The only offensive thing about Emilia Pérez
Not timely AT ALL
I watched Emilia Pérez when it debuted on Netflix last November and didn’t like it. I’m a fan of Jacques Audiard—his previous film, Paris 13th District, is excellent and it’s right there on Hulu, the ONLY major U.S. streamer that imports French titles—and it just bored me. One big who-cares. I didn’t find it offensive. Look, I’m too old to audit a college class and learn how to spot anti-trans messages in a movie starring and about a trans woman.
Even on the day it received thirteen Oscar nominations, I knew it had no chance of winning. It’s not a “Netflix movie” but Netflix acquired it, and the enemy of the movie business is never going to win its big prize.
I wasted no time being outraged by Emilia Pérez and didn’t even watch the Oscars. Ralph Fiennes (THE G.O.A.T.) wasn’t going to win and I didn’t love 2024 as a movie year.
You know what did offend me, a person almost impossible to offend? That Emilia Pérez won best film and best director at the Césars, a.k.a. the French Oscars. It was an obvious response to the American backlash, not a recognition of its merit. They didn’t like it either.
What should have won? How about an ACTUAL FRENCH FILM?
A pair of epic French blockbusters, “The Count of Monte Cristo,” adapted from Alexandre Dumas’ literary classic and starring Pierre Niney*; and “Beating Hearts,” Gilles Lellouche’s sprawling crime romance starring Adele Exarchopoulos and Francois Civil, were leading the race with 14 and 13 nominations respectively.
* AND ANAÏS DEMOUSTIER, HELLOOOOOOO?! César-winner Anaïs Demoustier?! Show some respect.
They’re in French, filled with French stars and were massive hits in France! I did not expect the French to fuck over the French. Quelle connasserie!
As an American I’m used to this shit. “This shit” meaning total disrespect of the country that invented cinéma. France’s 2023 Oscars submission for best international film, The Taste of Things (SUPERB—and also on Hulu), was not even nominated. C’était criminel, putain!
My local AMC megaplex shows plenty of films not in English. They’re all from those BIG countries that make BIG dumb bullshit. Any in French? ALMOST NEVER.
We used to be a proper country, etc.