Anora was the big winner at the Oscars and given that we’ve loved Sean Baker’s work so far, I had high hopes for this. With its explicit stripper scenes, it certainly opens with a bang and it’s so much fun to watch the stupid whirlwind romance with the rich kid play out. Yet while it is hilarious to watch the supposed Russian mobsters being so incompetent, I didn’t like how farcical it gets. This feels a bit more risqué than the usual big Oscars winners but it’s still superficial compared to Baker’s earlier films.
Ani is a stripper and sex worker who lives in Brighton Beach, New York City and works in a club in Manhattan. When a customer walks in asking for a girl who speaks Russian, her boss sends her as her grandmother was Russian. The customer is Ivan Zakharov, a ridiculously rich kid who throws money around like confetti. When he inevitably takes her out for sex, she is impressed by the size and opulence of the beach-side mansion he lives in and learns that his father is an oligarch in Russia. In between sex sessions, he spends his time partying and playing video games. After paying an exorbitant amount of money for a week of her time, she accompanies him on a lavish trip to Las Vegas with his friends. Near the end of the week, he reveals that his parents are forcing him to return to Russia, ending his life of irresponsible excess. He impulsively asks her to marry him so that he can get a Green Card and stay in the US. Ani thinks he is teasing at first but soon agrees. They hurriedly marry in a Las Vegas chapel and she quits her job at the club when they get back to New York. Then Ivan’s family hears about the marriage, sends their underlings to force an annulment and all hell breaks loose.
Comparisons abound with Pretty Woman for obvious reasons and naturally it’s going to strip out all of the romanticism and feel-good vibes. Despite all of her protestations that she isn’t a prostitute, Ani sells sex and is good at it. Ivan may have more money than sense and happily buys her anything she could possibly want but he is no Prince Charming. It’s all sorts of fun to watch someone with unlimited access to this kind of lifestyle. I liked Baker’s casual way of showing just how huge his mansion is: Ivan needs to walk across the living room to the bar to get a bottle of water for Ani and it’s a long way away. I was also looking forward to the hammer falling on them but was somewhat disappointed by how weak and incompetent the thugs who work for Ivan’s parents are. Sure, it’s funny that they can’t actually hit Ivan and let themselves be bashed around by Ani. It does make sense that they know violence won’t solve the problem and that they need to be mindful of American laws, but at some point I wanted them to demonstrate that they’re not kidding around. Some critics praised the very long home invasion scene but I thought it went on for far too long and almost becomes slapstick comedy.
Likely the reason why this film won so many plaudits is that it shows Ani as having a great deal of agency despite her ostensibly low social status as a sex worker. She is confident and powerful as she trawls the club looking for customers. For all his brashness and money, Ivan turns out to be sexually inexperienced so Ani has to teach him what good sex is like. She asks for and gets specific material rewards for her companionship. The tragedy of her character is that, won over by the unimaginable wealth of Ivan’s family, she drops her carefully cultivated guard and lets herself believe that marriage with Ivan is truly on offer and maybe that even romance is possible. This being a film by Sean Baker, she is of course ruthlessly chastised for believing this was ever possible. As my wife points out, they even offer the character of Igor, one of the hirelings who unexpectedly proves to be somewhat sympathetic, as an alternative love interest. Once again the film proves its anti-romantic credentials as Igor is no prince and Ani is no princess.
It’s not a bad take, good enough certainly to be a film festival contender and a worthy counterpoint to the sappy Pretty Woman. But I also feel that its core message is too facile, none of its characters including Ani herself are sympathetic, and Ani still gets off too lightly for trying to fly too high. Then there’s the fact that the film gets to both exploit sex and nudity to titillate audiences and to critique the industry. Well, the formula worked for Baker because it swept the awards and also made good money at the box office.