Things are looking up for “Emilia Pérez.” France has chosen the upcoming Netflix release as its submission for the Best International Feature Oscar. Acquired by the streaming service out of Cannes, the film won both the Jury Prize and Best Actress prize for its female ensemble at the 2024 edition of the annual international film festival along the French Riviera.
The operatic crime drama about a fearsome Mexican drug cartel leader that enlists a plucky lawyer to help coordinate their gender reassignment surgery is written and directed by French auteur Jacques Audiard, whose 2009 film “A Prophet” was one of the last of France’s submissions to receive a Best International Feature nomination.
The film was chosen by revamped Oscar committee featuring 11 French professionals on both the artistic and industry side of filmmaking, including recent Oscar-nominated producers Nadim Cheikhroua (“Four Daughters”) and David Thion (“Anatomy of a Fall”), Oscar-winning filmmaker Florian Zeller, Golden Lion-winning “Happening” director Audrey Diwan, and more.
“Emilia Pérez” was on a shortlist with three other Cannes premieres from this year: Grand Prix winner “All We Imagine as Light” from director Payal Kapadia, “The Count of Monte Cristo” from director Alexandre de La Patellière, and “Misericordia” from director Alain Guiraudie.
While the latter two films seem unlikely to be the submission for any other country, there is still some hope that “All We Imagine as Light” could be the Best International Feature Oscar submission for India.
The buzzy “Emilia Pérez” submission comes a year after France’s controversial choice to submit Tran Anh Hung’s “The Taste of Things” over Justine Triet’s Palme d’Or winner “Anatomy of a Fall.” While the former only made it onto the Best International Feature shortlist last December, “Anatomy of a Fall” went on to receive the Oscar for Best Original Screenplay, as well as nominations for Best Picture, Best Director, Best Actress, and Best Film Editing.
After a successful fall film festival relaunch, where it developed buzz at Telluride, and was one of the runner-ups for the People’s Choice Award at the Toronto International Film Festival, “Emilia Pérez” seems pegged for a similar trajectory, with the potential for lead Karla Sofía Gascón to become the first trans Best Actress nominee.
Co-stars Zoe Saldaña and Selena Gomez also have major Oscar buzz for the first time in their careers for performances considered to be Best Supporting Actress contenders. As “Emilia Pérez” is a musical, Clément Ducol and Camille’s work on the film has been pegged for Best Original Song and Best Original Score.
Should “Emilia Pérez” receive the nomination for Best International Feature, it will be the first of France’s submissions to make it in since Ladj Ly’s “Les Misérables” in 2020. And should the Audiard film win, it will be the first time since Régis Wargnier’s “Indochine” in 1993 that the country picked an eventual Best International Feature Oscar winner.
