Emilia Pérez

Undefeated in the courtroom, Rita (Zoe Saldana), a Mexico City defence attorney, is enlisted to tend to the affairs of a notorious drug lord (Karla Sofía Gascón) who has grown contrite and is now completing gender affirmation surgery. Rechristened Emilia Pérez and determined to right a litany of past misdeeds, she relies on Rita to reintegrate her in the lives of her wife Jessi (Selena Gomez) and young children. However, in Emilia’s past, there is more than one score to settle; there will be blood, ballads, and dance numbers.

Several decades into his distinguished career, Jacques Audiard (A Prophet; Rust and Bone) has delivered the most outré entry in his oeuvre with this maximalist musical that’s punctuated by gunplay and buoyed by unabashed melodrama. Gascón is absolutely mesmerising to behold as a woman striving for actualization and redemption. And everyone in the ensemble is singing from the same hymn sheet, staging a cinematic spectacle that needs to be seen and heard to be believed.

Captioned Screening: Screening with Open Captions
The Wednesday, Jan 22 screening is a Captioned Screening. Our Wednesday matinee Captioned Screenings welcome Deaf and hard of hearing audiences, along with anyone who benefits from captions. Films will screen with subtitles or (when available) open captions. This film will screen with open captions.

Imagine a world in which Stephen Sondheim made Sicario.

David Fear, Rolling Stone