Awards season is officially in full swing following Sunday night’s Golden Globes and Emilia Perez has emerged as one of the big contenders.
The film scooped four accolades at the star-studded Beverly Hills ceremony — beating Wicked, the highest-grossing movie of 2024, to the Best Musical or Comedy prize.
Zoe Saldana also won the award for her portrayal of Rita Mora Castro in the film, with Best Original Song and Best Non-English Motion Picture completing its haul.
But what is Emilia Perez about and how can you watch it?
Here’s what you need to know.
What is Emilia Perez about?
The Spanish-language musical tells the story of a Mexican cartel boss who fakes their death to undergo gender reassignment procedures and live as their true, female self.
The boss — the titular Emilia Perez — is played by Karla Sofía Gascón and Saldana’s character is a lawyer she hires to help make her dream a reality.
Written and directed by Frenchman Jacques Audiard, the film was inspired by the Bors Razon novel Écoute.
“Halfway through the book, a transgender drug dealer comes along who wishes to have surgery,” Audiard previously explained. “As the character wasn’t that developed over the following chapters, I decided to start my story there.”
The London Standard’s film critic Nick Howells gave Emilia Perez five stars after its London Film Festival premiere. He described it as “a hip-swaggering, trigger-clicking, scalpel-wielding work of weird brilliance”.
“And to boot, it comes with a hearty message about loving yourself and living your own true path,” he added.
Who is in the cast?
Alongside Gascón and Saldana, Selena Gomez stars as Jessi, Emilia’s wife and the mother of their children.
Mexican actress Adriana Paz and Édgar Ramírez, whose previous credits include The Bourne Ultimatum and The Girl on the Train, also star.
Mark Ivanir — an Israeli-Ukrainian actor who served in the Israeli Defence Force before embarking on his TV and film career — plays Dr Wasserman, the surgeon who performs the reassignment surgery.
How to watch Emilia Perez in the UK
There’s no cinema trip needed for this one. Emilia Perez has been available to stream on Netflix since November last year.
