MEXICO CITY – It may have been embraced by the Academy, but just a day after its debut in Mexico, the acclaimed “narco-musical” Emilia Pérez was already drawing rebukes for superficial portrayals of sensitive subjects.

The movie by French director Jacques Audiard debuted in Mexico on Thursday on the heels of wins at Cannes and the Golden Globes, as well at 13 Oscar nominations – a record for a non-English-language film.

The film tells the story of a fictional Mexican drug trafficker nicknamed Manitas del Monte ( Karla Sofia Gascón ), who leaves behind her life of crime by becoming a transgender woman and activist searching for Mexico’s thousands of disappeared. But problems arise from Manitas’ uncontrollable jealousy toward her ex-wife Jessi (Selena Gomez), despite falling deeply in love with another woman Epifanía (Adriana Paz).

Yet the ambitious “Emilia Pérez” and its star-studded cast met with a fizzle at the box office – 20,000 attendees at its premiere and about US$74,000 (1.5 million pesos) – and mounting criticisms that it was a not-so-faithful portrayal of Mexico that glamorizes the violence that has long plagued the nation.

Viewers filing out of theaters Thursday night said they had been eager or curious to see the movie after hearing it was the most nominated film at the Oscars.

It was nominated for Best Picture, Best Actress for Gascón, Best Supporting Actress for Saldaña and two nominations for Best Original Song. That comes after receiving a number of prizes at its world premiere at Cannes and wins in four different categories at the Golden Globes.

But many left with mixed feelings.

Dora Pancardo said she found it entertaining to the point of not blinking during the musical numbers, but she did not like the film’s portrayal of violence.

“The director wanted to convey the part that we’re in a violent society, which isn’t a lie, but it seemed crude to me,” said the 45-year-old mentor for women. “I also didn’t like that Selena Gomez spoke such bad Spanish. There’s certain dialogue and certain expressions that we don’t use in Mexico.”

The film’s writing has been a frequent target of criticism, as well as a cast of leading actors that only includes one Mexican in a very supporting role – Paz – making for a mishmash of Spanish accents. It was also shot in France.

Mexican film critic Gaby Meza said “Emilia Pérez” is “exotic and bold,” but without depth. “Not in the trans experience, not in the narco experience, not in the disappeared, but rather a touch of everything like an ingredient to sweeten.”

While narco violence and the dramatic tales of cat-and-mouse between criminals and authorities in Latin America have long captured the imagination of Hollywood, they’re also a point of trauma for many Mexicans who live with the consequences. of such violence.

More than 121,000 people have gone missing in Mexico’s drug war, according to federal government data. Families spend years searching for their missing loved ones and demanding justice, often putting their own lives at risk to do so.

Among them was Artemisa Belmonte, who has sought justice for her mother and three uncles who went missing in the northern state of Chihuahua in 2011. Belmonte started a petition on Change.org asking that the movie not be released in Mexico.

“I feel like it’s extremely offensive, overly simplistic, it makes it frivolous, I don’t understand the point of making something like that and that it has so many awards,” Belmonte said from Ciudad Juarez, across the border from El Paso.

“You can’t talk about the subject as if it were something to make a musical about,” she said, stressing that the wound of disappearances is still open. “Evidently they didn’t investigate anything, they did not sit down with a person who has had a missing family member.”

During a press conference in Mexico, director Audiard assured that he approached the subject with prudence and reflection, but recognized the criticism.

“If it seems to you that I do it too lightly, I apologize,” he said.

Prominent filmmakers like Guillermo del Toro, Issa López, James Cameron, Denis Villeneuve and Meryl Streep have come to the movie’s defense.

Héctor Ayala, a 58-year-old retiree, said he ran to theaters when he heard about the film’s Oscar nominations.

“It’s good that they’re focusing on (the violence), that way governments and society will do more to stop problems like disappearances and organized crime,” he said.

Guillermo Mota said the animated online debate over the film drew him to the theater.

“It’s an international movie made to understand Mexico a little,” said the 49-year-old financial adviser. “So the community that’s unfamiliar with this Mexican problem and that doesn’t go to see Mexican documentaries — because they’re never going to see them — at least has an experience that helps them see a little more.”

Láurel Miranda, a transgender human rights advocate said she had received a casting call for the film looking for “a middle-aged transgender actress with a robust build, because of course we trans women always have to be hardy,” she said sarcastically.

In addition infusing the movie with “soap opera stereotypes” of what transgender women should look like, Miranda questioned the original script that had Manitas only wanting to become a woman to evade justice. Gascón pushed to change the motivation to a woman looking to make her transition.

For years, Mexico has been the second most deadly place in the world for transgender women, a reality not reflected in the film.

“Emilia Pérez is portrayed as an all-powerful character, even at the end as a saint, when in Mexico the reality for trans people is diametrically opposed, we should think about who this representation serves,” she said.