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Stars: Mikey Madison, Karan Karagulian, Mark Eydelshteyn
Director: Sean Baker
Distributor: Universal Pictures International

“Ivan is my fucking husband!”

Played by Mikey Madison, Ani is a sex worker in New York. Young and vibrant, her latest client isn’t your typical married man in his 40s; instead, he’s Ivan (Mark Eidelshtein) the son of an oligarch, and wanting to experience the glamor that the United States can offer.

Ivan’s employment of Ani goes beyond the private rooms of the club and resumes in his mansion the following day. After a series of paid romance and endless partying, Ani and Ivan develop a relationship that is taken to the next level: they get married…in Vegas.

Following their return to the East coast, word gets back to the homeland that the famous young Ivan has gotten married. The Russian parents are not happy. Ivan’s chief handler, Toros (Karren Karagulian) is immediately tasked with fixing the marriage and having it annulled prior to the parents’ arrival. In this transitional motion, we see Anora transition from a case study of the sex worker to a comedic cat and mouse chase. Will their marriage last?

Anora is ambitiously tasked with presenting a realistic depiction of sex work, youth, and responsibility. Anora more or less succeeds in all of these departments. The dynamic of sex work and sex worker leans heavily toward the lifestyle of the worker. Mikey Madison’s depiction of Ani is absolutely damning in parallel with the presence of male control.

In terms of youth – the disdain of being young and naive are overtly prevalent. Neither Annie nor Ivan truly understand the commitment and importance of marriage and its consequences, but for Ivan, his secured life and lifestyle can bail him out at any point, whereas for Ani, not so much.

The class divide is exceptional in Anora. Ani has landed big with a millionaire husband; she’s gotten out. Anora does an excellent job of very subtly showing Ani outside of work and away from Ivan – we see her normal life; on the train, lonesome and miserable. But on the flipside, she too looks bored shitless in Ivan’s company when he doesn’t want to party. Ivan is a man-child who priorities his video games over his wife.

Ultimately, Anora is a problematic success. Anora’s latter stage existence as a comedy does entail some of its most powerful dramatic beats, though the aggressive manner in which the transition takes place is a dangerous and difficult viewing. Additionally, the frequency of homophobic language is uncomfortable – the out-of-context usage for comedic gains is a very poor choice. Mikey Madison and the non-exploitative presentation of sex work are the strongest elements of Anora.