# Johanne Sacreblu

Johanne Sacreblu is a 2025 Mexican comedy musical short film directed by filmmaker Camila Aurora [es] and written by Héctor Guillén. It was created as a parody of and protest against the French film Emilia Pérez.
The film premiered on YouTube in January 2025 and makes use of elements stereotypically associated with French culture, such as mimes, croissants, baguettes, and rats. It also features attire including berets, striped clothing, and thin mustaches, in response to the simplistic way in which director Jacques Audiard portrayed Mexican culture in Emilia Pérez.

## Plot

Johanne Sacreblu, a trans woman formerly known as Jonathan Sacreblu, returns home to Villa Croissant, a picturesque French town, after spending some time as a rancher in Mexico. Her family, who runs France's largest baguette shop and have appointed Johanne as their heir, are enraged at her for transitioning, as they feel that it would not be a good look for her when she takes over the family business, despite her iterating that she does not want it. At the same time, the Sacreblu family's business rivals, the Ratatouille family, who runs France's largest croissant shop, are also berating their son Agtugo, a trans man, for being an unfit heir to their business due to being born a woman. Both families decide to put the two in a bread-making competition.
That night, Johanne talks to her friend Emily and Marie Antoinette's ghost about her lack of enthusiasm for the competition and her discomfort with France's rampant discrimination. The next day, the first round of the competition, hosted by Ladybug and Cat Noir, takes place, in which Johanne and Agtugo are told to race by foot to the Eiffel Tower (depicted on screen through a similar-looking radio tower in Mexico City). Johanne wins, and Agtugo is scorned by his family for losing. Later that night, a man named Jacques Audiard laments being made of garbage.
Johanne meets with Agtugo at night, and tells him her desire to eliminate the racism and sexism in the country. The two end up falling in love and agree to tie in the next round, which had the goal of wrongfully deporting Muslims, in order to spread their message. They tie during the competition the next day, but various French government leaders refuse to accept the result and demand the two engage in a baguette duel to the death.
The duel takes place in the style of a silent film. After Johanne and Agtugo publicly refuse to engage in the duel, French ambassador Papa Johns arrives with Agtugo's brother Chofls and Johanne's family butler Wigles and threatens to kill both of them with French fries. After he stabs Agtugo, Johanne reveals that Papa Johns is being controlled by a rat on his head. Papa Johns admits this, revealing that he uses the rat's secrets for evil. Wigles then kills Papa Johns, explaining that his willingness to work with him was a result of Stockholm syndrome.
Sometime later, Johanne is interviewed by a reporter about the incident. To conclude the interview, Johanne announces that she has a gift she brought back from Mexico. The gift is a cake, and the film ends with a freeze frame as she is about to slam the cake into the interviewer's face. In a post-credits scene, Johanne's mother finishes recounting the story to Johanne and Agtugo's son and tenderly sings a song about how bad he smells (satirizing "Papa," a song from Emilia Pérez in which Emilia's son sings about how his father smelled like spicy food, guacamole, and cigarettes).

## Background

After the release of Emilia Pérez, many media outlets reported that the film had not been well received in Mexico and Latin America. It was criticized for the lack of Mexican actors and actresses in a story set in that country, for being filmed in France instead of Mexico, and for portraying Mexican reality—including critical social issues such as drug trafficking and enforced disappearances—in a superficial and stereotypical manner. Additionally, the trans community expressed dissatisfaction with the way Karla Sofía Gascón's character portrayed the story’s protagonist, and many internet users and Mexican public figures began questioning and mocking Selena Gomez’s accent in the film.

## Production

On her TikTok account, user Camila D. Aurora expressed her dissatisfaction with Emilia Pérez as a Mexican trans woman, feeling misrepresented by the French film. Her video reached thousands of people, leading to the idea of creating a short film to mock Emilia Pérez while also protesting the way international cinema portrays Latin American realities. On January 16, Camila Aurora launched a GoFundMe campaign to finance the film and released it just a few days later.

## Critical reception
### Audience

The public reception of the short film has been overwhelmingly positive. Due to Johanne Sacreblu's success, many clips went viral online, with consideration for a theatrical screening in Mexican cinemas. An extended version of Johanne Sacreblu, with an unreleased song, was shown in theaters in Mexico on February 14. The ticket sales will go to madres buscadoras, a women's rights organization, and civil society organizations.