Emilia Pérez is a rebellious work that does not follow the others.

Synopsis: The pursuit of happiness can be costly. In Emília Pérez, a disgruntled and exploited but highly qualified lawyer named Rita (Zoe Saldana) works at a firm focused on covering up crimes rather than serving justice. Tired of this dynamic and of wasting her talents, Rita is one day faced with an indispensable proposal that could take her out of this life: help the head of a cartel, Juan Del Monte, to retire, leave his post and disappear permanently. Juan, however, has been perfecting this plan in secret for years and it involves not only evading the authorities, but asserting his true identity: Emilia Pérez. Rita then helps him through this entire process, ensuring that Emília can finally live her most authentic and true self under the radar. Emília Perez is a musical that redefines the genre and, with its story, breaks expectations.

I don't think I've ever seen a film like Emilia Pérez, with that exact combination of styles and influences all smashed together. Starting with a very simple initial idea, the film gradually expands in a number of interesting ways and consistently exceeded my expectations, whilst remaining a thoroughly entertaining and emotional journey.

Rita (Zoe Saldana) is a lawyer who is always overworked and undervalued in her career. She is hired by a cartel kingpin to facilitate her gender affirmation surgery, transition, and disappearance from the world. From there, Rita has to navigate a series of moving parts to complete the job, but four years later, she reconnects with her old boss, Emilia Pérez (Karla Sofía Gascón), who has more requests for Rita. It's difficult to define the film's central figure. We start with Rita, then we meet Emilia and eventually Emilia's "widow" Jessi (Selena Gomez). The film switches between these characters and their wildly different stories with excellent precision. Emilia Pérez runs the gamut of emotions, tones and musical numbers, always switching comfortably back and forth. This triad of talents (Saldana, Gascón and Gomez) is committed to the totally original vision and carries the narrative weight well. It's good to see Zoe Saldana outside of blockbusters getting a chance to show off her wide range of skills, and Karla Sofía Gascón and Selena Gomez gave a demonstration of their individual prowess.

Emilia Pérez's musical numbers sometimes start out fun, but often explode outward, and the camera even gets in on the fun with some wonderful cinematic choreography, by the way. Between the artists and the visuals, Emilia Pérez's music feels like something new, something bold, something remixed in a way we've never seen before (that surgery song at the beginning of the film lives rent-free in my head).

This is a very physical film, most of it feels like the characters' body movements are more integral to the plot than the dialogue. While the language and music serve the emotionality of the narrative, it is the physicality of the characters that drives the film's more aggressive attitude. Each character is looking for their way forward, and their bodies tell the story as much as their words.

Emilia Pérez is Big, Bold, Aggressive, a little angry at times, but often full of tenderness. It's a film that perhaps requires a second viewing to appreciate all the technical prowess on display, but I was lost enough in the beautiful work of Saldana, Gascón and Gomez and the central tragedy unfolding.