Netflix’s crime comedy musical Emilia Pérez is by far the wildest potential Best Picture contender at the 2025 Oscars. The combined talents of Gascón, Zoe Saldaña, and Selena Gomez led the cast of Emilia Pérez, which won the Jury Prize and the Best Actress Ensemble award at the 2024 Cannes Film Festival after its world premiere in May. The film is a loose adaptation of the 2018 novel Écoute by Boris Razon, which features a kingpin wanting to get gender-reassignment surgery.
Directed by French filmmaker Jacques Audiard (Rust and Bone, The Sisters Brothers), the genre-blending film delivers innovative music numbers and choreography infused with a gut-wrenching story about unfulfilled desire and regret. It is France’s official entry for Best International Feature at the upcoming 97th Academy Awards, which will be held on March 2, 2025. Months before the Oscars will take place, Emilia Pérez’s November 13 release on Netflix has generated awards season buzz as well as controversy and backlash.
Emilia Pérez
is now streaming exclusively on Netflix.
Emilia Pérez Is An Audacious Contender For Best Picture
Emilia Pérez follows Saldaña’s Rita, a defense lawyer in Mexico City looking to make a difference, who encounters an unusual but lucrative opportunity from cartel kingpin Manitas Del Monte as he aims to fulfill his lifetime dream of transitioning to a woman. Emilia Pérez’s soundtrack is the essential highlight of the film as well as the heart and soul of the inspirational yet tragic narrative. Although Emilia Pérez takes place in several locations, the film was shot mostly in studios in Paris, France.
Emilia Pérez has generated early Academy Award buzz for Gascón’s titular character, who would become the first trans actress to ever be nominated for an Oscar. Saldaña is also an early favorite for Best Supporting Actress and Selena Gomez’s original song Mi Camino is also a top condenser for Best Original Song. There is also a strong possibility that it could be nominated and win Best International Feature.
Could Emilia Pérez Actually Win Oscars? What It’s Up Against
According to Variety, Emila Pérez currently ranks in the top 3 films most likely to be nominated for Best Picture after Anora and Conclave, placing it in an exceptional position. Other nominee contenders include The Brutalist, Gladiator II, Wicked, Dune: Part Two, Blitz, The Room Next Door, and A Real Pain. Some longshot Best Picture contenders include A Complete Unknown, Sing Sing, September 5, Nosferatu, Inside Out 2, The Piano Lesson, and Challengers. At this point, it would be shocking if Emilia Pérez was not nominated for at least a few Oscars, most likely for Saldaña’s supporting role and Gomez’s original song.