Anora (2024)
Director: Sean Baker
Stars: Mikey Madison, Mark Eydelshteyn, Karren Karagulian, Yura Borisov
Short Review, no spoilers
A modern romance Sean Baker style, meaning that Anora is
funny, edgy and features compelling characters from the margins of society.
Mikey Madison is excellent as the titular heroine, balancing the coquettishness
of a successful sex worker with the toughness of a feisty lady up against it in
a similar vein to the remarkable Bria Vinaite in Baker’s The Florida Project. A
particularly well-rounded film from this exciting director, there’s a maturing
of style without losing any of his signature wit and playfulness.
Full Review (spoilers)
Unusually for a director whose vision is so strikingly
original, Baker essentially takes the premise of Pretty Woman for the setup of
Anora – hooker meets super rich dude, rich dude is so impressed with her
talents he hires her for a week, hooker and rich dude fall in love.
Cinder-fuckin-rella is even referenced, however, this is no derivative tedious
remake, but an arch update that takes the story and moves it away from the
fantastically sentimental ending of the Julia Roberts blockbuster.
Irony is introduced from the start, with Gary Barlow anthemically
vocalising the prospect of ‘the greatest day of our lives’ to the visuals of
lap dancers writhing and pounding away slow motion on punter’s groins in a
night club. We go on to see Anora at work, deftly attracting and satisfying
customers, glamorously attired and hair shimmering in stark contrast to her
more vulnerable-looking body wrapped up against the cold after her shift. Small
touches like this are what make a Sean Baker film, showing bold characters in
all their guises, including in their bleaker states without ever being
condescending.
The turning point is when Anora’s Russian heritage comes in
handy for a rich, young client, the daft and delighted Ivan who seems unable to
believe his luck. After a coy request for a date outside of the club, Anora
arrives at his pad and the combination of an easy attitude to casual sex and
his boyish exuberance makes the whole thing seem perfectly innocent, endearing
almost. Anora takes it in her stride but cheerily takes him up on his offer of
a week of being his girlfriend, and so the love affair begins. Like the
frequent fornication and raunchy performative grinding, drugs and partying are
just a part of the carefree lifestyle that Anora joins Ivan and his friends in,
although these are the kind of kids who can also take a private plane to Las
Vegas on a whim. Very cleverly however, Ivan is depicted as a wide-eyed
innocent in opposition to the stereotype of a sneering elitist, indulging
himself in the sweet shop his pals work in and video games like a typical
youth, so when streetwise Anora falls for him, it seems like an understandable
possibility. She giggles at his rabbit humping style of love-making and rapid
completion, and is even kindly superior when she tries to tutor him. Why not
leave a tough life behind and accept the proposal of an immature but seemingly sweet
natured son of an oligarch?
Apart from one jealous bitch, Anora’s colleagues are happy
for her and it really does seem like a Cinderella story as she takes off for
her new life. Here however, is where Pretty Woman ends and Baker world takes
over. Just as the newly weds are settling in to married life, Ivan’s outraged
mother and the panic-stricken guardians that were supposed to be supervising
Ivan in his parents’ absence come crashing in to the fairy tale. A turning
point again, this one unexpected, as Prince Charming scampers away at the
prospect of his parents coming home, abandoning a bewildered Anora to deal with
3 bodyguard oafs on her own. Baker isn’t afraid of a bit of slapstick and
indulges in it wholeheartedly here, as Anora brings out her broad Brooklyn
mouth big time, flings out wild accusations of rape and violence, and
hilariously beats the shit out of her apparent kidnappers. One frantic, one
sheepish, Toros – played by Karren Karagulian, a familiar face from Baker’s
debut Tangerine - is called in from a baptism to deal with this unholy mess.
