Post-screening conversation with composers Clément Ducol & Camille. Moderated by Rajendra Roy, The Celeste Bartos Chief Curator of Film, The Museum of Modern Art, New York.

From the moment it introduces its titular antiheroine, a Mexican drug-cartel boss seeking gender-affirming surgery, this boldly genre-dissolving tour de force is predicated on the power of astonishing transformations. The most ambitious and exuberant film to date by Jacques Audiard, one of contemporary cinema’s most versatile filmmakers, Emilia Pérez is at once a darkly funny crime drama and a jaw-dropping musical, powered by a quartet of superb actors—Zoe Saldaña, Karla Sofía Gascón, Selena Gomez, and Adriana Paz—whose fearless performances defy every expectation. Winner of the Jury Prize at this year’s Cannes Film Festival, where its four leads also shared the Best Actress prize.

Emilia Pérez. 2024. France. Written and directed by Jacques Audiard. With Zoe Saldaña, Karla Sofía Gascón, Selena Gomez. 35mm courtesy Netflix. 132 min.