The musical, pulpy crime thriller “Emilia Pérez” soars into the air

There's so much going on in “Emilia Pérez,” filmmaker Jacques Audiard's audacious musical/melodrama/crime film, that it's impossible not to see the sheer ambition of it all.

There is obvious craftsmanship and moments of true transcendence, beauty and horror. Set in Mexico City, the film is about family, ambition, the possibility of change, cartels, disappearances, gender confirmation, money and corruption.

Sometimes the characters break out into fantastic musical numbers: some are full of anger, others full of joy and hope. Sometimes the songs barely come out in a whisper. And yet, for all the life, color and passion on screen, there is a distinct gap between all the big emotions the characters are experiencing and what the audience is feeling, which is virtually nothing. It's almost as if “Emilia Pérez” forgot to invite us along for the ride.

And it's quite a ride: One day, a cartel boss named Manitas (Karla Sofía Gascón) has the smart but underestimated lawyer Rita Mora Castro (Zoe Saldaña) kidnapped. Manitas wants gender confirmation surgery and Rita is supposed to take care of the logistics: she hires the discreet surgeon, fakes Manitas' death and transports his wife Jessi (Selena Gomez) and their two children to their new home in Switzerland. In return, Rita becomes rich. Somehow this is only the first act.

Four years later, Rita shines in new splendor. Her bushy eyebrows and frumpy suit are gone, replaced by the kind of grooming that only money and genetics like Saldaña's can bring. And she lives a cosmopolitan life in London, which we see all too briefly when she meets another woman who has undergone a major change: Emilia Pérez (Gascón).

Audiard briefly toys with the idea that Rita assumes that Emilia is there to kill her, to rid the world of any remaining evidence of those who know what happened. In fact, she simply misses her children and wants them to live with her in Mexico again. It's up to Rita to get them to move in with Emilia again and pose as an aunt they've never met before. If you're wondering where all these “Mrs. “Doubtfire” comparisons come into play. (The damn “Sicario” stuff is coming).

Saldaña brings a compelling ferocity to Rita, despite being a terribly underrated character. It's strange to spend so much time with someone and feel completely disconnected from who they are and what they want. She simply follows others, is a repository for everyone else's decisions, and has little room for maneuver or agency.

At the beginning of the film, Rita debates (in song) with a plastic surgeon in Hong Kong about whether or not changing the body has an impact on the soul. He doesn't believe that. She does it and even takes it a step further by singing: “A change of soul changes society, a change of society changes everything.” It's a beautiful idea that the film does in its maximalist, uncompromising way massive set pieces and high drama are more important than authentic emotion, handled clumsily.

At first glance, Emilia appears completely changed and no longer the vengeful, jealous and violent cartel leader she once was. She speaks softly, sensitively and cheerfully. She sets up a foundation to find all the missing people and give their families a chance at a dignified funeral and a farewell. She even finds love. And yet she can't bear to see Jessi move on. It's the stuff of soap operas – and not necessarily fun. Here it could even seem dangerously reductive.

Jessi sometimes feels like she's part of a completely different film, or rather a music video that somehow seems to be a homage to Pedro Almodóvar, David Lynch and Robert Rodriguez. It's funny and wild at times, and Gomez gives herself completely to the role of this woman being gassed into madness. But she and the film descend into absurdity without any relief or catharsis. After all these big ideas, all these grand themes and genre-bending gestures, we're left with shockingly little to hold on to.

(“Emilia Perez” contains some violent content, sexual material and language)

“EMILIA PEREZ”

Rated R. At the Landmark Kendall Square Cinema and the Alamo Drafthouse Seaport. Streams on Netflix on November 13th.

Grade: C+