Whether you are a fan or a critic, one of the leading contenders for the 2025 Oscars is the Netflix film Emilia Pérez. This French production in Spanish has received an impressive 13 nominations, making it the most nominated film this year. Its availability on Netflix makes it easily accessible to viewers.

Directed and written by French filmmaker Jacques Audiard, Emilia Pérez follows the journey of Rita (portrayed by Zoe Saldaña), a Mexican lawyer who decides to assist a notorious drug cartel leader, Manitas (played by Karla Sofía Gascón), in transitioning to a new identity as a woman named Emilia (also played by Gascón, a transgender actress).

Several years later, Emilia Pérez, the former cartel leader, has fully embraced her new identity as a woman. However, Emilia longs to reconnect with her children. Seeking help from Rita once again, Emilia aims not to vanish from her family but to reunite with them. Rita introduces Emilia to her ex-wife (portrayed by Selena Gomez) and children as a long-lost relative, and at Emilia’s urging, becomes entangled in Emilia’s tumultuous life. This includes Emilia’s efforts to atone for her past deeds by establishing a nonprofit organization dedicated to locating and honoring the victims of cartel violence.

It’s a bizarre story to say the least. So where did it come from? Some of you are even wondering: Is Emilia Pérez based on a true story?

Is Emilia Pérez based on a true story?

Emilia Pérez is not based on a true story. While it’s true that there are drug cartels in Mexico, and that many people die or disappear as a result of drug cartel violence, everything else about the story, including all of the characters, are completely fictional—meaning, made-up. Writer/director Jacques Audiard was inspired to write a story about a drug dealer who transitions by a character in Boris Razon 2018 fictional novel, Écoute.

“Six years ago, I read Boris Razon’s novel Écoute,” Audiard explained in an interview for the Emilia Pérez press notes. “Halfway through the book, a transgender Mexican drug dealer comes along who wishes to have surgery. As the drug dealer wasn’t that developed over the following chapters, I decided to start my story with that character.”

Audiard went on to explain that he began to adapt the book as an opera, but changed his mind as he got deeper into the characters. “In the book, the lawyer was a man — a worn-out, disillusioned guy at the end of his tether. I turned him into a woman, who’s also a lawyer, but she’s young, ambitious, unscrupulous, and cynical and played by Zoe Saldaña,” Audiard said. “It also felt like a script that could cut across genres —film noir, melodrama, comedy of manners, musical, and telenovela.”

So there you have it. Emilia Pérez is not in any way, shape, or form based on a true story. It’s entirely made-up, based on a novel that was also made up. No true story here!