This awards season is obsessed with a particular musical crime thriller (and it’s not Joker: Folie à Deux). Emilia Pérez left the 2024 Cannes Film Festival with some shine, and now it’s been generating some Oscar buzz. The French film, (which is actually mostly in Spanish—with a bit of English throughout) has been widely celebrated for its cinematography and its use of music as a backdrop to courtroom and cartel drama. The film stars Zoe Saldaña, Karla Sofía Gascón, Selena Gomez, and Adriana Paz—and all four took home a shared Best Actress award back at Cannes.
Emilia Pérez follows a downtrodden lawyer in Mexico, played by Saldaña, who is contacted by a cartel kingpin seeking counsel ahead of a life-altering gender-affirming surgery. And that’s just what goes down during the first two songs. When describing the film, Karla Sofía Gascón—who plays the eponymous Emilia Pérez—described the movie as an “action movie that’s not an action movie, a drama that’s not a drama, a comedy that’s not a comedy."
And then there's the real drama that's happening behind-the-scenes after resurfaced tweets by Karla Sofía Gascón caused people to turn their backs from the film in the middle of Oscar voting. But with so much hype before the controversy, there's still a chance it might take home some major awards.
Here's how you can watch Emilia Pérez.
Where can I watch Emilia Pérez?
Emilia Pérez initially premiered at the 77th Cannes Film Festival in May 2024, where it won the Jury Prize and was selected to compete for the Palme d’Or; which ultimately went to Sean Baker’s Anora. Good news for streamers: the film landed on Netflix on November 13, 2024.
The streaming platform braved a bidding war for the film following its festival premiere, and ultimately acquired the distribution rights for upwards of $8 million. That makes Emilia Pérez Netflix's unofficial Oscar contender, joining the likes of Maestro, The Power of the Dog, Marriage Story, and other awards darlings from years past.
Take this as your official warning: awards season is almost ending, and Emilia Pérez was selected as France’s official entry into the Best International Feature Film category and was nominated for Best Picture. Basically, you're going to want to tune in to see what all the hype is about.
Other must-sees for this year’s race include the aforementioned Anora, a modern Cinderella story about a sex worker and a nepo baby; Conclave, a political thriller about the selection of a new pope; Gladiator II, you already know (and if you don't, learn more here); and of course, Wicked. The rest of these might require a box office ticket, but Emilia Pérez is waiting for you at home.
