Emilia Pérez arrived at the 2025 Academy Awards with a wave of anticipation, boasting an impressive 13 nominations that spanned nearly every major category. Yet, the movie’s journey from potential Oscar darling to historical underperformer proved to be a dramatic one.

This stark disparity between nominations and victories raises crucial questions about the factors that influenced the Academy’s final decisions. From resurfaced controversies surrounding its lead actress, Karla Sofía Gascón, to a significant disconnect between critical acclaim and audience reception, Emilia Pérez only won two Oscars and is now placed among the most notably unrewarded films in Academy history.

Emilia Pérez’s Two Academy Award Wins & Total Nominations Explained

The Movie’s Odds Had Dwindled Despite Its Many Nominations

Emilia Pérez was nominated for 13 Oscars, but only won two. The musical crime drama received nominations across almost every key category, from Best Picture to acting and directing. This wide-ranging recognition signaled not just a film of artistic merit but also a potential frontrunner in multiple categories.

The sheer number of nominations created an expectation of significant wins, fueling anticipation for a major night. The film’s nominations in key artistic categories, such as Best Director for Jacques Audiard and Best Adapted Screenplay, highlighted the creative vision and narrative strength of the production. Similarly, the acting nominations for Karla Sofía Gascón and Zoe Saldaña underscored the film’s powerful performances.

However, as the awards ceremony approached, the initial buzz surrounding Emilia Pérez began to wane. Despite its strong showing in the nominations, the movie’s odds of converting those nods into wins steadily diminished. The shift in momentum can be attributed to a confluence of factors, including the emergence of strong compeтιтion in several categories, the resurfacing of controversies surrounding the film’s cast, and a noticeable divergence between critical and audience reception. The film’s bold and unconventional narrative, while initially celebrated, may have ultimately proven divisive among Academy voters.

Emilia Pérez Now Has A Record Low After Losing 11 Out Of 13 Oscars

The Movie Suffered A Poor Nomination-To-Win Conversion Rate

Despite a strong showing with 13 Oscar nominations, Emilia Pérez suffered a significant defeat, only winning two awards. This poor conversion rate puts it in a historically low position, even surpᴀssing the previous record of The Curious Case of Benjamin ʙuттon (2015). The movie’s performance is a stark example of high nomination counts not translating into wins. The Curious Case of Benjamin ʙuттon had 13 Oscar nominations but only won three, for Best Art Direction, Best Makeup, and Best Visual Effects. Having won none for acting, this could be considered a snub.

Comparatively, Zoe Saldaña did well to take home Best Supporting Actress, despite controversy surrounding Emilia Pérez. Her win shows that the Academy felt her performance should still be acknowledged. Saldaña has also apologized to Mexicans offended by the movie, telling a journalist, “I’m very, very sorry that you and so many Mexicans felt offended […] That was never our intention. We spoke from a place of love” (per The Guardian). Nonetheless, the movie has faced backlash not only from the Mexican community but also from the LGBTQ+ community due to costar Karla Sofia Gascón’s past inflammatory statements.

Did Emilia Pérez’s Ongoing Controversies Kill Its Oscar 2025 Chances?

Karla Sofia Gascón’s Resurfaced Tweets Sparked Controversy

Upon its November 2024 release, Emilia Pérez was met with immediate pop culture enthusiasm. The film’s audacious premise – a cartel boss’s staged death and gender transition, depicted in a vibrant and genre-bending musical – was lauded as both creative and timely, particularly given its starring role for transgender actress Karla Sofía Gascón amid escalating global attacks on trans rights. However, despite its 72% Rotten Tomatoes Tomatometer score, it scored dramatically poorly with audiences, with a 16% Popcornmeter score.

The tanking of Emilia Pérez’s Oscar chances is likely because of the resurfaced tweets of its lead, Karla Sofía Gascón. The nail in the coffin was surely the tweet regarding the Oscars as recently as 2021: “More and more the #Oscars are looking like a ceremony for independent and protest films, I didn’t know if I was watching an Afro-Korean festival, a Black Lives Matter demonstration or the 8M. Apart from that, an ugly, ugly gala” (per The Independent). This, along with several other concerning tweets, have since been deleted, and Gascón has issued an apology.

Source: The Guardian, The Independent