Film pundits had long placed their bets on French director Jacques Audiard's musical "Emilia Perez," about a Mexican drug lord who transitions to a woman and starts a new life.

On Thursday, this Spanish-language Netflix musical drama scored a total of 13 Oscar nominations, including best international feature film and best picture. Set in Mexico but mostly filmed in France, the film also made history with Karla Sofia Gascon becoming the first openly trans actor to be nominated for an Academy Award for her performance as the film's titular character.

The film leads with the most number of nominations, while "The Brutalist," about a visionary architect and his wife who flee post-war Europe in 1947, and the renowned Broadway musical "Wicked" have 10 nominations apiece. Meanwhile, the Vatican-based thriller "Conclave" and "A Complete Unknown," which focuses on Bob Dylan's early years, got eight nominations each.

However, "Emilia Perez" has also had its fair share of detractors.

The film tells the story of how the high-powered lawyer Rita........

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