Emilia Perez 2025 leads the pack oscar An optimist with one A total of 13 nominationsBut the movie has faced various controversies.

Carla Sophia Gascon The musical centers on the drummer as a powerful Mexican mob boss who hires a lawyer (Zoe Saldana) to help fake her death and undergo gender-affirming surgery. Gascon became the first openly transgender woman to be nominated for both a Golden Globe and an Academy Award for Best Actress.

Directed by French director Jack Audiard, Emilia Perez It premiered at the Cannes Film Festival in France in May 2024, where it immediately received a warm reception. Gascon, Saldana, selena gomez And Adriana Paz Awarded Best Actress Emilia Perez The jury awarded. However, criticism came after the movie hit Netflix the following September.

The cast and crew are aware of the controversy, and the director has encouraged people to watch the film before forming an opinion. “I would like to tell those who are participating in this debate that the film has not even been released in Mexico. They didn't see it," Audiard said CNN in Spanish While discussing the response in a January 15 interview. “So, if you want to criticize the film, criticize it after watching it. Then we will discuss.”

Below are the biggest points of contention Emilia Perez Critic:

Mexican representation

Emilia Perez It is set in Mexico and deals with sensitive issues such as drug trafficking, gang violence and missing persons Critics felt that someone who had not lived in a Mexico under such threat could not be the best person to tell such a story, and some accused the movie of perpetuating stereotypes.

"If there is something that Mexicans find scandalous in Emilia, I apologize," Audiard told CNN en Español.

It wasn't just the subject matter that caused the reaction. Gascon From SpainNot Mexico. Paz is the only Mexican-born actor among the leads. The film is also set in Mexico - but Audiard was originally filmed in France by Emilia Perez.

“I came to the scout position. At that time, I had every intention of shooting the movie here,” Audiard added. "It's all, completely, in natural locations. But in the end I couldn't. I even thought that when I can't do it in natural locations, I can do it in the Churubusco studio," he said. "But there were more financial advantages in France. But the artistic director Came here to do research. He even came here to Mexico (and) rehearsed."

Spanish in question

Many Spanish-speaking viewers raised their eyebrows when they saw Emilia Perez. Audiard wrote the script and French singer Camille wrote the lyrics, and both had to work with a translator because neither spoke Spanish. The songs and dialogues have been criticized as static and awkward, and several social media users have pointed out that the English subtitles are not accurate translations.

"Camille worked with a great translator, Carla Aviles, who is Mexican," the director said The New York Times In November “But we had problems throughout the shoot, for example, with Selena's Spanish accent. He's a Texan. Carla Sofia Gascon speaks Castilian Spanish. He is from Madrid. Given that I don't speak Spanish, the nuances of Castilian vs. Mexican accents were lost on me. We had all these problems with pronunciation, but we fixed them in the edit. We did a lot of dubbing."

Audiard expressed his appreciation for the language to CNN en Espanol in January, explaining, "Even though I don't speak Spanish, I think its music is very beautiful and I wanted to do an opera in Spanish."

Meanwhile, Gomez, who is not fluent in Spanish, has faced backlash for her performance in the film, with critics claiming they can tell she doesn't know what she's talking about. Eugenio Derbez called her accent "uncanny", "I feel like she doesn't know what she's saying. If she doesn't know what she's saying, she can't give any nuance to her performance."

Gomez Responded directly via TikTok In December 2024. "I understand where you're coming from," Gomez commented in Spanish. "I'm sorry I did the best I could with the time I was given." He later apologized for his comments.

Trans representation

happy One article called Emilia Perez "a step back for trans representation." The film was noticeably absent from the GLAAD Media Awards nominations on Wednesday, January 22. Honorees were lauded for their meaningful representation of the LGBTQ+ community.

Many trans critics have cited issues with the film, ranging from the unrealistic portrayal of gender-affirming surgery to the way Emilia's transition seems equated with morality.

Autostraddle slammed the movie as "unique cis nonsense" for being filled with overplayed tropes about trans people. Critic Drew Barnett Gregory wrote, "It's not about crime or anything that's not allowed." “It's boring. I don't understand why a movie that is so unsettling in other ways would choose to play down its strengths with such a shallow understanding of its title character."

Meanwhile, Pink News The biggest offense to note was that it didn't feel like an honest story of transformation. Critic Amelia Hansford wrote, "The point is not that trans representation must be perfect, but that it must be sincere, and Emilia Perez doesn't feel sincere."

Using AI

Sound Designer Cyril Holtz Said an artificial intelligence company, Respicher, was used to change Gascon's voice. For a song that takes place before Emilia's gender-affirming surgery, the director wanted Emilia's voice to be different. They used AI to mix the voices of Gascon and Camille, who wrote the musical number.

"In the case of Carla Sofia, it was more complicated because there were parts of the field that were extremely difficult, especially because she had already made her transition and there were registers that were no longer accessible to her," Holtz said in French. During an interview about technology in Cannes.