'Emilia Pérez' is a film that I feel like shouldn't work, yet I did actually have a positive two hours+ viewing it. The musical pieces do take some getting used to and I'm not entirely convinced by most of them, but again somehow it didn't overly bother me whilst watching.
There's no doubt, for me, that the greatest part of this is Zoe Saldaña. I've seen her in many roles before and I love her in those, especially 'Avatar' and even in a tiny 'Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl' role, but I'd say this is her best performance from the 11 movies that I've seen from her. Outstanding!
I also enjoyed those behind Saldaña, namely Karla Sofía Gascón and Selena Gomez; I watched the latter in 2012's 'Spring Breakers' a few weeks back, her acting has improved impressively. I do think if the cast weren't as strong as they are, I may have liked this much less.
I'm only now seeing all the furore about this film, that Wikipedia article makes for quite the reading - what a mess! This is why I like switching off the noise, even if it does make me feel like that meme where that guy calmly eats his food while a brawl breaks out around him.