Karla Sofia GASCON Selena GOMEZ.&Zoe SALDANA

Three very different actresses found sisterhood and career-transforming rolesin Emilia Pérez.

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Blazer, $4,500, jacket, $5,200, MIU MIU. Pants, SERGIO HUDSON, $1,225. Flats, CHANEL, $1,225.

NOTHING ABOUT Emilia Pérez should make sense. It's a graphically violent story about cartels, but also an exuberant musical. It's a family story and a crime story. It's shocking-and it's great. French director Jacques Audiard cast Spanish actress Karla Sofía Gascón as Emilia, a powerful cartel leader who has been quietly transitioning while looking to live a different kind of life. Gascón has had a long career in Mexican television and film, but this is her first movie role since coming out as a trans woman. She stars alongside Zoe Saldaña, who plays her lawyer, and Selena Gomez, as her former wife.

Gascón, Gomez, and Saldaña quickly bonded on set-and all three, along with their costar Adriana Paz (who plays Pérez's love interest), won the Best Actress prize at the Cannes Film Festival. "The sisterhood ended up becoming what got us through," says Gomez, who saw the film as a step into the unknown. "It's still getting me through. I'm so glad I'm not doing a bunch of scary things on my own."-
ADRIENNE GAFFNEY

Coat, $3,990, dress, $1,790, belt, $390, MICHAEL KORS COLLECTION. Earrings, BOTTEGA VENETA. Sandals, GIUSEPPE ZANOTTI, $1,050.

Beauty Tip: For a smooth, natural makeup look, try the RARE BEAUTY True to Myself Tinted Pressed Finishing Powder ($30).

ELLE: What did you think of the script for Emilia Pérez?