Netflix’s Emilia Pérez follows the journey of four women in Mexico, each pursuing their own form of happiness. A fearsome cartel leader, Emilia (Karla Sofía Gascón) enlists Rita (Zoe Saldaña), an unappreciated lawyer stuck in a dead-end job, to help fake her death so that Emilia can finally live authentically, as her true self. The feature also stars Selena Gomez, Adriana Paz and Edgar Ramírez.
Emilia Pérez was written and directed by Jacques Audiard, and leads this season's Academy Awards with 13 nominations, including those for Director, Cinematography, Editing and Best Picture. Nominee Juliette Welfling has a long history editing Audiard’s work, and says her involvement on this film dates back to 2019, when she got to read the first version of the screenplay. The film was ultimately shot and edited in 2023 and 2024.
“I had never cut a musical before,” reveals the editor, who cut the project using a 2022 version of Avid Media Composer. “It was a very exciting challenge. I love dance, and cutting choreographed scenes has been a fantastic pleasure to me. I think editing in general has a lot to do with rhythm, with finding the right pace, so in a way, I didn’t feel that cutting musical scenes was that different to cutting drama scenes. To me, it’s all about the emotions and the sensibility coming from the performances, or from the filming itself. Feelings are what mostly guide me when I’m cutting a movie. I try not to think too much about potential technical issues and not get hindered with them so that I can really feel free to cut as my heart tells me, in an organic way. That’s exactly what I tried to do with Emilia Perez.”
The 97th Academy Awards will be presented on Sunday, March 2nd.