2025 Oscar Bound, This Ain’t Your Father’s French Cinema

France’s Emilia Pérez will Knock Your Socks Off

When I bought a ticket to see Emilia Pérez in November, I was intrigued. I knew little about the film other than that France was about to submit it to the Academy Awards as the country’s entry for Best International Feature Film, yet the movie was in Spanish. That alone seemed like a crazy impossibility. France, a country that never misses an opportunity to promote its language and heritage was advancing a film where not a word of French is spoken? I was stunned.

Secondly, I knew that Emilia Pérez is a musical. Now, I’m a huge fan of French culture but I wouldn’t exactly call France a hotbed of musical theater. It seemed like submitting an unknown score, with songs in a foreign language, to an American jury would be taking a huge risk. In addition, Emilia Pérez would be bumping the box office smash remake of the Count of Monte Cristo out of contention for the coveted Oscar. And, if there’s one thing Hollywood loves, it’s repeats.

From the moment the film began, however, until the final scene 130 minutes later, the unrelenting action had me glued to the screen. The candor of the cinematography, the uniqueness of the setting, the talent of the actors, the unexpected turns in the plot, and yes even the music and choreography had my full attention. I found Emilia Pérez to be one of those rare works of art that left me gobsmacked. As the credits rolled, my brain was a whirl, my legs felt like jelly, my mouth incapable of forming words that might express my feelings about the film to the friend seated next to me. It was as if I’d spent the previous two hours on a wild coaster ride—flattened against my upholstered theater seat, I slowly decompressed to Selena Gomez’s Mi Camino, the movie’s theme song, as the credits rolled.

In the days that followed, I wanted to learn more about the movie’s director, Jaques Audiard, and the cast. Online articles and Youtube interviews provided insight but also added to my fascination with what I view as a highly improbable production.

Audiard took inspiration for the film during the pandemic while reading a French novel in which one chapter mentions a narcotics dealer who wants to change his identity. There was no backstory for this character but Audiard began playing with the idea of flushing one out. After settling on a storyline, he spun the tale into a 4-act operetta.

Once working with musicians, however, Audiard realized that creating an operetta was a monumental task since it required conveying the entirety of his script in song. Hence, was born the idea of a musical where dialogue, interjected between numbers, could help express the many details and complex emotions he sought to portray.

In the interviews I watched, I found Audiard reluctant to talk about his work. Instead, he was eager to take a back seat to cast members and allow his story to be a byproduct of their experiences. It quickly became apparent that Audiard does not have a strong grasp of English or Spanish. Yet, none of his actors seemed even slightly proficient in French. Indeed, communication between them was only made possible by interpreters—from Audiard’s initial recruitment of each cast member, through shooting, until today.

Another linguistic feat can be attributed to the former French pop star who wrote the lyrics for the film. Working with French musician, composer, and arranger, Clément Ducol, the singer Camille produced all of the lyrics despite having only studied Spanish in school as a kid.

As each actor spoke of their experience working with Audiard, they offered up an unusual portrait of a man who had strong opinions about the story he wanted to tell and how he wanted to tell it, yet somehow managed to give his actors a lot of leeway to color their roles with interpretations that felt more authentic to their personal experience. It’s clear that everyone involved in the project feels genuinely grateful to have had the opportunity to work together. I suspect many are now close friends.

I rarely watch a movie more than once but Audiard has packed so much into this film, that I sat transfixed for a second viewing the day it became available on Netflix. If the occasion arises, I’ll be watching it a third time with my kids over the holiday break.