Anora is a comedy-drama about a stripper who also gives lap dances at a Manhattan club and is frequently referred to as a prostitute. Baker has already mined the world of people who earn their living from sex related professions with his 2015 film Tangerine, where he used an iPhone to film sex workers on the streets of Hollywood. The film’s title comes from the tangerine-coloured lights beneath which the sex workers were filmed. His previous Cannes competitor Red Rocket was about a retired porn star.

Baker’s previous films have tended to focus on marginalised groups in society and in the past he often cast his actors via social media. But for Anora he has said he wanted to make a film about the rich in society and he obviously wanted actors with a track record to do this. Mikey Madison will be remembered by audiences for the film Scream where she appeared. 

Anora, a young stripper from Brooklyn, played by Mikey Madison, gets her chance at a Cinderella story when she meets Ivan the son of an oligarch, Ivan Zakharov, played by Mark Eydelshteyn. After entertaining Ivan and his guests at the strip club Ivan invites Anora back to his amazing Manhattan pad where she becomes his exclusive lover for a substantial amount of cash. But Ivan, who is just two years older than Anora, falls in love with her and impulsively they fly to Las Vegas where they suddenly get married.

But when the news reaches Russia, her fairytale is threatened as Ivan’s parents are determined to get the marriage annulled. Enter Ivan’s family. Ivan’s godfather, Toros, played by Karren Karagulian, decides to send a couple of heavies to New York, a fellow Armenian named Garnick, played by Vache Tovmaysan, and the Russian Igor, played by Yuri Borisov. Audiences will remember Borisov from Russian director Kirill Serebrennikov’s Petrov’s Flu, which screened in competition in Cannes in 2021. Armenian actor Karagulian is a regular in all Baker’s films. 

Ivan’s parents, his father Nikolai played by Alexei Serebryakov and his mother Galina played by Daria Ekamasova, also fly in to deal with their wayward son and squelch the unsuitable marriage.

The dialogue is in both English and Russian and there’s a Brighton Beach backdrop to the film. It is also about the interaction of two different cultures. Cinematographer Drew Daniels, who also shot Red Rocket, has shot Anora.

Credits:
Anora (USA)
Directed by Sean Baker
Cast: Mikey Madison, Mark Eydelshteyn, Yura Borisov, Karren Karagulian, Vache Tovmasyan, Alexei Serebryakov, Daria Ekamasova