This Mexican Director Took Revenge On "Emilia Pérez" By Making A French Film Entirely Without A French Cast Or Crew
The short film “Johanne Sacreblu” has gained more than 2.5 million views in less than 10 days on YouTube.
Despite being acclaimed at awards and garnering the most Oscar nominations for the year, the film “Emilia Pérez” has failed to receive the support from the communities it aims to represent — leading one woman to lead a viral parody short, criticizing the film’s stereotypes on Mexico and trans women.
“Emilia Pérez”, a musical thriller, was directed by French filmmaker Jacques Audiard and tells the story of a cartel boss in Mexico, who leaves the life of crime and drugs to become her true self, Emilia Pérez, a trans woman.
Despite the movie's acclaim among critics in Europe and North America, the film has been criticized for not including any Mexican actors and crew members, as well as its stereotypical and superficial representation of people in Mexico.
Audiard even admitted during a film festival in Mexico that he did almost no research before producing the movie.
“I kinda already knew what I had to understand,” he said during an interview.
People have said his lack of research shows his unwillingness to understand how gang violence affects people in Mexico.
“It’s the lack of info that makes it insensitive: we don’t want a white French director to portray the violence we have to face every day,” one person wrote on Twitter, adding, “I’m not opposed to foreign artists making films about other countries, as long as they have good research.”
"Mexico hates Emilia Pérez. "Racist Euro Centrist Mockery". Almost 500K dead and France decides to do a musical," another person wrote.
The buzz surrounding “Emilia Pérez” prompted one Mexican trans woman director named Camila Aurora to create a parody of the film to illustrate its insensitivities.
After watching the film, Aurora described it as “absurd and absolutely transphobic”, saying the director also gives a superficial depiction of trans people.
“I find it very humiliating because this director makes people believe that being a woman is something that can be manufactured,” she said during the podcast “Hablando de cine con” (Talking About Cinema With).
On Jan. 25, she released a short film titled “Johanne Sacreblu” on YouTube as a “homage to Emilia Pérez”.
Dubbed “Mexico’s revenge” for the portrayal of Mexicans in “Emilia Pérez”, the film, which features all Mexican actors, tells the love story of Johanne Sacreblu, a French trans woman whose family runs France’s biggest baguette shop, and Agtugo Ratatouille, a French man whose family runs the rival croissant shop.
The families force their children to enter a competition to determine whether France’s best bread is the baguette or croissant.
Throughout the film, the Mexican actors use a comical French accent while adorning French mustaches and berets.
It also comments on French people being smelly and racistas well as dirty streets in France.
Disney’s “Ratatouille” and characters from the children’s TV show “Miraculous: Tales of Ladybug and Cat Noir” also make an appearance.
Viewers have described “Johanne Sacreblu” as a “masterpiece” with people from Latin America joking that it truly represents France.
The short film gained more than 2.5 million views in less than 10 days and has a 9.7/10 rating on IMDb.
Aurora said her 28-minute short is a “critique”, but also just a “very expensive TikTok” meant as a “caricature”.
Aurora said it will soon be played in cinemas and will get a part two.
Almost has reached out to Aurora for comment.
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