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Why People Are Upset at ‘Emilia Pérez’

'Emília Pérez' critiques have called out the film's poor trans representation, whereas the film’s cast and director have defended the musical.

Another X user called the film’s Golden Globe wins a “joke,” adding that “it’s a racist, xenophobic mess with awful Mexican representation made by a French director who didn’t even bother to research our culture.” The wild, drama-comedy-musical film follows Rita (Zoe Saldaña), a Mexico City lawyer, who helps a cartel leader (Karla Sofía Gascón) in search of a doctor willing to perform gender-affirming surgery in secret. She goes from being responsible for drug-related slayings to assisting those who are victims of cartel violence, and despite Audiard’s efforts to humanize her, he “fails to realize that his titular heroine is, if anything, the villain of his film,” read a review by The Cut.

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