And the winner of the Cannes Best Actress award is....

[GrumpyPanda]

yes, you guessed it.

One of four, but the film's centered on his character and named for it, and he's the one who got handed the trophy.

https://www.billboard.com/culture/tv-film/cannes-2024-selena-gomez-emilia-perez-karla-sofia-gascon-best-actress-winners-1235693165

Ironic, isn’t it. Moore’s film is about the horrors of women growing old in Hollywood. Being discarded.

And here, if the man wins best female actress, we would have women being discarded. Not because they are old but because they are not men.

It’s the way it has been all along.

It would make a great film.

It would make a great film.

Perhaps one day it will.

There are films about McCarthyism.

At any occasion.

Even the Guardian thinks it is rubbish

https://www.theguardian.com/film/2025/jan/23/oscars-groupthink-pushes-emilia-perez-the-weakest-nominee-to-a-record-breaking-lead no

The Oscars brought in DEI rules that govern the eligibility and worthiness of films to be considered for various categories so I’m sure Emilia Perez ticks many boxes and voting for it will give Academy members a frisson of moral superiority.

And as Peter Bradshaw rightly points out, it's not just the trans issue, it's the fact that it's Mexico too.

Just dropping this Before and After from Glinner's substack. Bet you can't tell which is which?

(Yeah, I know it'll get deleted but hopefully a few will see it before then).

Interestingly, the audience score on Rotten Tomatoes is at 30% compared with 76% for the critics. Go figure. And doesn't bode well for the Academy.

https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/emilia_perez

https://slate.com/culture/2025/01/oscar-nominations-emilia-perez-movie-netflix-globes-selena-gomez.html

Enjoyed this review.

Something I found very interesting in the Slate review is this part, particularly the bit I've put in bold.

"At one point early in the film, Rita sings to a skeptical surgeon, “changing the body changes society; changing society changes the soul. Changing the soul changes society; changing society changes it all,” which feels like the closest the movie comes to a thesis statement. But it’s also a moronic sentiment, and one that carries distinctly reactionary implications. After all, the idea that redounds to “societies” and “souls” is the driving logic behind nearly every brand of bigotry under the sun, and transphobia especially."

'redound' is a verb I've seen rarely, and only in a sense similar to 'accrue' or 'reflect', but an American English dictionary assures me that one definition is "to have an effect for good or ill".

Doesn't like the mention of souls.

And doesn't want to admit that "transition" has an effect on society.

No, it's just "what individual people choose to do with their bodies", nothing to see here.

How very interesting. And utterly specious, of course.

@Chersfrozenface well, it's Slate. They probably couldn't trash it without putting in something about "transphooooobia," particularly this week. Though it's interesting they didn't bring up the ample criticism it's had from the TQWTF crowd as well.

That said - deliciously vicious!
"It’s also the precise sort of preening cinematic onanism that Hollywood types like to think of as visionary, which is the reason the film’s Golden Globes triumph was just followed by a leading 13 Oscar nominations from academy voters."

That was exactly the part that I found interesting, Cher, and I meant to look up what 'redound' means!

Still not quite sure I gather what he means.

And they did briefly mention this:

'LGBTQ+ voices have criticized the film’s ham-handed depiction of gender transition, with GLAAD decrying the film as a “profoundly retrograde portrayal of a trans woman.”'

Another review has this comment:

'The film is just idiotic, an involuntary remake of Mrs. Doubtfire'

Haud me back.

www.thecut.com/article/emilia-perez-netflix-movie-review.html

After all, the idea that redounds to “societies” and “souls” is the driving logic behind nearly every brand of bigotry under the sun, and transphobia especially."

I don't understand that use of "redounds". I'm familiar with the word but more often in the positive sense of "redound to her credit" or the very arcane use that is like "rebound". I don't track this use. I have to assume that it either doesn't make sense or it's being used in a way I've not seen before (entirely possible).

The Merriam Webster dictionary says that one definition is "to have an effect for good or ill".

Dictionary.com, under American usage, gives the definition "to have a good or bad effect or result, as to the advantage or disadvantage of a person or thing".

Could mean positive, could mean negative. What an incredibly useless word.

It is very unclear from the article what it is supposed to mean.

Possibly denying that "what individual people choose to do with their bodies" has any effect, positive or negative, on societies.

But what of "souls"?

My best guess is that the author is trying to say that "what individual people choose to do with their bodies" has nothing at all to do with societies or souls.

But that is just my interpretation. The wording is actually as clear as mud.

www.spiked-online.com/2025/01/24/why-has-a-man-been-nominated-for-best-actress/

Mexicans none too happy.

https://apnews.com/article/emilia-perez-mexico-trans-narco-f268517c050212fdedd05547e0a35cc1

Seems the "community" really can't agree if EP is "cis nonsense" or stunning and brave representation.

https://www.out.com/gay-news/emilia-perez-trans-critics

Mexicans so pissed off with the terrible portrayal they're asking for their money back at cinema and have made a parody using French stereotypes

I wonder if the Oscars are going to take into account the feelings about the film from people in Mexico? Probably not as important as trans.
https://www.bbc.com/culture/article/20250121-why-some-mexicans-are-criticising-oscar-tipped-emilia-perez

I love the quote from the director in that article (on criticism of filming in France rather than Mexico). "It may sound pretentious but did Shakespeare have to visit Verona to write about it?
https://tenor.com/en-GB/view/pretentious-moi-pretentious-fawlty-towers-basil-fawlty-sybil-fawlty-gif-3140477092025628809

Sorry, that was meant to be a Gif.

Well it's consistent... France is Mexico if I say it is, a man is a woman if he says he is...

I have wondered for a while what would happen if a trans person adopted a persona who is not only a different sex but a different culture. Would people accept the former but not the latter, and how would they cope with the cognitive dissonance. This isn't quite that, but it's indicative.

I have wondered for a while what would happen if a trans person adopted a persona who is not only a different sex but a different culture.

This has happened in more than one case. People will criticise the cultural appropriation but not the "gender".