THE FOLLOWING REVIEW CONTAINS SPOILERS OF THE DISCUSSED FILM. READERS DISCRETION IS ADVISED.
Some have had the experience to be high on love, but Anora showed how fast the fantasy vanishes.
PLOT
The 2024 film follows Anora Mikheeva, a Russian American stripper who lives in Brooklyn and goes by Ani. One night, her boss introduces her to Ivan ‘Vanya’ Zakharov, son of a Russian oligarch, who is visiting the states for American studies, but prefers partying as much as he can. Vanya would hire her for sexual encounters and would enjoy her company so much that he’d pay $15,000 to stay with him for another week. They end up going to Las Vegas, Nevada together and agree to marry each other so he can get a green card and avoid going back home to work for his parents. Ani would take their love serious to the point she’d quit her job and move into his Brooklyn mansion after eloping. What is supposed to be transcendent of a feeling ends in the blink of an eye because once the marriage gets across the attention of Russia, Ivan’s parents, Galina & Nikolai (Darya Ekamasova & Aleksei Serebryakov)order his godfather Toros to arrange an annulment, in which they intend to rendezvous and make sure it happens. Toros confronts Ivan & Ani with the company of two henchmen, Garnik & Igor, but it predictably doesn’t go smooth as Ivan leaves his wife behind, allowing her to be restrained by his family. Toros would lecture her that he makes these decisions to spite his parents and offers her $10,000 to accept the annulment. Although she still insists they’re in love, she agrees to help find him. They look together to eat all night until finding him at the same former workplace, getting a dance with another stripper named Diamond (Lindsey Norrington), who previously bickered with her before the marriage. After she fights her former coworker, the group finds Vanya severely intoxicated that they must wait until morning for him to sober up. However, the annulment is thrown out of court due to marrying in Nevada. This leads to all central characters flying to Nevada and with Ivan’s parents to the closest district court in Nevada. On the plane, Ani is quickly rejected by Nikolai & Galina and she accepts the annulment when seeing Vanya admit his love wasn’t real. She does threaten to sue since she never signed a prenup, but drops the claim when Galina threatens to destroy her life should she try. Once the papers are signed on both ends, Igor insists Ivan to apologize for his disrespect towards Ani, but Galina refuses for him. As Ani parts ways with them, she tells them straight up their son is a pussy since he married her to piss them off. She does go back to Brooklyn, but is allowed to spend one last night in the family mansion until getting paid. Igor does try to be friendly towards her, but she rebuffs him much like the family has been to her, claiming he would’ve raped her if they were alone the day they met, but he denies ever thinking that. The next day, he pays her as Toros promised and drives her back to her previous apartment. After putting her belongings on her doorstep, he gives her back the wedding ring as a token of goodwill. The film ends with Anora initiating sex with him, only to sob in his arms when he refuses to kiss her.
THOUGHTS
I always knew writer/director Sean Baker would continue to bring his own exhilaration as a filmmaker after being blown away with The Florida Project. He has proven to still have an inventive mind because this was somewhat extraordinary to watch from start to finish. In some way, this was like an unfiltered Pretty Woman because we see the fairytale start, and see what would be an intense and tragic epilogue, showing what happens when the wake up call is necessary for those who need it. Bakers editing is also on point here because you feel the happiness fade away and you just filled with dread like a horror movie, disappointed that good things don’t last forever. This perspective helped us witness the embodiment of what an existential crisis can look. Was this an unconventional story? Yes, but it gets the message across that we can’t abandon independence when things are too good to be true. You digest all of this through what feels like a captivating performance from Mikey Madison. We are so hooked with this Oscar winning lead performance because we admire all the independence and confidence she brings to the scenery. She is like any other average Joe where her goal is to get by but deep down, she wanted genuine affection from others. She quickly invested into Vanya because he was so convincing at first until actor Mark Eydelshteyn peals the layers to prove how selfish he is compared to his family. He was only focused on having fun and refused to be organized until he had no choice. It quickly becomes easy to rightfully hate this guy for taking advantage of a woman, making her believe he can change her life for the better. You could agree he should’ve apologized for wasting all her time with the highest bar he can go for disrespect. Once the papers are signed, you want to be glad that travesty is over but are aware the damage isn’t undone either way. Because of his bullshit, it unintentionally becomes funny for a portion of the runtime because Toros and Garnik felt like stooges as they were so lent up and tired of who they’re dealing with. Karren Karaguilan & Vache Tovmasyan played off the banter so well that you felt their stress & exhaustion. I don’t even think Galina & Nikolai are assholes compared to their son because despite harshly looking down on Ani, they just want what’s best for their son which is become responsible like them. Noticing this, the only one with the best conscience feels like Igor. Everyone has been feeling enamored with Yura Borisov because his role is to be the only one to show compassion with no motive. He genuinely feels bad for Ani and isn’t afraid to express it in the end because no one deserves heartbreak when they’ve done nothing wrong. Ani is hesitant to accept his sympathy because she’s so frustrated of all the joy being undone and doesn’t want to be disappointed. She ends up expressing gratitude in the end the way she does but she cries when he stops a kiss because that was her epiphany her relationships are always gonna be transactional and doesn’t know how to get out of that cycle. Because Igor still shows to care as he hugs her, I’d like to assume there will be a progress at some point in her life but the when is a mystery. Because she’ll never know though is what makes the ending so sad to witness. In conclusion, Anora is a worthy Best Picture winner for being the shakeup of storytelling we never thought we’d see firsthand and if that is the kind of film you seek, see this now.
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