As mentioned in the introduction, the purpose of this blog is to talk about how the 13 nominations that Emilia Pérez has received upholds a regime of truth as outlined in Stuart Hall's text. We have already described how the movie aligns with the Hall framework, so this page will go a step further describing a few of the 13 nominations and what they add to the regime of truth the movie is upholding.
This award is often given out to the movie that the Academy decides was the best movie of the year overall (Encyclopedia Britannica 2019). To give the producers of this movie the benefit of the doubt, releasing this movie on Netflix was a good idea to get as many people as possible to see this film, and therefore the streaming numbers could justify this nomination. However, the movie was only released in Mexico to viewers on January 23rd, 2025 which is the date that the nominations themselves were released. Because of this, a nomination for the Best Picture would not be justified because a majority of the audience the filmmakers are representing in this film have not seen the film yet. The Mexican release date being on the same day as the nominations release day upholds a regime of truth under which Mexican audiences are not seen as important to the Oscar Nomination process and the consequencial award show. This regime of truth keeps the power located in the US filmmakers and Oscar voters, meaning that movies that are popular in other countries might not be looked at or even seen as an option to nominate. By doing this, those in power can choose what movies they want to nominate and which ones they should keep hidden. This problem is becoming less secretive as the years go on however, as more movie fans and watchers are speaking up about the mismatch in what the general public loved to see, versus what is winning the awards at the awards show. Most recently, the academy changed a rule such that voters have to watch all the movies in a certain category to make their selection, which can alleviate this divide, but raises questions about whether previous votes were "stolen" from better films that deserved the award more (Davis 2025).
The director of this film Jacques Audiard was nominated for the Best director for his work on Emilia Perez, which is a surprising feat, knowing that Audiard is not a member of any group he is trying to represent, nor did he to much research on the people he was representing. According to an interview about the film, posted by user comingofsage on X, Audiard did now care to research the people of Mexico or their culture for this film, stating that he "already knew what [he] had to understand" (Audiard 0:10-0:45). By not furthering his understanding about the Mexican culture before taking on this project, Audiard is upholding a regime of truth that characterizes Mexico based on stereotypes and Eurocentric knowledge. Therefore, by nominating Audiard for Best director, the Academy is telling their audiences that stories based on stereotypes and fallacies is okay to present in films and that they will even be rewarded for doing so. To combat this, the academy should do more research about the directors and their filmmaking process to see if they would be the right type of person for this nomination, and if their work accurately achieves the movie's goal.
Zoe Saldaña (Rita) accepting her award for Best Supporting Actress
In the clip above, Zoe Saldaña is accepting her first academy award for her role in Emilia Perez. In this speech, she thanks the director and the producers for giving her the opportunity to perform in a film where she, an American of Dominican Origin, could sing and speak fully in Spanish (Saldaña 2:34). Saldaña is helping break apart harmful systems of representation where non Latino actors/actresses play roles that belong to those of Latino descent. Her performance and this speech highlight the good that comes from giving someone of this background the opportunity to act as someone of a similar background to theirs, as they can bring a better, more accurate representation to the character than someone who is not Latino. Having someone play a role that matches their background can break up the harmful regimes of truth that are connected to films and filmmaking, and bring hope to future actors/audiences that someday they will see someone that represents them on the big screen. On the other hand, Zoe Saldaña is not Mexican, nor is she of Mexican descent. Because of this, it can be argued that the regime of truth is still being upheld, as the role did not go to someone of Mexican descent and is therefore not a representation that is fully true to citizens of Mexico. I would say that this is an issue that filmmakers still have to work towards to fix, but having an actress of Latino descent is still a step towards breaking down barriers for further, more accurate depictions of Mexican characters in film.
Another of the Academy Award winnings for Emilia Pérez is the original song "El Mal". This song is sung around the end of the film, as Rita is having second thoughts about her place in her life and what she is helping by working with an ex cartel member, even if they are trying to change their life for the better. This song tries to make a message about power dynamics in our modern world, saying that those in power will do anything to stay in power committing crimes and fraud such that their bad deeds stay hidden (Audiard 0:20-0:40). I do not speak Spanish, so I cannot speak on behalf of the accuracy of the lyrics, but based reactions from audiences, these lyrics are in bad taste, often not understanding the complexities of the language, translating phrases directly from English, sometimes providing inaccurate meanings to the lyrics. Many commenters on the video below mentioned that these lyrics sounded as if they were created using Google Translate (@Chevistan1 2025). When one considers the reactions of native Spanish speakers, it becomes clear of the importance of doing ones research on the language. By not doing research on other songs made in Spanish, the songs in this film come across as childlike, taking away from an impactful message that they were going for. Additionally, by doing so, Audiard is representing music made in Spanish as lackluster, unprofessional, and not an accurate representation of the types of musical art produced in Mexico. By giving this award to El Mal, it will become easier for Western Audiences to take the easy way out, not listening to those who are knowledgeable about foreign languages and how they can be used expertly to produce music and film.
https://lyricstranslate.com/en/emilia-perez-ost-el-mal-english (Translated Lyrics to English here)