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Anora (film)

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Anora
Theatrical release poster
Directed bySean Baker
Written bySean Baker
Produced by
  • Alex Coco
  • Samantha Quan
  • Sean Baker
Starring
CinematographyDrew Daniels
Edited bySean Baker
Music byMatthew Hearon-Smith
Production
companies
Distributed byNeon
Release dates
  • May 21, 2024 (2024-05-21) (Cannes)
  • October 18, 2024 (2024-10-18) (United States)
Running time
139 minutes[1]
CountryUnited States
Languages
  • English
  • Russian[2]

Anora is a 2024 American romantic comedy-drama film written, directed and edited by Sean Baker. It stars Mikey Madison in the title role of an exotic dancer and follows her beleaguered romance with the son of a Russian oligarch. It also stars Mark Eidelstein, Yura Borisov, Karren Karagulian, Vache Tovmasyan, and Aleksei Serebryakov.

The film premiered on May 21, 2024, in competition at the 77th Cannes Film Festival, where it won the Palme d'Or, the first American film to do so since The Tree of Life in 2011. It was released theatrically on October 18, 2024, by Neon. It received widespread critical acclaim, with major praise for Madison's performance and Baker's direction, screenplay, and editing.

Plot

Anora "Ani" Mikheeva is a young stripper living in Brighton Beach, a Russian-speaking neighborhood in Brooklyn, who works at an upscale Manhattan strip club.[3] As she knows some Russian from her grandmother, Ani's boss introduces her to Ivan "Vanya" Zakharov, the eccentric son of a wealthy Russian oligarch, who pays her to sleep with him at a Brooklyn mansion. Vasya requests Ani to be his personal escort for a week, during which a whirlwind romance between the pair commences that results in them flying to Las Vegas and eloping.

Vanya’s parents learn of this development through social media and order Toros, Vanya’s ethnic Armenian handler, to rectify the situation before they arrive in the United States the following day. Toros sends two henchmen, Garnick and Igor, to the mansion to confront them. A struggle ensues in which Vanya flees while Ani injures both Garnick and Igor before being subdued. Toros arrives soon after and demands an annulment to the marriage, but Ani refuses, claiming that she and Vanya are in love. Toros explains to Ani that all of Vasya's supposed wealth, including the mansion, belongs to his parents back in Russia and asks that she help find him and agree to the annulment in return for money. Ani reluctantly agrees but asks to speak to Vanya first.

Ani, Toros, Garnick and Igor spend most of the night driving around Brooklyn looking for Vanya. Anora eventually finds out that he is at her former Manhattan strip club receiving a lap dance from another girl, triggering a fight. The henchmen manage to remove Ani and Vanya and take them to a courthouse the following morning but discover that the marriage cannot be annulled in New York State because they were wed in Nevada.

The group drives to the hanger to meet Vanya’s parents, who demand everyone to get on their private jet to Nevada to annul the marriage. Ani initially refuses, but Vanya goes along with his parents while his mother threatens to destroy Ani’s life if she tries to fight the family in court. Ani curses out Vanya but gives in and signs the papers in Nevada to annul the marriage. After the papers are signed, Igor suggests that Vanya apologize to Ani, but he refuses.

Toros thanks Ani and sends her back to Brooklyn with Igor, where they spend a final night in the mansion together bonding over their fate. The next morning, Igor takes her to the bank to pay her off for the annulment before driving her home. In the car, he returns Ani’s wedding ring to her, which was previously taken by Toros, as a token of goodwill. She responds by initiating sex with him, only to become repulsed when he tries to kiss her, and she breaks down crying in his arms.

Cast

Production

Principal photography took place at the beginning of 2023 in Brooklyn, New York.[5]

For Anora, Baker has stated that his intentions were towards "telling human stories, by telling stories that are hopefully universal [...] It's helping remove the stigma that's been applied to [sex work], that's always been applied to this livelihood."[6] Baker created the titular character and chose to cast Mikey Madison after seeing her performances in Once Upon a Time in Hollywood and Scream.[7]

At a press conference in Cannes, Madison stated that Baker and producer Samantha Quan, who is Baker's wife, would act out different sex positions to demonstrate what they wanted the actors to do. Madison was offered an intimacy coordinator, but said: "As I'd already created a really comfortable relationship with both of them for about a year, I felt that that would be where I was most comfortable with and it ended up working so perfectly."[6]

Andrea Werhun, a Canadian writer and actress best known for her 2018 memoir Modern Whore about her prior time as a sex worker, served as a creative consultant on the film.[8]

Release

Yura Borisov, Sean Baker, Mikey Madison, Karren Karagulian and Vache Tovmasyan at TIFF 2024

Worldwide distribution rights were acquired by FilmNation Entertainment in October 2023. The film was then sold by FilmNation to Le Pacte for France, Lev for Israel, Kismet for Australia and New Zealand, and Focus Features/Universal Pictures International for the rest of the world excluding North America in deals similar to those made on Baker's previous film, Red Rocket.[5] In November 2023, Neon acquired North American distribution rights to the film,[9] and opened it in limited release on October 18, 2024.[10][11]

