Emilia Perez
It would n’t be an Oscars time of year without some argument , and this year , it ’s the funnily laudedEmilia Pérezthat ’s realize no common sense to anyone outside the Academy . The comedy - musical - criminal offence dramaEmilia Pérezstars trans actress Karla Sofía Gascón as a male - presenting Mexican cartel kingpin who enlists Zoe Saldaña ’s lawyer in Mexico City to help her leave behind the corporate trust and go surreptitious to find gender - affirming care and modulation as a woman so she can live her life genuinely as the titular Emilia Pérez .
Theunevenly - reviewedEmilia Pérezis also a story about Mexicans that features no Mexican leads , shoot in France by a Gallic conductor , Jacques Audiard , focusing on Spanish - fluent characters limn by actors criticized for a lack of authenticity in their accent . It ’s a lot to unpack andthe backlash to it has been significant and ongoing(viaToday ) . That has n’t stoppedEmilia Pérezfrom garnering over a dozen Oscars nominations , including Best Picture , and Best Actress for Gascón . The variance has left stack wondering how on earthEmilia Pérezmanaged to become the most - put up movie for the 2025 Oscars , snag 13 Academy Award nomination . It ’s a fair question worth diving into and the answer bring out a batch about the current state of Hollywood .
Emilia Pérez Leads All Oscars Contenders Despite Not Impressing Critics & Audiences Hating It
For Once, Critics & Audiences Are Largely In Agreement
presently , Emilia Pérezis sit at a 71 % score onMetacriticand a 75 % critics score onRotten Tomatoes . While those are n’t necessarily high-risk score , they ’re not glowing , either – certainly not enough for a picture show that ’s getting this much Oscars bombination . One would anticipate to see scores in the ninetieth percentile , in this lawsuit , but it ’s not . Its oecumenical critics ' scores have been so low , in fact , that ifEmilia Pérezultimately take home the biggest prize of the night at the 2025 Oscars , it will be the lowest - shop Best Picture winner sinceCrashin 2006 .
Critics are n’t infallible , but it ’s really telling thatEmilia Pérez ’s Rotten Tomatoes critic ' grade is observably lower than any other 2025 Best Picture nominee .
critic are n’t infallible , but it ’s really state thatEmilia Pérez ’s Rotten Tomatoes critics ' score is noticeably lower than any other 2025 Best Picture nominee . Compare it to fellow nomineeA Complete Unknown , for example : despite that movie having the same Metacritic rating and a Rotten Tomatoes critics score 5 % high , it only has eight nominations toEmilia Pérez ’s 13.Eight Oscar nominating address is nothing to scoff at , but it ’s not the juggernaut thatEmilia Pérezhas been .
2025 Best Picture Nominee
Current RT Critics Score
Current Metacritic Score
Custom Image by Ana Nieves
Oscar Nominations
I ’m Still Here
95 %
85 %
3
Anora
93 %
91 %
6
Conclave
79 %
8
The Brutalist
90 %
10
Dune : Part Two
92 %
5
Nickel boy
2
The nub
89 %
78 %
Wicked
88 %
73 %
A Complete Unknown
80 %
71 %
Emilia Pérez
75 %
13
But this is n’t a case where critics were lukewarm on it and audiences sleep together it , either - across the board , audiences have hatedEmilia Pérez , evidenced by its disceptation and backlash , as well asRotten Tomatoes ' abysmal 26 % hearing score . Further , the very radical the movie was set about to courtroom - those of Mexican heritage and the LGBTQ+ community - were actively turned off by it , citingEmilia Pérez ’s deeply problematic stereotypes of racialism against Mexicans and Mexican culture ( viaCBC ) , as well as transphobia ( viaGLAAD ) . So critic are n’t impressed by it and audience do n’t like it at all , and yet , it somehow conduct the gang of Oscars contenders in nominations . The reason for that is who votes for the Oscars .
Hollywood & Academy Voters Love Emilia Pérez (For The Wrong Reason)
It’s Worth Putting It Into Historical Context
For better or worse , it ’s neither critic nor audience who vote on the Oscars;it ’s the Academy , and thus , it ’s Hollywood . And , for whatever reason , Hollywood lovesEmilia Pérez . Part of this can be consider through the lens of where Hollywood is at in the wake of the # OscarsSoWhite yr . The movement flare up in 2015 , when influencer and Black militant April Reign coined the hashtag to describe the Oscars playing nominees for that year : across four play categories and 20 nominations , every exclusive nominee was blanched . The same happened the next yr , in 2016 , and the outcry was enough to wedge the Academy to reexamine its voting torso and if it was truly representative . To the surprisal of no one , it was n’t .
Since then , the Academy has taken strides to broaden its ranks , and to its credit entry , it has done a peck of employment in that respect - butit still has miles to go before it fully get its head around rightful equity in storytelling . It ’s dead on target that the Oscars acting and Best Picture categories have been more fairly balanced in recent years - mostly - which is dandy to see . There ’s still good deal of room for melioration , but the workplace is at least being done , however , imperfectly .
