In this no-holds-barred episode of the Adult Beverage Film Podcast, your favorite cocktail-fueled crew takes on Emilia Pérez, Jacques Audiard’s genre-bending, gender-exploding, narco-musical that’s equal parts Scarface, Les Misérables, and RuPaul’s Drag Race: The Redemption Arc.
Set in the gritty underworld of Mexican drug cartels, this film flips every expectation on its head—starting with a ruthless cartel boss who secretly wants to transition and become… Emilia Pérez. Yes, you read that right. But instead of gritty crime beats and tough-guy tropes, Audiard delivers the transformation with Broadway ballads, pastel colors, and some of the most moving sequences ever set to choreographed violence. Oh, and did we mention it’s a musical? With full-blown showstoppers and synchronized prison dancing?
Selena Gomez steps in as the conflicted wife, Karla SofĂa GascĂłn absolutely slays in a history-making performance as the titular Emilia, and ZoĂ« Saldaña shines as the burned-out lawyer who accidentally signs up for the wildest client of her career—and possibly her spiritual awakening. There’s crime. There’s glitter. There’s justice. And there are questions about identity, forgiveness, and what it really means to change.
🎙️ On the mics:
- Laura gushes over the emotional core and calls dibs on the soundtrack for her next karaoke night.
- Patrick wonders if we’ve entered a post-genre world where everything’s a musical… and he’s here for it.
- Squeaker raises an eyebrow, mutters something deep about duality and reinvention, and then takes the film apart with the precision of a philosophy professor in a leather jacket.
- Kent tries to keep the group sober enough to land a point… fails… but ends up championing this wild ride as one of the most original films of the year.
This ain’t your typical narco thriller. It’s a cinematic unicorn—part political fable, part identity opera, part cabaret confession—and it’s impossible to forget.
Pour yourself something strong. Tune in. And prepare to have your idea of genre (and justice) lovingly smashed into glittery pieces.
This is Emilia PĂ©rez, and this episode might be our most outrageous deep dive yet.