Anora premiered at the Cannes Film Festival on May 21, 2024,[12][13] and won the festival's Palme d'Or on May 25.[14] It earned a 10-minute standing ovation at the end of its screening.[15] It became the fifth consecutive Palme d'Or winner distributed by Neon in the United States, following Parasite, Titane, Triangle of Sadness, and Anatomy of a Fall; all except Titane went on to be nominated for the Academy Award for Best Picture, with Parasite winning.[16] It is also the first American-produced film to win the Palme d'Or since 2011's The Tree of Life.[17]

The film also played at the Toronto International Film Festival,[18] the New York Film Festival,[19] the San Sebastián International Film Festival,[20] and has been selected by the Busan International Film Festival,[21] the BFI London Film Festival,[22] the 19th Rome Film Festival[23] and several others. It has been selected as the closing film for the MAMI Mumbai Film Festival 2024.[24]

Reception

Box office

In the United States, the film made an estimated $630,000 in its opening weekend from six theaters in Los Angeles and New York; its per-screen-average of $105,000 was the best of 2024, topping Kinds of Kindness ($75,000 average), and the second-best since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic after Asteroid City ($142,000 average).[25]

Critical response

Mikey Madison's performance as the title character received widespread praise

On the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, 98% of 128 critics' reviews are positive, with an average rating of 9.0/10. The website's consensus reads: "Another marvelous chronicle of America's strivers by writer-director Sean Baker given some extra pizzazz by Mikey Madison's brassy performance, Anora is a romantic drama on the bleeding edge."[26] Metacritic, which uses a weighted average, assigned the film a score of 93 out of 100, based on 41 critics, indicating "universal acclaim".[27]

Greta Gerwig, serving as the president of the 77th Cannes Film Festival Jury, commented that "[Anora] was something we collectively felt we were transported by, we were moved by [...] It felt both new and in conversation with older forms of cinema. There was something about it that reminded us of [the] classic structures of Lubitsch or Howard Hawks, and then it did something completely truthful and unexpected."[28]

Richard Lawson of Vanity Fair wrote: "[Anora is] a wild, profane blast [...] Even when Baker's storytelling and dialogue gets repetitive, Madison keeps things lively [...] I found myself torn between finding Baker's conclusions compassionate and sensing a vague whiff of something patronizing. [...] Baker's explorations of outsiders tend to tread between graciousness and gawking, benevolent anthropology and the more malevolent, missionary kind."[29]

Justin Chang of The New Yorker wrote: "Anora plays like a wild dream—first joyous, then catastrophic, and always fiercely unpredictable [...] A contemporary return to screwball tradition is a welcome but challenging proposition, and Baker’s play with the form is hardly seamless. [Anora] built up a righteous steam of fury, now unleashes it against the Ivans of the world and salutes those toiling thanklessly in their employ."[7]

Accolades

Award Date of ceremony Category Recipient(s) Result Ref.
Cannes Film Festival May 25, 2024 Palme d'Or Sean Baker Won [30]
Miskolc International Film Festival September 14, 2024 Emeric Pressburger Prize Anora Nominated [31]
Toronto International Film Festival September 15, 2024 People's Choice Award 2nd Runner-up [32]
Savannah Film Festival November 2, 2024 Breakthrough Award Mikey Madison Won [33]

