“Emilia Pérez” dominated the 97th Academy Awards, securing 13 nominations and taking home major wins for the Netflix original musical.
The film, directed by Jacques Audiard, ended up winning Oscars for Best Supporting Actress for Zoe Saldaña’s performance and Best Original Song for “El Mal,” according to the Academy Awards’ “Winners & Nominees” webpage.
Recognition is not always a mark of quality, and awarding “Emilia Peréz” only highlights the Academy’s misjudgment.
The plot of “Emilia Pérez” follows a cartel crime boss who transitions and seeks redemption through a lawyer, a premise that could have been a breakthrough opportunity for meaningful transgender representation in the award space.
However, the film leans into damaging stereotypes, portraying its titular trans woman protagonist played by Karla Sofía Gascón as deceptive and dangerous – once again reinforcing the narrative that the trans community is something to be feared rather than understood.
This is evident in how Emilia Pérez deceives Selena Gomez’s character, Jessie, convincing her to maintain contact with her children under false pretenses.
Rather than fostering an exploration into the reality of transitioning within a family, the film frames Emilia’s identity as a tool for deception, missing an opportunity to show genuine struggles and complexities of acceptance among family.
The film attempts to explore intense themes of gender transition, death and acceptance but its musical forms undermine their gravity, making an already distorted story feel even more trivial.
The song “La Vaginoplastia” has gone viral for its lackluster execution as it makes light of deeply personal and complex experiences that come with gender-affirming surgery in a way that feels more like a spectacle.
Lyrics like “A man to woman (Vaginoplasty makes this macho stand) / A woman to man / A man to women (Vaginoplasty a las chicas tú)” reduce gender transition to a punchline, treating it as something performative rather than a deeply personal journey.
The song’s exaggerated delivery only adds to the sense that it prioritizes shock value over sincerity.
Meanwhile, “El Mal,” which won Best Original Song, reinforces Emilia Pérez’s troubling theme in lines like, “Te imagino haciendo el mal (I imagine you doing evil) / Tan bien que no tengo excuses (So good that I have no excuses),” further blur the lines between trans identity and criminality.
Trans identities should not be a plot device for a twist surprise nor should they be reduced to narratives of crime that only further marginalize an already vulnerable community.
Adding to the film’s misrepresentation, Selena Gomez’s performance in “Emilia Pérez” exemplifies the director's ongoing issue with tokenizing Latino actors and the Latino community rather than committing to genuine authenticity.
Gomez’s noticeably flawed Spanish in key scenes feels careless, reducing the cultural depth of the character and undermining the film’s attempt at emotional resonance.
While Saldaña delivers a compelling performance, her role is limited by a script that prioritizes style over substances.
Despite the accolades, her portrayal doesn’t add enough depth to overcome the film’s shallow approach to its subject matter, making her Oscar win feel performative rather than awarding a truly standout performance against other nominees like “Wicked,” “Anora,” and “The Brutalist.”
“Emilia Pérez” continues the long-standing tradition of confining Latino narratives to drug-related crime and violence, failing to explore the culture, resilience and complexity of these communities.
In reality, cartel violence has devastated Latino communities with cartel-related deaths in Mexico peaking at over 18,000 individuals in 2021, according to Our World in Data.
Rather than offering a nuanced exploration of these tragedies, Audiard continues to exploit these harsh realities for entertainment.
One glaring example is how Emilia Peréz’s transition is framed as a shocking twist to Saldaña's character rather than a genuine journey, reducing her identity.
The film also intertwines her gender transition with her criminal past, depicting her using cartel connections to manipulate and deceive others after her surgery.
When major awards shows like the Academy Awards uplift films that demoralize the communities they represent, it makes it harder for authentic stories to later reach mainstream audiences.
Instead of highlighting trans and Latino voices the film exploits them for dramatic effect, catering mass audiences who may not recognize the harm in these portrayals.
Despite these controversial aspects, “Emilia Pérez” remained a dominant force at the Oscars, earning nominations all across the board, from Best Picture, Best Actress in a Leading Role, Best International Feature to Best Directing, according to the Academy Awards.
This level of recognition suggests that the academy is eager to accept “Emilia Pérez” regardless of whether the film’s representation is accurate or meaningful.
The contrast between critic and audience reception only underscores the disconnect between the subject matter versus its performance.
While critics have largely praised the film for its ambition and style, many viewers — particularly from the trans community — have expressed frustration with its reductive portrayal and reliance on outdated tropes.
Even during their acceptance speeches, the cast and crew failed to acknowledge the very community their film seeks to represent, further demonstrating the film’s disconnect from authentic storytelling.
Adding to the controversy, Saldaña later issued an apology to the Latino community for any offense the film may have caused, stating that its themes of struggle and survival transcend nationality and could apply to women anywhere, according to Variety.
While she stood by “Emilia Pérez,” she also expressed the willingness to have a conversation with the Mexican community about how the film could have been improved, according to the same source.
However, this response sidesteps the core issue rather than addressing the concerns about misrepresentation, it frames the criticism as a matter of perspective rather than a fundamental flaw in the film’s approach.
If the Academy Awards wants to champion diverse voices, it needs to do better than “Emilia Pérez.”
Meaningful representation requires more than an idealized image but it also demands accountability, transparency and commitment to telling the stories that empower, not exploit.
