
Peter Travers described the film as an "unmissable movie event", writing: "You've never seen anything like Jacques Audiard's
Spanish musical about violent passions starring Zoë Saldaña, Selena Gomez and
trans actress Karla Sofia Gascón in career-defining performances that take a piece out of you. This you don't want to miss."
Lists British film magazine
Sight and Sound included the film in its 50 Best Films of 2024 list. American director
John Waters placed the film in his Top 10 list of the best films of 2024. The film is included in
Times Top 10 list of the best films of 2024. It ranks No. 8 in
Fotogramas list of Top 10 Films of 2024.
Deadline Hollywood film critics Damon Wise and Stephanie Bunbury have the film in each of their Top 10 lists. It ranks at No. 46 and No. 47 in
The Guardians US and UK lists respectively.
Industry response Filmmakers
Taylor Hackford and
Denis Villeneuve both cited
Emilia Pérez as one of their favorite films of 2024.
James Cameron, who worked with Zoe Saldaña on the
Avatar films, praised the film, calling it "bold" and "daring".
Emily Blunt called the film "a singular experience".
Meryl Streep praised the film and Gomez's performance, describing it as "beautiful, smudged, sensual, incredible". Director
Michael Mann called it a "contemporary masterpiece". Fellow directors
Paul Schrader,
Maggie Betts,
R.J. Cutler,
Drew Goddard,
Michael Gracey,
Reinaldo Marcus Green and
Nicole Holofcener listed the film as one of their favorites of 2024.
Madonna,
America Ferrera,
Daisy Ridley,
Eva Longoria,
Jason Reitman,
Jeremy O. Harris,
Oliver Stone and other industry figures have also expressed admiration for the film. Contrasting to the positive industry reaction, the reception found within Mexico's cultural sector was divided. Mexican filmmaker
Guillermo del Toro remarked, "It's so beautiful to see a movie that is cinema". Furthermore, Mexican director and writer
Issa López praised the film, calling it a "masterpiece". Conversely, Mexican cinematographer
Rodrigo Prieto described the experience of watching the film as offensive and "completely inauthentic". In spite of being cast in the role of a non-native speaker, Gomez's Spanish diction generated abundant memes.
Vogue writer Atenea Morales de la Cruz explains the reaction over Gomez's performance results in part because the film targets mainly an audience outside of Mexico.
Transgender representation Critics and advocacy organisations in and from the
LGBTQ community have been much more critical. Speaking for
NPR's
Pop Culture Happy Hour, critic Reanna Cruz said that "it seemed like the filmmaker was painting
trans women as liars", while
GLAAD called it "a profoundly retrograde portrayal of a trans woman" and "a step backward for trans representation". Editors of the American LGBT magazine
Them claimed the film perpetuates an idea of "transness so completely from the cis imagination". Lisa Laman of
Culturess, meanwhile, lamented how
Emilia Pérez was yet another trans-centric film that focused excessively on
surgeries and only featured one trans character in its entire cast. In
El País,
Paul B. Preciado described the film as "a polysemic amalgam loaded with
racism and
transphobia, anti-Latino
exoticism and melodramatic binarism" which "reinforces the
colonial and pathologizing narrative" of both
gender transition and
Mexican culture.
Reception in Mexico Emilia Pérez has been harshly criticized in Mexico and Latin America. The film was the opening night film at the
Morelia Film Festival in October 2024, Carlos Aguilar of
RogerEbert.com described the overall casting as "another patch in this glamorous pastiche". Prior to its national premiere, Audiard and actress
Adriana Paz were to present the film at a special event at the Cineteca Nacional, with the presence of students from the
Universidad Autónoma Metropolitana (UAM) Azcapotzalco, but both cancelled their participation for "logistical reasons". The absence of Mexican actors in the main roles has been a source of controversy. In this sense, some people understood that the casting director, Carla Hool, suggested in some statements that there was a lack of talent in Mexico as a reason for the main actresses in the film not to be Mexican, but Hool commented as follows: "We did a big search, we were open, and we did a big search in Mexico, and in the US, Spain, in all Latin America [...], but at the end of the day, the best actors who embody these characters are the ones who are right here, right?", defending the performance of the selected actors. On the other hand, actress Adriana Paz, who plays a secondary character, is Mexican. Mexican screenwriter Hector Guillen said it was "really painful" that Hool, who is Mexican, has not found worthy talent in Mexico and Latin America. "The fact that there are a few Mexicans doesn't stop it from being a
Eurocentric production," he said. The lyrics of the song "Papá" performed by Emilia Pérez's son, alluding to the son's
olfactory memories ("You smell like my dad, like
Diet Coke with ice, lemon and sweat.
Mezcal and
guacamole") were decried as "simplistic" and "ridiculous" on social media. A parody short film,
Johanne Sacreblu, set in France and featuring
stereotypical French accents but starring Mexicans and filmed in Mexico, was released by Camila Aurora González, a trans Mexican content creator. The film went viral on social networks, to the extent that
Vanity Fair France described it as "revenge" by Mexicans against the film, mentioning that the short film uses all kinds of
clichés about the country, such as
sailor shirts, mustaches,
baguettes, the bad smell of French people and the presence of rats in the streets, as a counterweight to the Mexican stereotypes that she claims the original film presents. In March 2025, after her
Academy Award win, Saldaña stated about the film: "I'm very, very sorry that [...] so many Mexicans felt offended. That was never our intention. We spoke from a place of love. [...] For me, the heart of this movie was not Mexico. We were making a film about friendship. We were making a film about four women. These women could have been
Russian, could have been
Dominican, could have been black from
Detroit, could have been from
Israel, could have been from
Gaza. And these women are still very universal women that are struggling every day, but trying to survive systemic oppression and trying to find the most authentic voices. So I will stand by that, but I'm also always open to sit down with all of my Mexican brothers and sisters, with love and respect, [to have] a great conversation on how
Emilia could have been done better."
Addressing the issue of drug trafficking Both critics and audiences resented the lack of "sensitivity and context" on the
issue of drug trafficking, with some Mexican journalists and influencers calling it "narcomusical". The film was also criticised as an "insensitive caricature" that is an apologism to drug traffickers. After being questioned about the reception of the film in Mexico, which had not yet been officially released in the country at the time, Mexican actress Adriana Paz, part of the cast of
Emilia Pérez, defended her work and recalled that the film is a work of fiction, arguing that "it is an operetta in which people sing and do things that we would not do in reality. All opinions are acceptable, what I find ugly is the violence with which they are expressed".
Statements by Claudia Sheinbaum In January 2025, during her daily morning press conference, Las Mañaneras, the President of Mexico,
Claudia Sheinbaum, defended freedom of expression and rejected censorship. She also emphasized the need for Mexico to be recognized for its history, culture, and traditions, not for negative stereotypes of drug trafficking that she believes the film could reinforce. She noted that tourism continues to grow in Mexico, indicating that the country's image is not damaged, and highlighted the pride of the Mexican people and the importance of promoting their cultural richness. She considered that the French film, by addressing the issues of drug trafficking and disappearances, could be validating prejudices and a distorted European view of Mexico, something that does not align with the country's reality. == Controversy ==