Palme D’Or Winner Anora Shines Bright In A Dark World
Image Courtesy of Neon
By Dean Robbins
Director, writer, and editor Sean Baker has made a career of championing those at the fringes of American society: undocumented laborers, single mothers living outside the Magic Kingdom, and here, sex workers. While I must caution that the film is very explicit at times, Anora is a deeply human, compassionate, and hysterically funny portrait of the realities of many Americans, who care more about the personal cost of titillation than titillation itself.
Ani (Mikey Madison), short for Anora, is a sex worker living in New York City, where she is the only Russian-speaking dancer at her club. When a wealthy oligarch’s son, Vanya (Mark Eydelshteyn), comes to visit, she is put at bat. He quickly falls in love, keeping Ani by his side through his seemingly endless supply of money. While on a trip to Vegas, Vanya convinces her to marry him. She agrees. That set-up is roughly one-third of a film that soon reveals itself to be many things, including a screwball comedy featuring Eastern European goons, late-night chases, and slapstick humor.
The film, which won the highest award at the 2024 Cannes Film Festival, the Palme d’Or, is as funny as it is sad and as sexy as it is revolting. Through a realist lens, Baker meditates on the American Dream, female trauma, male ineptitude, and class without ever preaching. The events say something about America because they could have (and probably have) taken place in America.
Ani’s relationship with Vanya makes her feel like Cinderella, whom she cites early in the film as her favorite princess. As cynical as the world has made her, some romance and hope remain. For Vanya, it is Tuesday.
As with everything, Anora is not perfect. While Baker is thematically deft, the narrative was predictable, at least for myself who had no knowledge going in beyond the premise. Almost every twist and turn was telegraphed fairly clearly. While I did not expect how certain things happened, such events did happen. If the script had been as (satisfyingly) uncertain as the great screwball comedies of the 1940s, Anora would be an all-timer.
Some reviewers criticized the film for not giving Ani a deep enough character. Her backstory and motivations are given in broad strokes, if at all, but so are the rest of the cast. The script avoids overt exposition and leaves the present moment for a flashback. We appreciate most of the characters. Baker’s work feels like a dark version of the hangout movie. And in that regard, Anora is his best yet.
Cinematographer Drew Daniels’ work is truly incredible, elevating the whole film. The color grading is some of the best I have ever seen. Every frame, from a sunset at Coney Island to inside a car during a snowstorm, is a feast for the eyes. Between a surprisingly lovable cast and the evocative framing they inhabit, Anora is a film you want to luxuriate in, even as it makes you shed a tear or three.
Rating: 4/5. Highly Recommended.
