Emilia Perez, a movie directed by Jacques Audiard, has won six Golden Globe awards and 13 Oscar nominations. But is the recognition the movie has received deserved?
Several controversies have been circling the movie since it came out, including the use of AI to modify the singing harmonies of one of its actors. These controversies seeming to be career halting.
Tim Lammers, a writer from Forbes magazine, wrote on Jan. 21 that the voice modification was intended “to accomplish the desired effect, Holtz said Gascón’s singing voice was blended with that of French pop star Camille—who co-wrote the music for Emilia Pérez.” Despite his reasoning, people have found their use of AI distasteful.
Mr. Wilson, QUEST AP English Language, and Composition teacher, calls the progression of AI “unhuman“. Humans will always do a better job at everything, from editing to acting to coloring everything. All art. Partially because humans have imperfections and they will put that into their work, their imperfections become a part of the thumbprint,” Wilson says.
When asking PEACE junior Michele Morris about her thoughts on AI in film she comes to a similar conclusion as Mr. Wilson saying that “It takes away from the authenticity.”
There has also been a huge controversy regarding the Karla Sofia Gascons’ tweets, which have recently resurfaced. Amongst her several racist, anti-muslim, and anti-jew comments that have re-emerged since 2020, she has also had tweets from 2022 where she calls her Emilia Perez costar Selena Gomez a “rich rat.” With the resurfacing of these tweets, Karla Sofia Gascon has since deleted her X account.
The resurfacing tweets have shown the true importance of behavior online. Karla Sofia Gascon’s careless tweeting has led me to believe that it is unfair to be praising her with so many nominations.
Overall, this highly anticipated movie has become a well-known disaster, earning 72% from critics and only 16% from verified audiences on Rotten Tomatoes. They spent about twenty-two million on the movie and earned back only fifteen million meaning they grossed negative six million. This movie has caused an overwhelming amount more controversy than it’s worth. The excitement for this movie had originally come from the leading trans actress, Karla Sofia Gascon, but expectations have fallen short with the showing of her true colors.
Anthony Torres • Mar 6, 2025 at 1:50 pm
Dear Corydon Editor,
On March 5, 2025, Alisa Barth wrote an article titled “Emilia Perez Movie”. This article informed readers about the controversial film of Emilia Perez and its use of AI in the making of it. I found the article very informative and learned more facts about the movie then I previously did. The article also fits into the broader debate of the use of AI specifically in the field of art and creation.
I’ve heard many controversies about Emilia Perez and the use of AI is something new I haven’t heard about from this movie. Barth tells us how AI was used to enhance the singing of one actor to make them sound better. While AI can help in the field of STEM and help the technical parts of a movie, it shouldn’t be used in instances like these. The dialogue, music, singing, acting, language, these are all artistic fields which are ways for humans to express themselves and show their talent. The imperfection of these art has just made them more human and unique and to use AI to make them perfect sacrifice that authenticity and humanity. Now it may make the singing better but it’s not justified or right, it isn’t a problem that needs to be solved but a problem that makes it unique. Overall the article quotes these themes and confronts this dilemma in a well informed and sophisticated way.
I’ll be honest when I clicked the article I expected more controversy that I’ve heard form this movie like how it was made by a French director that depicts Mexico and its society. Other controversies like how it offends Mexicans, LGBTQ+ community, and their lackluster and forgettable songs for a musical. Also it would have been fitting with the AI topic to also talk about The Brutalist and the use of AI to make Adrien Brody’s Hungarian sound more authentic and the fact he won the OScar for best actor from the movie. Overall, this was a very well made and informative article that maybe could have said more for a broad title.
Sincerely,
Anthony Torres
Sebastian Sachs • Mar 6, 2025 at 1:37 pm
Dear Corydon Editor,
On March 5, 2025, Alisa Barth wrote an article titled “Emilia Perez Movie.” Something I really appreciated about this article about the Emilia Pérez movie is that it highlights just how problematic the movie really is; be it internally or extraneously. As much as the buzz around the movie revolves around the fact that it even managed to snag a nominee at the Oscars for Best Picture, critics and audiences alike have managed to spark massive controversy with this award and threw the award in for a challenge. Something I’d even add on is the fact that many people on social media apps and websites have even stated that they believe that the Oscar for Best Picture shouldn’t have even included Emilia Perez. What Alisa Barth could have also included in the article as well could have been talking about the fact that, not only was the movie full of massive controversial decisions, it was a very sloppily-written movie. The film takes the viewer as clueless and can’t stick to an idea, which causes the film to be a hot mess on its own merits. Great article overall.
Sincerely,
Sebastian Sachs
Celeste Haley • Mar 5, 2025 at 3:02 pm
On March 5, 2025, Alisa Barth wrote an article titled “Emilia Perez Movie”. I enjoyed reading this article because of how relevant the topic is. I agree with the backlash towards this movie but before reading this article I didn’t know that the movie used AI to help produce the songs or that the lead actress was found making mean tweets towards co-star Selena Gomez. I enjoyed Barth’s questioning of whether or not the movie deserved praise from critics and 13 Oscar nominations. Additionally, I enjoyed the statistics of audience reviews of the film versus film critic’s reviews showing that standard audience members disliked the movie far more than the film critics.
Another point that I found interesting was how many people were excited about the movie after seeing that the lead actress was trans but were disappointed by her behavior towards fellow cast members and racist comments made on X. Furthermore, I enjoyed Barth’s description of the use of AI in the film and how she quoted others who supported her claim that AI isn’t true creativity and takes away from the authenticity of a work. Barth’s claims about the movie not being deserving of it’s praise from critics were well executed and her evidence points educated me on the controversy surrounding Emilia Perez.