Emilia Pérez, one of the most nominated and awarded films in Oscar history, has sparked both widespread acclaim and controversy. While Emilia Pérez has received critical praise, it has also faced backlash for its portrayal of Mexican communities, resurfacing concerns over white-centric perspectives, inauthenticity and double standards in the film industry.
Emilia Pérez is a French musical film directed by Jacques Audiard. It follows Rita (Zoe Saldaña), a lawyer hired to help a Mexican cartel boss fake his death and transition into Emilia Pérez (Karla Sofia Gascón). The story tracks Emilia’s journey to reconnect with her ex-wife, Jessi (Selena Gomez), their children and her past mistakes. The film premiered at the 77th Cannes Film Festival and was released in the U.S. on November 1, 2024.
The movie gained immediate critical acclaim winning the Jury Prize and Best Actress Award at Cannes. Lead actress Karla Sofia Gascón was named Global Breakout Actress of the Year at the Ischia Global Film Awards. The film was also awarded Best Film, Best Director, Best Screenwriter, Best Actress and Best Editor at the European Film Awards. Most recently, it won two Oscars during the 2025 season.
photo courtesy of Public Domain
But it was Emilia Pérez’s debut in Mexico on January 23, 2025 that caused one major critique to emerge in the mainstream media: authenticity.
Mexican viewers pointed out that none of the actresses—exept one supporting actress—were of Mexican descent. Criticism also focused on Audiard not being Mexican, the lack of Mexican voices in the production and the choice to film in France rather than Mexico. These concerns grew after Audiard, when asked about his Mexican studies for the movies, said. “No, I didn’t study much. I kind of already knew what I had to understand.” When asked why Emilia Pérez was filmed in France, Audiard explained, “The images I had in my mind of what [the film] would look like just didn’t match the reality of the streets of Mexico. It was just too pedestrian, too real. I had a much more stylized vision in my mind. So that’s when we brought it to Paris.” The situation worsened when a clip resurfaced of him referring to Spanish as a “language of poor people, of migrants.”
The response of Mexican audiences is clear. They supported Trans and Mexican director Camila D. Aurora’s GoFundMe for her parody JOHANE SACREBLEU, which has 3.3 million views. The opening song features lines like, “Welcome to France, where they’ll not only steal your heart but your wallet too,” and “Welcome to France, but if you’re Muslim, Homosexual and Black, I want you far from me,” set to traditional Mexican cumbia music. The parody amplifies French stereotypes, with cast members in berets and mustaches, discussing their strong odor, plus cameos of Remy from Ratatouille and Ladybug from Miraculous. It culminates in a dramatic baguette fight, flipping the script and directly addressing Emilia Pérez’s criticisms. Due to the film’s popularity, it debuted in theaters through CinaDot, with director Aurora donating part of the proceeds to help search for those lost to cartel violence.
photos courtesy of @cam_arrova
When asked about the importance of authenticity to the public, Dr. “Fay” Chen, Professor of Public Relations at University of San Francisco said, “It is very important. Nowadays, people have an increasing demand for authenticity, and when they don’t perceive something as authentic—whether it’s a movie, a product or an initiative—they become skeptical.”
The critiques only escalated on January 30, when X (previously Twitter) user Sarah Hagi resurfaced old tweets of lead actress Karla Sofia Gascón, containing racist language, Islamophobic rhetoric and offensive comments about the murder of George Floyd. In one tweet, Gascón called Floyd a “drug addict swindler,” and in another, she said, “Islam is becoming a hotbed of infection for humanity that urgently needs to be cured.” These resulted in further widespread backlash and a shunning of Gascón from Netflix and the other cast members.
As a result, Emilia Pérez’s public reputation has become quite complex. Sarah Carp, a viewer said, “Entertaining and creative… I felt a lot of empathy watching the movie.” She also said, “I thought that it was maybe not a full story of what the country (Mexico) is.”
Another viewer Brandon Diaz ’26 adds a similar sentiment. “I honestly thought it was decent; it was really interesting because I never seen anything like it,” he said. But on the second watch his opinions changed. “I was like ‘Wow’ this thing is really problematic.” When talking about the controversies he said, “I didn’t really initially let that get to me but it’s really hard to do that once you see it, because then you see it’s not just things that people made up.”
But the issues surrounding Emilia Pérez are not new; they represent the latest chapter in a long-standing pattern that has reinforced a White-centric view of Mexico for over a century.
Dr. Katlin Marisol Sweeny-Romero Assistant Professor of Cinema and Digital Media at UC Davis said, “The first musical performance already portrays Mexico as a gang-ridden, violent and dangerous place, reinforcing tropes that were introduced as early as the early 20th century.”
The controversy also underscores a long-standing industry double standard: accents. In December 2024, Eugenio Derbez criticized Selena Gomez’s accent on the Hablando de Cine podcast, calling her performance “indefensible.” He continued, “In Cannes, they give them awards and keep giving them awards. I feel like what’s going on is that [film critics] don’t speak Spanish.”
Dr. Romero further explains the history of this issue. “In the late 1920s, Latinx actors who were working in silent movies couldn’t pivot to sound film because of their accent. Studios said…you sound too Mexican…too Latin. This pressure to conform is often placed on BIPOC individuals, rather than white actors,” he said. “For people of color, you can’t get in the door if you’re considered mediocre, right?”
Emilia Pérez was marketed as a breakthrough in representation, but in reality, representation is far more complex than the type Emilia Pérez depicts. When critiques arise, many are “quick to push back, saying ‘Well, don’t say anything mean, because this is our one chance to be represented,’” Dr. Romero said. “Representation becomes this really tricky negotiation, where on one hand, you’re advocating for visibility, yet you’re told that visibility is the end goal, and that the quality of that visibility doesn’t matter. But it actually does.” True representation isn’t just about familiar language or skin color on screen; it’s about taking the time and showing the respect to understand the true depth and nuance behind it all.
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