References

  1. ^ "Anora (18)". British Board of Film Classification. September 9, 2024. Archived from the original on September 21, 2024. Retrieved September 12, 2024.
  2. ^ "62nd New York Film Festival Main Slate Announced". Film at Lincoln Center. August 6, 2024. Archived from the original on September 21, 2024. Retrieved August 8, 2024.
  3. ^ "Cannes Award-Winning Film, "Anora" Vexes Uzbek Public". The Times of Central Asia. June 15, 2024. Retrieved October 17, 2024.
  4. ^ Canfield, David (May 23, 2024). "The "Once-in-a-Lifetime Opportunity" of Cannes Darling Anora". Vanity Fair. Archived from the original on September 21, 2024. Retrieved May 23, 2024.
  5. ^ a b Lang, Brent (October 25, 2023). "'Red Rocket' Director Sean Baker and FilmNation Entertainment Reteam on 'Anora' With Mikey Madison Starring (EXCLUSIVE)". Variety. Archived from the original on September 21, 2024. Retrieved October 25, 2023.
  6. ^ a b Ritman, Alex; Shafer, Ellise (May 22, 2024). "Sean Baker Makes Movies About Sex Workers in Hopes of 'Helping Remove the Stigma' — and He's 'Already Talking About the Next One'". Variety. Archived from the original on September 21, 2024. Retrieved May 23, 2024.
  7. ^ a b Chang, Justin (October 11, 2024). ""Anora" Is a Strip-Club Cinderella Story—and a Farce to Be Reckoned With". The New Yorker. ISSN 0028-792X. Retrieved October 14, 2024.
  8. ^ Vincent Perella, "Sean Baker Didn’t Pick Up on the Similarities Between ‘Anora’ and ‘Pretty Woman’ Until Halfway Through Production" Archived September 21, 2024, at the Wayback Machine. IndieWire, September 8, 2024.
  9. ^ Grobar, Matt (November 2, 2023). "Sean Baker Pic 'Anora' Acquired By Neon For North America". Deadline Hollywood. Archived from the original on November 2, 2023. Retrieved November 2, 2023.
  10. ^ Lang, Brent (June 4, 2024). "Sean Baker's Palme d'Or Winner 'Anora' Scores Fall Release Date From Neon (EXCLUSIVE)". Variety. Retrieved June 4, 2024.
  11. ^ Grobar, Matt (July 15, 2024). "'Anora' Trailer: Mikey Madison's Stripper Falls For Son Of Russian Oligarch In Neon's Palme D'Or Winner From Sean Baker". Deadline. Archived from the original on July 26, 2024. Retrieved July 26, 2024.
  12. ^ "The Screenings Guide of the 77th Festival de Cannes". Festival de Cannes. May 8, 2024. Archived from the original on May 25, 2024. Retrieved May 8, 2024.
  13. ^ Ntim, Zac (April 11, 2024). "Cannes Film Festival Lineup Set: Competition Includes Coppola, Audiard, Cronenberg, Arnold, Lanthimos, Sorrentino & Abbasi's Trump Movie — Full List". Deadline. Archived from the original on May 10, 2024. Retrieved May 9, 2024.
  14. ^ Leffler, Rebecca (May 25, 2024). "Sean Baker's 'Anora' wins Palme d'Or at 2024 Cannes Film Festival". Screen International. Archived from the original on May 25, 2024. Retrieved May 25, 2024.
  15. ^ Hipes, Patrick; Ntim, Zac (May 21, 2024). "Sean Baker's 'Anora' Gets 10-Minute Ovation In Cannes Film Festival World Premiere". Deadline Hollywood. Archived from the original on May 21, 2024. Retrieved May 21, 2024.
  16. ^ Wiseman, Andreas (May 25, 2024). "Fantastic Five! Neon Makes It Five Palme d'Or Winners In A Row As 'Anora' Scoops Cannes Top Prize". Deadline. Retrieved May 25, 2024.
  17. ^ Rothkopf, Joshua (May 25, 2024). "Sean Baker's 'Anora' wins Palme d'Or at Cannes Film Festival". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved May 26, 2024.
  18. ^ "Anora". Toronto International Film Festival. Retrieved August 19, 2024.
  19. ^ "Anora". New York Film Festival. Retrieved August 22, 2024.
  20. ^ Ford, Lily (September 21, 2024). "Sean Baker Talks 'Anora' Success in San Sebastian: "I'm Not Looking for It to Get Me a Marvel Film"". The Hollywood Reporter.
  21. ^ "The 29th Busan International Film Festival: Selection List". Busan International Film Festival. September 3, 2024. Archived from the original on September 6, 2024. Retrieved September 6, 2024.
  22. ^ Tabbara, Mona. "BFI London Film Festival unveils full 2024 line-up". Screen. Retrieved September 20, 2024.
  23. ^ "Films of the 2024 Film Fest". Cinema Foundation for Rome. September 20, 2024. Retrieved September 24, 2024.
  24. ^ Staff, Scroll (October 9, 2024). "MAMI Mumbai Film Festival will open with Payal Kapadia's 'All We Imagine as Light'". Scroll.in. Retrieved October 11, 2024.
  25. ^ D'Alessandro, Anthony (October 19, 2024). "Smile 2 Happier With $23M Opening; A24's We Live In Time Making Dime With $4M+, Anora Wows With Massive $105K Theater Average – Saturday Box Office". Deadline Hollywood. Retrieved October 19, 2024.
  26. ^ "Anora". Rotten Tomatoes. Fandango Media. Retrieved October 19, 2024. Edit this at Wikidata
  27. ^ "Anora". Metacritic. Fandom, Inc. Retrieved October 19, 2024.
  28. ^ Sciences, Academy of Motion Picture Arts and. "Sean Baker's 'Anora' Wins Palme d'Or at 2024 Cannes Film Festival: See the Full Winners List". A.frame. Archived from the original on June 10, 2024. Retrieved June 10, 2024.
  29. ^ Lawson, Richard (May 21, 2024). "'Anora' Is a Raucous Good Time With a Gut-Punch of an Ending". Vanity Fair. Retrieved June 13, 2024.
  30. ^ Murray, Miranda (May 25, 2024). Merriman, Jane (ed.). "Exotic dancer drama 'Anora' wins Cannes Film Festival's top prize". Reuters. Retrieved May 25, 2024.
  31. ^ "The 20th Anniversary Edition of CineFest Miskolc IFF Ready to Take Off". FilmNewEurope. August 31, 2024. Archived from the original on September 15, 2024. Retrieved September 15, 2024.
  32. ^ Rebecca Rubin, "Tom Hiddleston’s ‘The Life of Chuck’ Wins Toronto Film Festival’s People’s Choice Award". Variety, September 15, 2024.
  33. ^ "AwardsWatch - 2024 SCAD Savannah Film Festival Honorees Include Steve McQueen, Karla Sofía Gascón and Sebastian Stan". AwardsWatch. September 26, 2024. Retrieved September 26, 2024.
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