CANNES, May 19 — An intriguing musical about a Mexican drug lord escaping the narco life with a sex change — featuring Selena Gomez in a supporting role — premiered at Cannes yesterday. The plot for Emilia Perez initially sounded too crazy even for France’s shape-shifting master director Jacques Audiard, who previously won the festival’s top prize Palme d’Or in 2015. But gushing reviews suggest Audiard may be a favourite to win again as the competition reaches its halfway point.
The film stars Zoe Saldana, of Avatar and Guardians of the Galaxy , as a lawyer enlisted by the cartel boss who has always wanted to be a woman. There were rave reviews for 52-year-old trans actor Karla Sofia Gascon in the title role. Gascon transitioned at 46 having already built a family and a career in Spanish-language films and soap operas, and has written a book about her experiences with homophobia and transphobia.
Gomez plays the boss’s unsuspecting wife in a surprisingly gritty turn for the mega-selling popstar-turned-actor. Frontrunner This year’s Cannes, which concludes on May 25, has seen two American veteran directors deliver end-of-life testaments — Francis Ford Coppola’s deeply divisive Megalopolis and Paul Schrader’s deathbed tale, Oh, Canada . But Audiard has delivered a film that is bursting with youthful exuberance and audacious entertainment, as catchy reggaeton, Mexican tunes and French chanson are subtly mixed into a drama that tackles gender identity, gang v.