Netflix’s Emilia Pérez is facing backlash for its portrayal of Mexican culture

[Teletubby 152,933]

At the Golden Globes Sunday, Emilia Pérez walked away with one of the biggest prizes of the night but as Karla Sofía Gascón took the stage for a speech about self-actualization, the internet flamed the Netflix movie for what many called an inauthentic portrayal of Mexican culture and trans experience.

“When Mexicans tell you that a movie… is portraying a Mexico full of stereotypes, ignorance, lack of respect and is profiting from one of the most serious humanitarian crises in the world,” wrote Mexican actor Mauricio Morales in an X statement. 



Online critics have begun to point out that Jacques Audiard, a French director does not speak Spanish, did not film the musical in Mexico. 
“It’s a racist, xenophobic mess with awful Mexican representation made by a French director who didn’t even bother to research our culture” said one x user.

One of the most significant criticisms of the film is the exclusion of Mexico-born actresses in the film’s three lead roles, given that the film takes place in Mexico, and is about the very serious issues of drug trafficking that affects the country.

Selena Gomez’s poor Spanish-speaking skills have been heavily criticized since the movie was released.  Some Mexican users have even made memes and TikToks out of one of her lines in the film, when she talks to her boyfriend on the phone, and says, “Hasta me duele la pinche vulva nada más de acordarme de ti,” in her broken Spanish. (In English, the line translates to: “Even my ****ing vulva hurts when I think of you.”) Viewers critiqued both her pronunciation, and the written dialogue in Gomez’s lines.

Despite the film’s storyline taking place in Mexico, Emilia Perez is a French production and was filmed entirely in France. 

Others have criticized the film’s portrayal of transness as an outdated, regression of trans people on screen.

[South Blonde 6,263]

Well, this award season just got more interesting all of a sudden   

[Plastic Flower 5,294]

Yeah nobody here (Mexico) is supporting this movie. And I agree with that. 

[REALITY 77,730]

Why is it only getting this backlash now? The movie’s been out for months, but I feel like I’m only seeing people turn on it now after it won a ton of Golden Globes. 

[dove 534]

2 minutes ago, Reality said:

Why is it only getting this backlash now? The movie’s been out for months, but I feel like I’m only seeing people turn on it now after it won a ton of Golden Globes.

I think that’s why. When it starts winning awards it becomes more popular and more prone to criticism and more people start to realize how bad it is.

[clownery 6,882]

9 minutes ago, Plastic Flower said:

Yeah nobody here (Mexico) is supporting this movie. And I agree with that. 

I am not from Mexico but I was baffled, it's extremely insensitive and borderline racist, I am not joking, I can't believe this movie is even a contender.

5 minutes ago, Reality said:

Why is it only getting this backlash now? The movie’s been out for months, but I feel like I’m only seeing people turn on it now after it won a ton of Golden Globes. 

Maybe you are not from Latin America, but this movie has been receiving backlash since September, Selena Gomez ridiculous accent went viral many times. 

[candydarling 1,841]

8 minutes ago, Reality said:

Why is it only getting this backlash now? The movie’s been out for months, but I feel like I’m only seeing people turn on it now after it won a ton of Golden Globes. 

because the golden globes gave it visibility?? I had heard about the movie but didn't know what it was about and its issues. I didn't even know selena gomez was in it which just makes the whole situation even more absurd lol 

Edited January 7 by candydarling

[Oriane 21,308]

6 minutes ago, Reality said:

Why is it only getting this backlash now? The movie’s been out for months, but I feel like I’m only seeing people turn on it now after it won a ton of Golden Globes. 

No, it has had backlash before. I watched it last month and when I looked at the Wikipedia page to learn more about the movie, I already saw all of the backlash.

Edited January 7 by Oriane

[Plastic Flower 5,294]

7 minutes ago, Reality said:

Why is it only getting this backlash now? The movie’s been out for months, but I feel like I’m only seeing people turn on it now after it won a ton of Golden Globes. 

It got worse after the Golden Globes but the hate was already there. This isn’t new but why would American media give a **** about our opinion? 
I just want to mention that this didn’t start like this. Mexican people were defending Selena when an established Mexican actor/comedian dragged her performance in an interview. This completely changed when the movie was leaked (it hasn’t premiered here yet). 

Edited January 7 by Plastic Flower

[Oriane 21,308]

One "funny" thing and one of the multiple reasons why I didn't like the music is that the songs were written by a French lyricist, and then translated to Spanish...

[Levine 23,721]

The movie is bad. I'm convinced Netflix spent the big money for these awards and some of these noms. 

[Levine 23,721]

5 minutes ago, Oriane said:

One "funny" thing and one of the multiple reasons why I didn't like the music is that the songs were written by a French lyricist, and then translated to Spanish...

Oh my god

[RAMROD 111,062]

14 minutes ago, Reality said:

Why is it only getting this backlash now? The movie’s been out for months, but I feel like I’m only seeing people turn on it now after it won a ton of Golden Globes. 

As far as social media concerns, it was started by Ariana stans after she is lost to Zoe Saldana on golden globe actually 

[Plastic Flower 5,294]

7 minutes ago, Oriane said:

One "funny" thing and one of the multiple reasons why I didn't like the music is that the songs were written by a French lyricist, and then translated to Spanish...

And they hardly make any sense in Spanish  if it were up to us this would’ve been Joker FAD part 2 kind of situation.

[LG2008 5,706]

23 minutes ago, Reality said:

Why is it only getting this backlash now? The movie’s been out for months, but I feel like I’m only seeing people turn on it now after it won a ton of Golden Globes. 

I saw backlash even before it premiered... Maybe it's getting more evident now that it's getting more attention. I saw the film yesterday and I enjoyed it but I also get why they're angry about it. And also, as a Spanish speaker is surprising how they got away with it and winning awards when they clearly used Google Translate for the script and the songs. Some songs are good but they sound kinda weird because some things are not grammaticaly correct, some other don't even make sense or just say some things in an unnatural way. Idk who thought it was a good idea to have a whole French team working on a Spanish speaking movie about Mexico and not even think about hiring someone to check if everything sounded natural 

Edited January 7 by LG2008