France puts forward ‘Emilia Pérez’ for 2025 US Oscars
The ‘transgender musical’ film has been recognised at Cannes, but has also attracted controversy
The CNC nomination is no guarantee of nomination by the US Academy
Valeriya Zankovych/Shutterstock
France has submitted the ‘transgender musical’ film Emilia Pérez to represent it at the prestigious film Academy Awards (the Oscars) in March 2025.
The CNC (Centre national du cinéma) announced the film, which is directed by French screenwriter and producer Jacques Audiard, as its pick on Wednesday September 18.
The Spanish-language film (which is set in Mexico) is an adaptation of Mr Audriard’s opera libretto of the same name, which was itself an adaptation of Boris Razon's 2018 novel Écoute.
The CNC’s selection does not guarantee that the US Academy will nominate the film, but the work has already been recognised at Cannes, and has sold 800,000 tickets in France so far.
The cast features already well-known in-the-US Selena Gomez, and Zoe Saldana, plus Mexican actress Adriana Paz, and Spanish trans actress Karla Sofía Gascón. The film shows Ms Gascón - who is 52, but lived as a man until age 46 - playing a drug trafficker before and after gender reassignment surgery.
At Cannes, Ms Gascón dedicated her win to “all the trans people who are suffering”, and added: “Being trans is unimportant. A trans person is someone going through a transition. Once they have transitioned, that’s it. They are what they are.”
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Controversial comments
Yet, the film has already attracted controversy after far-right politician Marion Maréchal - granddaughter of Front National founder Jean-Marie Le Pen - wrote on X after Ms Gascón won: “So a man has won best actress. Progress for the left means the erasure of women and mothers.”
In response, Ms Gascón’s lawyer Etienne Deshoulières told AFP: “We need to stop such comments,” and added that the actress had filed a legal complaint for “sexist insult on the basis of gender identity”.
Speaking to Radio France Internationale, Ms Maréchal responded to the legal complaint. She said: “I will not be prevented from continuing to say what is the truth. Being a woman or a man is a biological reality, whether you like it or not. The XX or XY chromosomes cannot be surpassed.”
Pressure to pick
The CNC jury was under pressure to make a good choice this year, after it chose The Passion of Dodin Bouffant last year, instead of Palme d'Or winner Anatomy of a Fall (which would go on to win a wide array of awards, including the Oscar for Best Original Screenplay, six César awards, a BAFTA, and many others).
Another option was The Count of Monte Cristo, which has sold eight million cinema tickets in France.
