Selena Gomez wins over critics at the Cannes Film Festival

After watching 'Emilia Perez', the two-hour film, Cannes critics seem to have found one of the favorite candidates to win the Palme d'Or this 2024. This film, directed by renowned filmmaker Jacques Audiard, is a thriller that follows the story of a transgender drug dealer, but tells it in the format of a musical. The audacious proposal won over the audience, which, according to The Hollywood Reporter, gave it more than nine minutes of ovation, the longest and most enthusiastic of the event so far. Loud applause and shouts of emotion supported the performance of Zoe Saldaña and Karla Sofía Gascón, who burst into tears, while Selena Gomez, with sensitivity to the surface, covered her face with her hands.

For the range of themes and elements present in the feature film, Emilia Perez's success enshrines Jacques Audiard's mastery of maneuvering through the labyrinth without his story losing coherence. As he told Variety, the idea came to him more than two years ago as a four-act opera and that's how he developed it. The project marks his sixth entry in the main competition at Cannes, a festival where he won the Palme d'Or in 2015 with Dheepan.

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Critics have responded enthusiastically. David Rooney of The Hollywood Reporter praised the film for its “Almodóvar-style humor” and its ability to combine different genres such as melodrama and film noir. The journalist also highlighted Karla Sofía Gascón's performance, considering her a “wonderful revelation”, and noted that Zoe Saldaña has never been better. As for the former Selena Gomez, the critic underscored her ability to convey both the toughness and vulnerability of her character.