Sean Baker’s “Anora” is a raunchy, heart-breaking, funny and nerve-wracking movie about a girl who wants to be loved and is determined to believe it’s true. Read ahead for my spoiler-filled review for one of my favorite movies of 2024.
Ani (Mikey Madison) is a charming stripper who is very good at her job, and decent in speaking Russian—which ultimately leads her to giving a private dance to the 21-year-old son of a Russian oligarch, Vanya (Mark Eydelshteyn), who looks like he could’ve been a contender in a Timothée Chalamet look-alike contest.
He’s Ani’s age, handsome,spoiled rich and unlike the older men who are regulars at the club—one of these patrons tells a girl that she looks like his daughter before paying extra for a private lap dance from her. Vanya sweeps her off her feet with $15K and his quirky personality to spend the week with him in his luxurious lifestyle á-la-Pretty Woman.
She stays with him in his family’s Brighton Beach mansion, and spends time with him and his friends. He whisks her and his group of friends away to Vegas, buys her a sable fur coat and then a 3 karat engagement ring, all while claiming that they would still get along even if there was no money involved and telling her over and over how serious he is about marrying her. They happily wed in Vegas, she quits stripping and she moves into his beautiful colossus of a home. If this movie was more like Pretty Woman, the movie would end here.
The marketing of this movie alone had me entering the theater expecting a modern indie rom-com, as they featured reviews praising the chemistry between the couple. I truly entered the theater believing Ani and Vanya could work things out, despite their major socioeconomic differences. But that kind of ending isn’t realistic, and more importantly, it’s not Sean Baker’s style.This happy “ending” came only a third of the way through the movie.
I started to anxiously wait for the other shoe to drop. Vanya’s claim to commitment collapses two weeks into their marriage when his parents find out who he is married to.
He disappears when his family comes to force him to get his marriage annulled and drag him back to Russia, abandoning Ani to deal with Vanya’s godfather and the men sent to retrieve the couple for the darkly funny remainder of the movie.
Vanya’s godfather, Toros (Karren Karagulian) offers Ani a fraction of the money that his godson had spent on her during their marriage to comply in the annulment, which she eventually does, with disbelief in Vanya’s switch from an energetic Prince Charming to a stonewalling doormat when he is finally caught by his parents. He agrees to the annulment as per his family’s wishes, and can’t even look his ex-wife in the eyes by the end of the movie.
Vanya’s marriage proposal was Ani’s first class ticket to upward social mobility, but for him, it was just a “fun” scandal that was part of his trip to America. While I think part of Ani wanted to save her marriage for the money, more than anything, she just wanted to believe she could be more than her job to someone. I wanted to believe it too; I wanted to see her prove his family wrong.
Like anyone else, she wants to be known and loved. She tried relentlessly and screamed from the top of her lungs to convince his family that she was more than a call girl. Despite this, she is constantly reduced to her job, and is referred to as a “shlyukha” (orslut in Russian), among other synonyms, more so than her own name.
She overhears in a conversation between Vanya and his parents that his marriage to an escort is a disgrace. She fights off these comments, yelling in her tough Brooklyn accent, “Your mother’s a shlyukha!” Despite this, the constant name-calling and ultimate betrayal by her husband-client hurt her more than she would ever admit out loud.
After Vanya left, the only person to show her any kindness was Igor (Yura Borisov), an awkward, but well-meaning henchman of Toros. He lends her a scarf (which Igor had previously used to gag her, but it’s the thought that counts?) while the group is out in the cold looking for Vanya. Igor tried to make conversation with her, and defended her in front of Vanya’s parents, stating that Ani deserves an apology for everything the family had put her through.
In the final scene of the movie, Igor drives her back to her small brick home close to the rumbling elevated railway. He returns her engagement ring to her, which Toros had initially confiscated. Following this act of kindness, she climbs into his lap and initiates sex with him in the driver’s seat of his grandmother’s car, which he doesn’t turn down. Then, she bursts into tears and the movie ends.
After being told who she is over and over again, she acts accordingly, and then drops into a deep, permeating sadness. I believe this final scene is the most important to understanding where Ani stands with herself. Her relationship with Vanya ultimately blurred her boundaries between personal feelings and the niceties she’d exchange with her clients at work. When Igor returns her ring to her, her knee-jerk reaction is not to say thank you and part ways, but to give him a sexual favor. At this point, it may be all she believes she has to give, since her love was seen as a fraud.
Although I do think this movie is closely focused on Ani and her specific story, it offers a commentary on sex work as a whole. “Anora” shows the physical and mental demands, as well as the self-sacrifice that goes into this walk of life.
Brooke Germain can be reached via email at bgermain@unr.edu or via X @BrookeSGermain.
