Through the bulk of his filmmaking career, Sean Baker has focused on giving breadth and depth to the lives of sex workers. Often people who are marginalized by society and dehumanized in film, they are given full, complete lives in Baker’s films. Their stories are our stories. They want for the same things we want. I don’t know if Baker set out to do his own version of Pretty Woman, but he struck upon it with Anora, a whip smart, hilarious, thoughtful dramedy that features a performance by star Mikey Madison that should do for her what that classic rom-com did for Julia Roberts.
Madison, who some may recognize for her role as a Manson acolyte in Once Upon a Time in Hollywood, brings dignity and attitude to the role of Anora, a New York exotic dancer and escort just looking for a way to pay the bills. The club she works at look like any other strip club. The men are eager, horny suckers, and the ladies are just as ready to take advantage, as they should. But when the boss says they need a gal who can speak Russian, while Anora, who prefers to go by Ani, gets called up. Her Uzbeki background and ability to modestly speak Russian is what’s needed to take care of this wealthy client.
And that client is Vanya (Mark Eydelshteyn), who seems innocent enough like a lot of the guys who enter the club do. This cute, baby-faced kid is throwing around money like it’s candy, and takes an instant liking to Ani. He takes her on the rush of her life; a drug, money, and sex-fueled nonstop party that neither can get enough of. She’s doing it for the dough, and he likes having someone on his arm as hot as Ani. But there’s something a bit off about him. He hesitates to tell her where he gets his money. The reason is that Vanya’s the son of a stupidly-rich Russian oligarch, and that insanely luxurious mansion and all of the stuff in it belongs to him. Vanya pays Ani handsomely to be his exclusive girlfriend for the week, but while on a wild Vegas bender they decide, why not, to get married.
It’s crucial that Baker doesn’t play the audience for fools. We can see that Vanya is probably not going to be a great husband. He’s an energizer bunny but an entitled child first and foremost. And Ani can see that, too. She’s not unaware of the situation she’s walking into, but she has allowed herself to believe that the dream of being happy can become a reality for her. And honestly, how different is Vanya from the other men she encounters on a daily basis other than his staggering wealth? It’s probably not even that uncommon for Ani to get marriage proposals from excited dudes. The difference is that Vanya asks and actually goes through with it. They’ve got the marriage documents to prove it, and for Ani, that’s enough.
But it isn’t enough for Vanya’s parents, who go to crazy lengths to put the kibosh on the nuptials. Ani didn’t know that Vanya has a stateside handler, Toros (Karren Karagulian), who has been putting up with the young punk’s antics for years. He’s in deep shit for letting Vanya do something like this, and he, along with a pair of goons, must bust this marriage up quickly…or else. But Vanya proves what a childish coward he really is and leaves Ani to fend for herself. Meanwhile, one of the thugs, Igor (played by Russian actor of the year Yura Borisov), a quiet and mostly sympathetic Armenian, proves to be her only defender.
Anora becomes something quite different at this point, leaning more toward comedy than the poignant portrayal of young, if misguided, romance. There’s an ominous cloud that hangs over the night due to Vanya’s parents, but the search for the escaped brat is funnier than scary. Through everything, Ani doesn’t allow herself to get streamrolled by these bullies, she stands up for herself and her dream of a happy ending, at every turn. Even when Vanya turns out to be every bit as unreliable as we thought, she believes the situation can be salvaged. We’re never made to think she’s stupid for putting all of her hopes into this obviously flawed romance. She remains a pillar of strength, throughout, even at her lowest point with the one person who has shown her any genuine kindness. It’s not a moment that asks us to feel sorry for Ani, but to respect the choices she’s made in the undying hope for something better. As Anora skips from dark comedy to gut-punching poignancy, Madison’s stellar performance only shines brighter. Moving effortlessly from slapstick comedy to tragedy with brilliant physicality and “can’t take your eyes off of her” charisma, Madison takes Anora to another level.
Anora is open in theaters now via NEON.
