Sean Baker’s Anora begins like a sexually explicit version of Pretty Woman – the first hint of upended expectations.
American stripper Ani (Mikey Madison), who is of Russian origin, becomes the paid escort of the filthily rich Russian student Ivan. Ivan (Mark Edelshteyn) escalates a purely transactional relationship when he suggests to Ani that they get married.
What happens in Vegas refuses to stay there. Ivan’s handlers Toros (Karren Karagulian), Garnik (Vache Tovmasyn) and Igor (Yura Borisov) turn up at his mansion in Brooklyn.
Igor has the dirty job of trying to keep Ani in check – no mean task. The constant threat of a visit from Ivan’s wealthy parents spooks Ivan and makes his minders hysterical but refuses to scare Ani, who has no idea what she is up against.
Sean Baker’s most ambitious project yet won him the Palme d’Or at the Cannes Film Festival in 2024. The Oscar-nominated movie, which is in both English and Russian, can be rented from Prime Video.
Unlike Baker’s previous films about marginalised Americans, Anora constantly evades clear categorisation or a single tonality. Baker, who has also written and edited Anora, has his foot firmly on the pedal throughout a film that moves suddenly from a sexually charged romance to comic farce to serious drama.
The 139-minute film is as much a character study as it is an experiment in shapeshifting. Ani’s situation reveals the unequal power dynamic between her and Ivan’s influential family. Baker’s exploration of the disposable playthings who are shoved aside once their purpose has been served is most acutely felt in the film’s two most memorable performances.
Mikey Madison delivers an unforgettable body-and-soul turn as the young stripper who desperately tries to reclaim her dignity. Ani’s refusal to be dismissed, while bordering on naivete at times, is perfectly complemented by a terrific Yura Borisov.
He slides into the movie in the 46th minute as a sidekick and gradually moves to the front and centre of the narrative. Igor’s sidelong glances and meaningful silences reveal what Ani is refusing to see. While some of the Russian characters border on stereotypes, Borisov’s Igor is a flesh-and-blood creature, the mirror image to Ani in several ways.
The film’s climax rounds off a roller-coaster misadventure that’s bold, free-wheeling, sometimes startling and finally heart-breaking. After all the moaning, the screaming and shouting, Baker opts for a moment of recognition that is the final upending of all that has been upended thus far.