In the midst of all the madness is a hooded, vaguely brutish
looking guy named Igor. Entering the fray of the second act, he’s seemingly a
bystander in what becomes a chaotic mission to locate Ivan and get the marriage
‘annulled’, dragging poor Anora along to participate in the dissolution of the
fairy tale she’s experienced for 5 minutes. However, Igor very slowly begins to
grow in to the film and in to Anora’s eyeline – whether she likes it or not –
repeatedly and consistently finding small ways to defend her and offer support.
Played with sensitivity by Yura Borisov, Igor’s emergence in to a character of
significance, an unexpected hero, occurs in such a slow, organic way as to be almost
imperceptible. He even acts as emotional punch bag for the beleaguered Anora,
withstanding her relentless hostility as she throws slings and arrows at him in
her otherwise powerless state.
For a director so engaged in slices of raw real life, Baker
is no slouch when it comes to aesthetics and symbolism. In terms of costume,
Anora’s blue dress when she embarks on her journey with Ivan is a combination
of the same shade of pure blue as the Disney Cinderella gown and the tight,
half-blue number worn by Julia Roberts at the same moment of meeting Prince
Charming in Pretty Woman. A red scarf is emblematic of Anora’s journey with Igor
– it is first used to gag her in the ‘kidnapping’ scene, then offered by Igor
as warmth when they are out searching for Ivan, and then as a symbol of
defiance when Anora throws it back at its owner, the cruel stepmother type that
is Ivan’s mother.
As in his previous films, America is a pointed backdrop to
the failure and suffering of Baker’s heroes. A US flag figures prominently in
the background as Toros rants at Armenian-American youths for being
disrespectful and caring about nothing other than their new sneakers. The irony
and hypocrisy of fairy tales gone astray in a country that has capitalised on
them looms large in The Florida Project as well as in Anora. Baker’s target is
clearly his own back-yard, however his criticisms with regards to unfairness
and complacency could easily apply to other nations of the western world.
And it is clearly a system that Baker criticises
rather than people. In a noticeable refusal to tar all Russians with Putin
influenced characteristics of arch villainy, even the henchmen are just doing
their job in bumbling fashion rather than with cruel brutality. And Anora’s ultimate
saviour is a humble Russian who speaks broken English but understands what it
means to care.
By the final scene, the film literally flips the Pretty
Woman scenario on its head. In both, the set-up is a car is parked outside the
building where the princess/hooker lives. However, in Pretty Woman it’s a
bright, spring-like day whereas in Anora its cold and snowing. In Pretty Woman,
Richard Gere is rescuing Julia Roberts, whereas Igor is taking Anora back to
her slum. Edward (Gere) climbs up to Vivien (Roberts) but Anora waits for Igor
to come down to her. Igor would seem to have far less to offer the princess –
merely a place to stay at his grandma’s – but his care is genuine, something
Anora still struggles to comprehend. She tries to give him what she thinks he
wants in return when she straddles him right there in the car, but as the
quietly erotic scene plays out, a makeshift effort at controlling a situation
after so much of being tossed around gives way to vulnerability – Anora finally
crumbles in to a safe place to cry, Igor’s arms.
Edward and Anora are comparable in that the happy ending can
only be achieved by both overcoming their repression and denial, and in both
cases, it is arguably a problem that arises out of their opposing social
situations. Edward is a frosty cutthroat administrator from a stuffy, upper-class
background, whereas Anora’s armour is the result of being a street tough escort
who then has to deal with something even worse when she is degraded by the
family of her apparent saviour. Pretty Woman features a degree of happily
levelling up – Edward’s apparent superiority ends up looking superficial next
to Vivien’s emotional experience and courage to take risks, and so they couple
in relatively easy fashion at the end. No such lessons are learned by the
spoiled rich kid that was to be Anora’s prince, but perhaps in a more modern
and gratifying fairy tale ending, Anora loses the superficial prince and
gains a true one through good fortune and fate – that doesn’t rely on filthy
lucre - rather than from just being a charming and spunky date. As such, Anora
finds a safe place to fall rather than a triumphant place to gloat.
