Anora

Sean Baker's Palme D'Or winner is another complex character study

Sean Baker is like 1970s directors that revolutionized what stories were told on screen, showing the underbelly of American life. Baker has showcased lives ignored within society, from transgender sex workers in Tangerines (2015) to childhood poverty in The Florida Project (2017), and porn stars’ retirements in Red Rocket (2021). His latest film, Anora (2024), maintains his empathetic and non-judgmental character work.

Anora is the story of the eponymous protagonist who goes by “Ani” (Mikey Madison), a stripper/sex worker in New York who falls for a playboy Russian heir Ivan (Mark Eidelshtein), who books her to be his girlfriend. In an impulsive decision the two get married in Vegas, only for reality to hit back when Ivan’s parents find out, sending goons (Karren Karagulian, Vache Tomasyan, Yura Borisov) to sort things out.

Anora focuses on contrasting the carefree world of the rich with the cold reality of the laboring class. The glamour of wealth is portrayed to perfection in the first half, showing its allure of endless parties, sex, and travel, as if the fantasy lives marketed by social media influencers came to life. The second half arrives with a jolt, bursting the bubble that Ani was living in.

Anora’s structure is a risky bet, with two halves different both tonally and in pacing, you risk the switch being disorienting and incongruous. However, the split in Anora allows its two halves to be in conversation. A connective tissue through it all is humor, which Baker infuses to foment a self-aware neo-realism, making him akin to Fernando Leon de Aranoa’s style. Anora, however, meanders during its second half with repetitive beats of characters searching for someone. A trim would have tightened the finale, aiding the gut-punch culmination of ambition and reality.

Madison was reportedly cast as the lead role off her brief supporting turns in Once Upon a Time… in Hollywood (2019) and Scream (2022). The American actress is dominant, delivering an unrestrained take on Ani, whose external sheen barely reveals the hopeful and vulnerable interior. You completely buy into Ani’s firm belief in her own self-worth and dignity through cold let downs. The rest of the supporting cast is strong as well, but it was Borisov who stands out in a largely silent role that has him looking at the ground. The Russian actor, who showcased a talent for the bombastic in Compartment Number 6 (2021), delivers a quiet take on his thug that is nevertheless communicative, empathic, and complex; his character is the only one that sees Ani’s true self.

Baker delivers another fascinating character study looking at wealth disparities and the dangerous yet irresistible fantasies that money induces. Madison is a breakout in one of the year’s best performances, but a repetitive second half does slow the film's pace unnecessarily. Nevertheless, Anora is not only a worthy Palme D’Or winner this year, but an immersive story that will prove amongst the year's best.   

8.1/10