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When \u201cEmilia P\u00e9rez\u201d premiered at the prestigious Cannes Film Festival<\/a> last May, the reaction from critics in attendance and the jury was overwhelmingly positive.<\/p>\n The French-produced, Spanish-language musical about a Mexican cartel boss who transitions into a woman and attempts to become a paragon of virtue won the jury prize (essentially third place) and its stars \u2014 Karla Sof\u00eda Gasc\u00f3n, Zoe Salda\u00f1a, Selena Gomez and Adriana Paz \u2014 shared the best actress award<\/a>.<\/p>\n Netflix, the powerful global streaming company that has had a best picture Oscar in its sights but out of its grasp since the 2019 ceremony, acquired the unconventional picture by the French director Jacques Audiard and launched an imposing awards campaign. Widely embraced by the film industry, \u201cEmilia P\u00e9rez\u201d received 13 Oscar nominations last month \u2014 leading this year\u2019s pack and falling one short of tying the record.<\/p>\n One of those nominations belongs to Gasc\u00f3n, who plays the titular character and became the first openly trans actor<\/a> nominated for an Academy Award. In recent weeks, she has become engulfed in controversy<\/a> that has threatened to derail the awards hopes for both her and the film. But since \u201cEmilia P\u00e9rez\u201d debuted in select theaters and then on Netflix late last year, there has been plenty of backlash on multiple fronts that has marred its pathway to Oscar glory. Here are the broad strokes of the controversies.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n Last week, the journalist Sarah Hagi unearthed offensive statements that Gasc\u00f3n posted in Spanish on X over the last few years. The disparaging comments touched on topics like George Floyd, Islam, and even the 2021 Oscar ceremony.<\/p>\n Gasc\u00f3n has since apologized<\/a>, deleted her X account and given a lengthy interview on CNN en Espa\u00f1ol that she booked without Netflix\u2019s involvement or authorization. She has also stayed active on Instagram, defending herself against criticism.<\/p>\n The actress has argued that some of her opinions had been taken out of context and some posts had been doctored by malicious parties wishing to harm her reputation. Now, Netflix has distanced the \u201cEmilia P\u00e9rez\u201d awards campaign from Gasc\u00f3n, who will no longer attend upcoming events in Los Angeles and Santa Barbara and is absent from newly released publicity.<\/p>\n Speaking to Deadline<\/a> this week, Audiard called Gasc\u00f3n\u2019s resurfaced comments \u201cinexcusable,\u201d adding that he hasn\u2019t spoken with the actress \u2014 who he thinks is in a \u201cself-destructive approach.\u201d After that interview, Gasc\u00f3n said that with her diminished profile, she hopes her \u201csilence will allow the film to be appreciated for what it is, a beautiful ode to love and difference.\u201d<\/p>\n The development comes at a particularly inopportune time as final Oscar voting takes place next Tuesday through Feb. 18. It remains to be seen if the fallout of Gasc\u00f3n\u2019s posts will affect the film\u2019s winning chances, especially in categories such as best international film and best supporting actress (for Salda\u00f1a) where \u201cEmilia P\u00e9rez\u201d was a perceived front-runner.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n Since 2006, over 400,000 people have died and more than 100,000 have disappeared as a result of ongoing drug-related violence across Mexico. It is in this context that some Mexican viewers believe Audiard\u2019s outlandish vision treats the national tragedy in a frivolous manner, while glamorizing its horrors.<\/p>\n In a recent opinion piece<\/a> for El Universal, one of the country\u2019s most prominent newspapers, the writer Ytzel Maya noted that \u201c\u2018Emilia P\u00e9rez\u2019 ends up trivializing violence by stripping it of its structural complexity,\u201d adding that the film fails to interrogate \u201cthe material conditions that sustain the criminal war.\u201d<\/p>\n The lack of Mexican talent involved in front and behind the camera in a story that uses the country and its issues as a backdrop has also been repeatedly questioned. (Adriana Paz is the only Mexican actor in the principal cast.) \u201cEmilia P\u00e9rez\u201d was almost entirely shot on French soundstages. The casting director Carla Hool explained during a Q&A<\/a> in November that while they searched for actors in Mexico and Latin America, ultimately they decided to go with the best options, even if they were not Mexican. This comment only added to the uproar.<\/p>\n Some of the criticisms also revolve around the use of language, which some find offensively inauthentic given the casting choices. Clips of scenes featuring Selena Gomez, who plays a Mexican American woman named Jessi, delivering outrageous lines in heavily accented Spanish have turned into widely shared memes among Mexican social media users.<\/p>\n The Mexican actor and comedian Eugenio Derbez described Gomez\u2019s performance as \u201cindefensible\u201d during an interview, a comment for which he later apologized.<\/p>\n Throughout the extensive promotional tour for \u201cEmilia P\u00e9rez,\u201d Audiard has made statements that sparked negative online reactions.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n On multiple occasions, the French filmmaker, who doesn\u2019t speak Spanish, has explained he didn\u2019t do substantial research to understand the drug war that afflicts Mexico, as he felt confident he knew enough for the purposes of his narrative.<\/p>\n In another interview<\/a> that recently started circulating on social media, Audiard referred to Spanish<\/a> as \u201ca language of developing countries, humble countries, of the poor, of migrants.\u201d<\/p>\n During a news conference ahead of the film\u2019s theatrical release in Mexico, Audiard apologized, explaining that he tried to be prudent and reflective in his approach of the delicate subject matter and added, \u201cIf you think I\u2019m doing it too lightly, I apologize.\u201d<\/p>\n Back in November, the L.G.B.T.Q. advocacy organization GLAAD released a statement that described \u201cEmilia P\u00e9rez\u201d as \u201ca profoundly retrograde portrayal of a trans woman,\u201d and \u201ca step backward for trans representation.\u201d<\/p>\n GLAAD also collected multiple reviews by L.G.B.T.Q. critics (several of them trans people) denouncing Audiard\u2019s film in publications including the Cut and Little White Lies. In her review for Autostraddle, the filmmaker and writer Drew Burnett Gregory explained that \u201cthe problem with \u2018Emilia P\u00e9rez\u2019 is that while it\u2019s new in some ways, it\u2019s very, very tired in others,\u201d and went on to list trans tropes used in the narrative such as \u201cdeadnaming and misgendering at pivotal moments\u201d and \u201ctransition treated as a death.\u201d<\/p>\n In response to \u201cEmilia P\u00e9rez,\u201d Camila Aurora, a Mexican trans content creator and activist, created a short film parody titled \u201cJohanne Sacreblu.\u201d<\/a><\/p>\n Since Audiard\u2019s award-winning film tells a story set in Mexico but was mostly shot in Paris with a mostly non-Mexican cast, Aurora\u2019s no-budget production was filmed in the streets of Mexico City with Mexican performers putting on stilted French accents and dressed in stereotypical attires (namely striped shirts and berets). The short has so far amassed more than 2.8 million views on YouTube.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\nKarla Sof\u00eda Gasc\u00f3n\u2019s Resurfaced Social Media Posts<\/strong><\/span><\/h3>\n
Negative Reception in Mexico<\/strong><\/span><\/h3>\n
The Director Jacques Audiard\u2019s Comments<\/strong><\/span><\/h3>\n
Objections from L.G.B.T.Q. Film Critics<\/span><\/h3>\n
The Mexican Parody \u2018Johanne Sacreblu\u2019<\/strong><\/span><\/h3>\n