At Cannes, Emilia Perez is a trans story told through music and mirth
At the recent 77th edition of the Cannes Film Festival, an out-and-out movie about a vicious goon, Emilia Perez, was hopping and skipping to the beats of rhythm and rhyme.
After a 12-day run and rather average crop of movies, the Cannes Film Festival’s 77th edition will wind down this evening (Saturday) with the Greta Gerwig (of Barbie fame) jury announcing the prizes. Between now and the ring of the bell marking the revelations which will pop out of the envelopes, the hours will see predictions and counter-predictions.
The title inching towards the goalpost leaving the rest behind is Jacques Audiard’s Spanish work, Emilia Perez – about a Mexico City lawyer who is paid by a drug lord to help him become a woman. It has to be done with utmost secrecy; even his wife and kids are kept out of this. The lawyer gets a fabulous sum.
The other movie that has the Palme d’Or buzz is Francis Ford Coppola’s Megalopolis. After an accident destroys a city called New Rome, an idealistic architect plans to rebuild it, but is opposed by a corrupt Mayor, who places obstacles on the way of renovation.
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Two more titles have the Palme buzz as well.Mahmood Rasoulof’s The Seed of the Sacred Fig has a strong narrative. The auteur escaped from home after a daring escape, and his political drama – which attracted a 15-minute rapturous applause – brutally condemns Iran’s killer ruling regime. Also a Best Director hopeful and with good chances in the Academy’s Best International Film slot, Sacred Fig may be in for the big award.
All We Imagine Is Light by India’s Payal Kapadia is about two nurses, and their relationship. Will this be a surprise winner? This is the first Palme d’or contender from India in 30 years. The last was Shaji N. Karun’s Swaham in 1994.
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