Emilia Perez

French director Jacques Audiard’s audacious masterpiece is at once a darkly funny Mexican crime drama and a jaw-dropping musical. It is powered by a quartet of superb actors—Zoe Saldaña, Karla Sofía Gascón, Selena Gomez, and Adriana Paz—who shared the Best Actress prize at this year’s Cannes Film Festival in addition to the film winning the festival’s Jury Prize.

Rita Moro Castro (Saldaña) is a Mexico City defense attorney whose brilliant strategies have kept many murderous but wildly affluent clients out of jail. Her reputation draws the attention of Manitas Del Monte (Gascón), a notorious kingpin, who is secretly transitioning. He hires Rita to arrange an itinerary of under-the-table procedures with the world’s best surgeons, while making a plan for the wife (Gomez) and kids he’s leaving behind. The process is a success, Manitas’ murder is staged, and Emilia Pérez is born. This new identity affords Emilia the ability to create a whole new life for herself, but the past begins to creep back, threatening to undo everything she and Rita have worked so hard to achieve.

Director Jacques Audiard is a French director, producer, and screenwriter. His credits include The Beat That My Heart Skipped (05), A Prophet (10), Rust and Bone (12), and The Sisters Brothers (18). Emilia Pérez (24) is his latest film.