Eventually finding herself sat opposite Juan "Manitas" Del Monte (Karla Sofía Gascón) the kingpin of a drug cartel, the "bastard above all bastards" he offers her a job. Manitas wishes to disappear and be completely reinvented. It's left unsaid what will happen if she says no. On the bright side the work will make her very rich.
Rita works diligently at this and is rewarded handsomely for it, but then years later the pair cross paths again.
No good will come of this.
Jacques Audiard's Spanish language musical is at its best when it's being a musical.
Yes you read that right this is a musical set in the world of Mexican drug cartels: the corruption, the murders and disappearances and to add to this involves Manitas transitioning into the titular Emilia Pérez then later wanting to return and re-unite with her family.
This probably wouldn't work as a simple crime drama, turning it into a musical makes it highly emotional and to a degree slightly fantastical in places, really adding something.
Once it hits the middle section where Emilia attempts redemption in heading an NGO to look for the disappeared it falls down. This drops it mostly into conventional drama mode and while it's needed as a bridge into the (predictable) final act the thing that made it interesting is lost and not really recovered.
In the 2024 climate much will be made of the trans issues in this movie and for me that felt "old fashioned". That Manitas transitions into Emilia is obviously a key plot point to the movie but doesn't say anything really and while I was watching it I felt I was absorbing the conventional crime drama not anything about her transition.
Still quite an unusual thing though and worth your time 6/10.