Selena Gomez hits back at Emilia Perez critics

Selena Gomez has hit back at criticism of her 'Emilia Perez' performance.

The 32-year-old actress has taken to social media to defend her performance in the musical thriller film, after actor and comedian Eugenio Derbez criticised her efforts.

The 63-year-old star said on the 'Hablando de Cine' podcast: "Selena is indefensible. I was there [watching the movie] with people, and every time a scene came [with her in it], we looked at each other to say, ‘Wow, what is this?’"

Podcast host Gaby Meza subsequently observed that Selena is a "very talented actress" and a "very good singer".

But Gaby suggested Selena struggled performing in Spanish, describing the actress' efforts as "unconvincing" and "uncomfortable".

The podcast host said: "Spanish is neither her primary nor secondary language nor fifth. And that’s why I feel she doesn’t know what she is saying, and if she doesn’t know what she’s saying, she can’t give her acting any nuance … And that is why her performance is not only unconvincing but uncomfortable."

Eugenio then added: "I’m glad you’re saying that because I was saying, ‘I can’t believe no one is talking about it?'"

Despite this, Eugenio is actually a fan of the Jacques Audiard-directed film, which also stars the likes of Zoe Saldana, Karla Sofia Gascon, and Adriana Paz.

He said: "I feel like he did a very interesting experiment.

"I liked the film apart from Selena’s [scenes] that jump at you because it has manageable things. But I was saying, ‘How strange because if the director doesn’t speak English or Spanish and the movie is in Spanish and English, and it takes place in Mexico and you don’t understand the culture.’ It’s like if I wanted to make a film in Russian without knowing the culture or Russian and speaking in French."

The criticism of Selena's performance was widely shared on social media, and the actress ultimately took to TikTok to defend herself.

Selena - who has Mexican and Italian ancestry - commented: "I understand where you are coming from ... I’m sorry I did the best I could with the time I was given. Doesn’t take away from how much work and heart I put into this movie."

The brunette beauty - who was born in Texas - previously claimed that she actually enjoyed the challenge of performing in Spanish.

Speaking to Sky News, Selena shared: "It was very exciting. I'm not completely fluent, so for me, it was really incredible to be able to even just be around people who were speaking it. I found it to be a very proud moment for sure."