Not yet released in Mexico, where it will have a commercial run starting January 23 courtesy of the always brave Zima Entertainment, the French film Emilia Perezwhich addresses issues of drug trafficking and forced disappearances of people based on a musical located in Mexico, has received widespread condemnation on social networks in this country as it is considered, among other things, a meaningless trivialization that caricatures deep-seated problems in Mexico such as drug trafficking and forced disappearances.
However, the Mexican actress Adriana Paz, part of the ensemble of leading actresses awarded at the Cannes Film Festival, does not see it that way and, on the contrary, says: “It is very difficult for me to see that it is disrespectful or that it is a mockery.” ”.
Rather, says the actress who plays Epifanía, the love interest of the Emilia Pérez of the title (Karla Sofía Gascón), the film by French director Jacques Audiard “is giving visibility to this issue that is transcending borders.” And he says it from his own experience presenting Emilia Perez in different parts of the world.
“One of the things that shocked me the most – says the actress – was hearing in London that they approached me, trembling, they told me ‘I’m trembling, I loved the film but I’m shocked to know that they’re living in Mexico.’ And I think that this topic is touched on in a place that is extremely far from where it is happening.”
The story of this film, recognized with the jury prize at the Cannes Festival, follows Manitas (Karla Sofía Gascón), who contacts the brilliant lawyer Rita Mora (Zoé Saldaña) to ask for help in her intention to change sex and become who always wanted to be.
And although they supposedly would not contact each other again, the former criminal, now like the Emilia of the title, looks for Rita four years later to ask her to return his wife Jessi (Selena Gómez) and his children to Mexico, whom he had sent. to Switzerland to keep them away from the danger that could loom over them when Manitas disappeared. The cases of disappearances hit Emilia deeply, to the point that she puts Rita to work in an association that recruits criminals in search of redemption. to recover bodies of missing people.
Adriana Paz, who has won the Ariel, the highest recognition in Mexican cinema, for best actress three times, talks about what the film provokes in her emotionally: “When I listen to the song ‘Para’, which talks about forgiveness, this character who says ‘so that I can look at myself in the mirror, here I am, and so that we do not forget those who are not there, here I am’. When I saw that in Cannes I was crying, Zoé was next to me and grabbed my hand because I started crying so hard, because it touches me very closely. I was born here, I grew up here, I was kidnapped about 18 years ago and I am here because something took care of me – she says while her voice breaks due to the tears that arise as she speaks. It hurts me a little – she lowers her voice, paused by sobbing – that people are taking the issue from that place and that they are being so violent… I really don’t find that. I believe that Jacques is a loving, respectful person, who loves Mexico, who was greatly impacted by this issue.”
He adds: “As he says: I was shocked that the next day no one talked about those 43 students who disappeared. And unfortunately we have to see it every day on the subway, those little sheets of missing people – he alludes to a scene from the movie – which is a family, not just a sheet, a number – he stops, the hiccups of crying overcome him – and they have become – he tries to contain it – a landscape and they become normal and it is not – the crying makes him pause –… and I think that in the world they are watching this movie and people arrive like this, like I am, and let them say no I knew this was happening and it hurts me, I’m sorry… I really don’t know how the message got to that place – the scathing criticism, the threats that led to the cancellation of a presentation – but I don’t feel that way.”
And the first Mexican actress to win the acting prize at Cannes explains: “Since I was a spectator of the film for the first time, I never imagined seeing that topic, and I have made films about it, such as dead man ring –premieres on March 20–, but I never imagined that I could see it that way and that it could hit me that way and that it could transcend the borders of my country. That today we are talking about it, and that perhaps many people no longer want it because it hurts and they say why another movie about the missing? Because, unfortunately, it doesn’t stop happening and that they are now talking about it in a lot of places outside of Mexico, I don’t know, it’s putting that topic on other tables that maybe it wouldn’t have reached.”
And Karla Sofía Gascón, the first transsexual woman to win the best actress award at Cannes, maintains after listening to Adriana Paz: “I am listening to Adriana and I am reflecting on something important. When we are nominated for awards, unfortunately there are nominations for drama or comedy/musical, I don’t understand the qualifiers – that is the category of, for example, the Golden Globes that Emilia Perez ended up winning. It can’t be a musical that isn’t a comedy, it seems, so I think this is a very serious film. Maybe they associate that name given to the nominations, comedy/musical, as if it were… but this film should not be classified as a comedy/musical, it is a very serious film that touches on and addresses many topics for viewers to reflect on. I think it is very important to make that differentiation.”
*Javier Pérez He does reports, chronicles and interviews, as well as film criticism and coverage of cultural issues. Direct ForoFoco. Nobody wants to accompany him to the movies: he won’t stop eating popcorn or talking about something else.
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