“Emilia Perez”, the film by Jacques Audiard, selected to represent France at the Oscars

The National Center for Cinematography (CNC) announced on Wednesday, September 18, that it had chosen the musical comedy Emilia Perez, by Jacques Audiard, to represent France in the best foreign film category at the Oscars ceremony in March 2025. The French application must be sent to the Academy of Oscars, which will announce on January 17, 2025 which countries are nominated in this category.

Shot in Spanish, between a dark thriller and choreographies to the sound of reggaeton, this film traces the repentance of a Mexican drug lord who changes his life and becomes a woman. It won the Jury Prize at the last Cannes Film Festival and also earned a collective acting award for Zoe Saldaña, Selena Gomez and the transgender lead actress Karla Sofia Gascon.

Last year, the committee responsible for choosing the French candidate came under heavy criticism for preferring The Passion of Dodin Bouffantfrom Tran Anh Hung, to the candidate expected by many, Anatomy of a fallPalme d’Or at Cannes and success in France and abroad. France was ultimately not selected to compete in the category of best foreign film. The episode resulted in a major renewal of the committee of professionals responsible for choosing the French candidate.

Now made up of ten cinema professionals with equal numbers of women and men (including one of the producers ofAnatomy of a fall) and chaired by Charles Tesson, former head of Critics’ Week in Cannes, the commission had pre-selected four films last week. In addition to Jacques Audiard’s film, The Count of Monte Cristoone of the biggest box office successes of the year, as well as two more confidential films, Mercy by Alain Guiraudie and All We Imagine as Lightby young Indian filmmaker Payal Kapadia, were in the running.