The Academy still too quickly falls into the old habit of chuck itself on the back for doing the bare lower limit , and it still confuses tokenism for veritable representation .
But the Academy still too speedily falls into the old habit of patting itself on the back for doing the bare minimum , and it still confuses tokenism for authentic delegacy . So it ’s not a surprise that Hollywood is fall all over itself to prop upEmilia Pérezas an example of powerful and divers storytelling , even as the marginalized groups it purports to represent are flat out criticizing and rejecting its profoundly nauseating story .
Netflix’s FYC Campaign For Emilia Pérez Has Been An Onslaught
Netflix Has Paid & Paid Big To Make Their Movie A Contender
The other issue is that , despite what the Academy would have one believe , the Academy Award are often a popularity competition . That ’s not to say that no nominees deserve the nominating address they get ; the vast majority of them do merit their nomination and their win . Still , every year , there are a few foreland - come up choice and snubs . Less ofttimes , but still evident , is when a movie that is mediocre at best , and usually also elusive or cliché , abruptly gets buzzy -Green Book , which won Best Picture in 2019 ( arguably for many of the same reasons thatEmilia Pérezis arrive buzz this class ) , amount to judgment .
The nominees for Best Picture at the 97th Academy Awards are all well - made film , but some of them stand out as real highlight of 2024 ’s moving picture slate .
It ’s why studios spend huge meat of money on FYC ( for your considerateness ) campaigns during awards season ; there are batch of model of movies that were n’t in heavy contention pick up steam heading into the new year thanks to a juggernaut FYC campaign . The soiled secret of the Academy Awards is that FYC campaigns can be a moment like a rich kid getting into a esteemed school because their parents devote a immense sum of money , not because they earned it . Netflix originally boughtEmilia Pérezat Cannes for $ 12 million after other distributors steered clearand reportedly has drop at least twice that much on its awarding campaign(viaVariety ) . The streamer wantsEmilia Pérezto be a contender , and it ’s unforced to pay to get it there .
The dirty secret of the Academy Awards is that FYC military campaign can be a bit like a rich kid induce into a prestigious schooltime because their parents paid a huge sum of money , not because they earned it .
Netflix has also been savvy enough to lean hard into the trans and Mexican inclusion aspect with its talent during award season , set its leading women front and center while spend a penny the pressure rounds , simultaneously either cut ordismissing the rebound toEmilia Pérez , with Gascón at one point referring to other members of the LGBTQ+ community as " stupid " for disliking the picture , saying , " Being LGBTQ , having those labels , does not polish off your betise . "
Still , when a waft with the deep pockets of Netflix position its considerable PR weight behind a flick , it prepare waves , even if they ’re not organic single . And make no mistake , Netflix has put its full free weight behindEmilia Pérez . It really , really want one of itsNetflix Originals to lastly win Best Picture , and the pennon is gunning for it to be this year .
monition : The following segment and persona gallery contain deeply offensive examples of anti - opprobrious and anti - Mexican racism , anti - Aram racialism and Islamophobia , and misogyny .
Emilia Perez’s New Controversy Ahead Of Oscars 2025
Karla Sofía Gascón May Have Ruined Its Chances
That said , new tilt surrounding Gascón may be what tanksEmilia Pérez ’s chances for a Best Picture Oscar – and possibly any Oscar . From the jump , Gascón has n’t handled literary criticism ofEmilia Pérezwith grace . " Many are run a negative , nasty run against the cinema , " she antecedently stated . That was directed at the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico team for fellow Best Actress challenger Fernanda Torres , nominated forI’m Still Here . Those statements were enough to get the great unwashed to questionwhether Gascón had infract Academy rules with the accusations . It was decided she had n’t broken any rules , and Gascón recently backtracked on her accusation , but the damage was done . It ’s not exactly helped the backlash againstEmilia Pérezdie down .
Emilia Pérez is officially the most - appoint movie at the 2025 Academy Awards , and the internet is understandably baffle by its 13 nods .
That combative approach only got more scrutinized this weekwhen onetime tweet of Gascón ’s resurfaced , tweets that include wildly offensive anti - ignominious racialism , anti - Arab racism and Islamophobia , and misogyny . An interview with Audiard also surfaced in which the director tell that Spanish " is the language of undeveloped countries , the miserable , and migrants , " which has only add fuel to the fire of criticism against the director for his open patronage for portray Mexican civilization of Spanish accent with authenticity and care , and his disinterest in actually shooting in Mexico .
“ I want to acknowledge the conversation around my preceding social medium post that have caused suffer . As someone in a marginalize community , I know this suffering all too well and I am deeply sorry to those I have caused pain . All my life I have fight for a better world . I believe light will always triumph over darkness . "
The 2025 Oscars will air on Sunday , March 2 at 7:00pm EST/4:00pm PST on ABC and Hulu .
Sources : Today , Metacritic , Rotten Tomatoes , CBC , GLAAD , Variety
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