ARI SHAPIRO, HOST:
The new thriller "Emilia Perez" involves a Mexican cartel boss, a lawyer and an explosive secret. That may sound pretty standard, but the story quickly spirals in unexpected directions. And critic Bob Mondello says the storytelling is just as unexpected.
BOB MONDELLO, BYLINE: Manitas Del Monte is a vicious cartel boss in Mexico City, macho, ruthless with steel-capped teeth, humane only with the wife and kids. But Manitas desperately wants out. After watching Rita, a defense lawyer, get an obviously guilty client off scot-free, the drug lord hires - well, kidnaps her...
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KARLA SOFIA GASCON: (As Manitas Del Monte, speaking Spanish).
ZOE SALDANA: (As Rita Moro Castro, speaking Spanish).
MONDELLO: ...Takes her to a secluded location, makes sure she knows who she's dealing with...
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GASCON: (As Manitas Del Monte, speaking Spanish).
MONDELLO: ...And offers her a deal. She'll be paid enough that she need never work again if she helps Manitas make a clean break not just from a life of crime but from life as a man.
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SALDANA: (As Rita Moro Castro, speaking Spanish).
MONDELLO: She wants to make sure she heard that right.
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GASCON: (As Manitas Del Monte, speaking Spanish).
MONDELLO: "I want to be a woman," says Manitas. As if that weren't a big enough switch from the average crime flick, when the drug lord lays out the terms of the agreement with Rita, it's to a beat.
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GASCON: (As Manitas Del Monte, speaking Spanish).
MONDELLO: Film maker Jacques Audiard has made what you'd have to call a genre-defying movie, a trans musical cartel melodrama that ranges from gritty and gunshot-riddled to downright campy, as when Rita heads for Bangkok on a fact-finding mission.
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SALDANA: (As Rita Moro Castro, singing) I want to know it all. What is the protocol, the techniques and the risks? How many operations? How much time do you need?
STEPHANE LY-CUONG: (As Thai Surgeon) Mammoplasty?
SALDANA: (As Rita Moro Castro, singing) Yes.
LY-CUONG: (As Thai Surgeon) Vaginoplasty?
SALDANA: (As Rita Moro Castro, singing) Yes.
LY-CUONG: (As Thai Surgeon) Chondrolaryngoplasty?
SALDANA: (As Rita Moro Castro) What is that?
LY-CUONG: (As Thai Surgeon) Adam's apple reduction.
SALDANA: (As Rita Moro Castro, singing) Yes, yes, yes, yes.
MONDELLO: All of this, from opening credits to gender confirmation, and even faking the drug lord's death, takes barely 30 minutes of screen time. The real complications come years later, when Rita, now having left Mexico, finds herself conversing in Spanish with a striking woman named Emilia Perez in a London restaurant. They have more than Rita expected in common, including the guy Emilia came with.
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SALDANA: (As Rita Moro Castro, speaking Spanish).
GASCON: (As Emilia Perez, speaking Spanish).
SALDANA: (As Rita Moro Castro, speaking Spanish).
MONDELLO: Rita stops and looks long and hard at Emilia.
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SALDANA: (As Rita Moro Castro, speaking Spanish).
MONDELLO: "It's you?"
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GASCON: (As Emilia Perez, speaking Spanish).
MONDELLO: If Rita thought she was out, she's now back in. Emilia wants to be with her children and has figured out a "Mrs. Doubtfire"-style way to reenter their lives, which will prompt an operatic soap opera of a third act that you'd pretty much have to call explosive.
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MONDELLO: Does this storyline trade in stereotypes about Mexico and reduce the trans journey to a plot device? Arguably, yes, just like the telenovelas it's taking cues from. But if the film is hardly a model of sensitivity, it's still possible to revel in its fervent belief in showbiz. Filmmaker Audiard got his start in music videos, and his stars don't let him down.
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SALDANA: (As Rita Moro Castro, singing in Spanish).
MONDELLO: Zoe Saldana, who began her career as a classical dancer, sparks and sizzles as Rita. Selena Gomez does a sort of "Only Murders In The Family" turn as she nails the drug lord's wife's numbers.
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SELENA GOMEZ: (As Jessi Del Monte, singing in Spanish).
MONDELLO: And the film flat-out wouldn't work without actress Karla Sofia Gascon, who is trans herself and plays the title character both before and after Emilia transitions.
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GASCON: (As Emilia Perez, singing in Spanish).
MONDELLO: Audiard worked with the star to incorporate her real-life experience into the role. Gascon remains close with her own daughter, too.
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GASCON: (As Emilia Perez, singing in Spanish).
MONDELLO: It is a charismatic performance, which doesn't really make "Emilia Perez" any less nuts. The film's final third heads to places no sensible story would head, singing all the way. I'm Bob Mondello.
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UNIDENTIFIED GROUP: (Singing in Spanish). Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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