When it won the award for Best Picture, Musical or Comedy at the 2025 Golden Globes ceremony, director Luca Guadagnino, whose film Challengers (2024) was also in contention, walked out of the room.
On 14 January 2025, director Jacques Audiard cancelled his appearance at a Q&A for Emilia Pérez at the Cineteca Nacional de México (National Film Archives of Mexico) in Mexico City mere hours before the event due to the backlash in Mexico over the film's portrayal of Mexicans and the drug trafficking crisis. Adriana Paz, (the only Mexican in the cast), was the only person who attended the Q&A after the screening. All went well and the public praised her for her professionalism. Audiard was criticized for leaving Paz alone at the event.
Upon its release, the film was criticized for its lack of the native representation both in the cast and crew and for not paying attention to details like the use of words such as 'Cárcel' instead of 'Penitenciaria' in a scene showing the prison, or the line "la pinche vulva" when the word "vulva" is a medical term that is not used informally. Mexican actor Eugenio Derbez said it was odd for a director that doesn't speak English or Spanish directing a film in such languages, set in Mexico, without understanding the culture, adding that American actors speaking Spanish with no proper knowledge of the words was distracting and lacked truth.
One of the first scenes shows a jury trial in Mexico. However, there is no jury trial in Mexico.
The Academy received backlash for this film's 13 Oscar nominations, due to the controversial portrayal of Mexican culture, grammatical errors with the spoken Spanish, the use of artificial intelligence to enhance the lead actress' singing voice, and the offensive representation of trans people in the film.