Writer and Director: Sean Baker
Sean Baker’s Palme d’Or winning film is the hot ticket at this year’s BFI London Film Festival, and like Molly Manning Walker’s How to Have Sex last year, it certainly lives up to the hype with a similarly female-centric narrative that explores social judgements about the expression of female sexuality, aspiration and connection wrapped in a sometimes joyous, sometimes bleak comedy-drama shell. A Cinderella story that goes horribly wrong, Baker’s energetic film is a masterclass in writing combative dialogue as the titular Anora refuses to buckle to the weakness of the men she encounters.
Anora, known as ‘Ani’, meets billionaire’s son Ivan at the strip club where she works and soon after he pays her to spend the week with him before his parents force him to go home to Russia to start work. When the pair get married in Vegas, Ivan’s godfather Toros arrives with two henchmen to force an annulment, but Ivan runs away leaving Ani to deal with the fall out while she helps his family search New York for her husband.
Baker’s film divides into the three acts; the first a wild party filled with sex, drugs and alcohol as Ani and Ivan enjoy their first days together at clubs and parties that consume the screen with the lifestyle of the idle rich to which Ani is being inducted. She remains a step removed, however, always aware of the role she is playing as paid mistress, and Baker’s camera is careful to show it is Ivan’s pleasure that Ani is facilitating, even when he proves childish and inexperienced.
Act two is both funnier and bleak as the tables turn, leaving Ani with no one to protect her. The moments of assault are balanced by her fiery refusal to be physically or vocally subdued and this sets the tone for the rest of this section as characters talk across each other, back chat and find they must reluctantly become allies. The energy of the party scenes is carried through into this fast-talking dynamic that feels very believable, centering on Ani’s no-nonsense approach, refusing to accept that she is no longer in control. This agency even in distress is one of the film’s most pleasing aspects.
The final act brings resolutions of many kinds and here we are encouraged to sit in judgement of the people who have created this scenario and particularly the poorly behaved men of all ages who place women in Ani’s position. The film begins to lose traction in the final 15-minites as it focuses on the aftermath but what starts as a hedonistic fantasy with a male lens on women’s bodies – one that Ani admittedly uses – becomes a morality tale that returns everyone to almost where they started.
With an astounding central performance from Mikey Madison as Ani, a hard as nails dancer who refuses to accept disrespect from anyone – fellow workers or her husband’s new family included – wealth and social status are no barrier to an Ani onslaught. This is a woman not awed by class systems and in every circumstance knows her worth. There is good support from Karren Karagulian (Toros) and Mark Eidelshtein (Ivan) among others who add inept humanity to the humour but as Ani learns, life is a riot until suddenly it’s not.
Anora is screening at the BFI London Film Festival 2024.
