Emilia Pérez looks set for Oscar success, but for all the wrong reasons

If you watched the Golden Globes last night, you’ll have seen Netflix’s Emilia Pérez sweep the board with eight wins. But the attention might not be as genuine as it appears.

For those not familiar with the new movie, Emilia Pérez is essentially a Spanish dramedy soap opera. It follows male drug lord Manitas (Karla Sofía Gascón) who medically transitions into community do-gooder and generally mysterious rich woman Pérez, all with the help of lawyer Rita (Zoe Saldaña). This is within the context of many bizarre musical numbers – you’ve likely seen the “penis to vagina” one flying around social media. 

By the standards of any main streaming service, it’s bold. Netflix is punching you in the face with themes that many want to shy away from in 2025, with transgender representation leading the charge. Manitas’ operations aren’t merely mentioned and glossed over, we’re in the bloody operating theater with her. Emilia goes on to have an ex-wife, a lesbian lover, and some of her fingers severed as she’s kidnapped by the mob… naturally. 

When Emilia Pérez dropped a few months ago, it instantly baffled fans. Its Letterboxd score is hanging on in there at a respectable 3.0, and if you look at Rotten Tomatoes, critics are equally split down the middle. But now awards season has officially kicked off, the conversation has changed. Search the movie on social media and there’s one overwhelming feeling – it shouldn’t be winning anything at all.

Is Emilia Pérez just making awards voters feel good about themselves?

Netflix

Since I saw it in October, I’ve made no secret of the fact Emilia Pérez failed to strike a note with me. Watching its UK premiere in London felt like a collective hallucination nobody in the audience could make sense of. But to get to the nuts and bolts of why it’s not working for many, we have to look to the trans and non-binary critics in our community. 

I might be a different letter of the LGBTQIA+ community, but I came away from the movie thinking it had done a disservice to the trans experience. Trans representation at this scale has been long overdue, and now we have it here, it can equate those feelings of identity to criminality and crudeness (“From penis to vagina?” Really?). Critic Juan Barquin agrees, “Even if it wasn’t a regressive picture masquerading as progressive, or completely out-of-touch with the sociopolitical reality of Mexico, Emilia Pérez would simply be a boring one and that’s just as much a crime.”

Regardless of whether we’re professionals or just plain movie lovers, we have a duty to listen to the trans people around us to assess whether Emilia Pérez is doing what it needs to. With a story so driven by identity politics, we can’t really say “Oh, well it’s just fiction! No film can ever get these things completely right” either.

Lead actress Gascón is the obvious exception to this, and is rightly proud of the stellar performance she’s being recognized for. As is true of life, this still isn’t enough on its own to make up any of the eight Golden Globe wins for a film telling a trans story.

Netflix

This aside, there’s two key takeaways from the first big awards ceremony of the season – Emilia Pérez is likely to repeat its success at the Oscars, and we should be questioning why this is.

Of course, the film has resonated with many viewers. But when we have so many trans people and critics pointing out its flaws, we have to ask whether voters are making themselves feel good by voting for something so socially brave. Sadly, this is how I feel and I’m hardly the only one thinking this. 

Next Best Picture writer Brendan Hodges explains, “Emilia Pérez lets voters feel good about themselves for selecting something perceived as edgy, challenging, and socially conscious all at once, and despite thinking it’s retrograde trash I am honestly not surprised it’s doing well!”

We’re about to watch Trump being inaugurated into his second presidency as the world collectively shifts to the political right. That means representation has never been more important… but we still can’t have tokenism. 

If my gut is right and some awards voters chose Emilia Pérez mainly so they could be the heroes of the hour, that’s not doing anybody any favors. Instead, we need to listen to the people who actually have lived experience of what we see on screen.

Emilia Pérez is on Netflix now. Catch up with other big releases with more new movies streaming this month, as well as our round-up of the best movies of 2024.