Anora, a small-budget film, swept five Academy Awards on Sunday. Amidst the mixed reviews and questions on its selection at the Oscars, the Sean Baker film impressed the jury. From Best Performance by an Actor and an Actress in a Leading Role to Best Motion Picture of the Year, Anora won it all!
Anora is a roller coaster of emotions. It is a slow-cooked, chaotically plated psychological journey of the character Anora, played by Mikey Madison. We meet Anie (she never likes to be called by her full name) naked, dancing on the lap of a customer. She finishes her task at hand and almost instantly switches to the bar to entice another middle-aged man to one of the private rooms.
Anora is a roller coaster of emotions. It is a slow-cooked, chaotically plated psychological journey of the character Anora, played by Mikey Madison.
Anie is not sad or apologetic about her career choice. She works with full vigor and is one of the favorite service providers in her establishment, and her smoke breaks are a cultural shock. The women dancers discuss masculinity in its most vulnerable state.
Anora‘s world: A heterotopia
Heterotopia in the context of space theory are interconnected spaces that invert or suspend societal rules or norms. Foucault’s idea of Heterotopias included spaces such as prisons, mental asylums, and cinemas.
Baker, in Anora, constructs a similarly dark and glittery space where names fade and only desires are expressed. The women dominate men sexually and exploit their fetishes to earn money. While it might seem like a patriarchal space at the outset, Baker’s witty storytelling shifts the gaze, and the women dressed in shiny thongs reduce the men to objects.
The ‘money belt’ symbolises how sex is only for money for these women, and men pay for their fetishes. The moment Anie returns to her shared living apartment close to the railway tracks, she is just another woman without any bedazzles—a woman who forgets to bring milk and shares the apartment with an acquaintance.
Eroticism or realism
Anora was dismissed as an erotic, over-simplified depiction of the life of sex workers. But how do you depict the life of sex workers without showing eroticism? Anora is bold and whimsical. In the initial episodes, it almost leaves nothing to the audience’s fancy. Every transaction is depicted in its full glory. From the fake moanings to orgasms, every emotion is precisely showcased through clever camera angles and impeccable direction.
Every transaction is depicted in its full glory. From the fake moanings to orgasms, every emotion is precisely showcased through clever camera angles and impeccable direction.
The life of lap dancers is not romanticised. They are neither helpless women nor feminists; they are just women trying to earn for survival. The demeanor is not erotic; it is a job designed to satisfy the man.
Anora: a chaotic odyssey
Anie meets Ivan (played by Mark Eydelshteyn) in the dance bar. She is selected to service him because she is the only employee who understands Russian. The innocent selection leads to a whirlwind of incidents that build the façade of a fairy tale story.
What would a young woman working as a lap dancer fantasise about? Money. Anie’s meeting with the Russian oligarch’s son opens avenues unknown to her. The initial dance and the subsequent contacts lead her to the massive luxurious mansion. Ivan, a spoilt brat, rents Anie for a few hours, an evening, New Year’s night, 15 days, and then ultimately marries her.
The marriage is not a culmination of a love story but a spontaneous decision. Ivan wants to stay in America, so he proposes to marry Anie. She agrees, the only condition being a 4-carat diamond ring. The ring is bought, and the marriage is solemnised. The twenty-one-year-old Russian teenager marries the twenty-three-year-old prostitute to stay in America. Despite Anie’s multiple efforts, she is tagged as a prostitute, a hooker, a dancer, and many more such patriarchal innuendos.
Anora wants to be considered the wife, but the entire relationship circles around money, sex, and special sex. They hardly talk. They don’t even share their routines. He is happy because he gets to stay in America, and she is happy because she won’t have to work anymore as the man comes with much money.
They don’t even share their routines. He is happy because he gets to stay in America, and she is happy because she won’t have to work anymore as the man comes with much money.
It is this money and the name associated with it that leads to chaos. The chaos in which Ivan leaves Anora alone. The chaos of life after their marriage is disclosed to the Zakharov family. This chaos becomes the culmination of all the mindless eroticism that inaugurates the film.
The nuance of relationships
Baker builds the relationship with careful precision. Anie lays on Ivan while he plays, but he never actually hears her. She is neglected and used only when the manchild needs “special sex.” Her expressions make her disinterestedness clear, and Baker makes sure to capture every curve of it.
The commentary through the portrayal of the empty relationship establishes the futility of money and sex in a marriage. While the relationship is satiating their respective desires, it is not fulfilling.
The very end of Anora explores this nuance further. Anie, a woman who has been used for her body, cannot comprehend sympathy and love. Her relationship with Igor (played by Yura Borisov) showcases how the patriarchy has disappointed her. She assumes that Igor would have raped her had he the chance, and she almost never trusts him. It is with Igor that the audience sees the cracks in Anie for the first time.
Till the third quarter of Anora, it is a commentary on a stupid man-child and a woman with desires. It is only in the last quarter that her character takes form. She cannot comprehend Igor’s small gestures. Him taking care of her, protecting her, and taking a stand for her are easily ignored. Her relationship with the patriarchy has built her into this creature who only understands sex and money.
It is only when Igor tries to kiss her that she breaks. The façade of the strong woman shatters, and she is vulnerable for the first time. The beauty of this expression makes Anora an unforgettable experience. The audience lives with Anora in private dark rooms and then in the suites of Los Angeles. The audience travels with her on the cold nights of America, looking for her husband with three unknown Russian men.
The audience travels with her on the cold nights of America, looking for her husband with three unknown Russian men.
She marries looking for protection (or just money) and is left the most vulnerable after she finally marries a man.
Ivan’s relationship with his parents is non-existent. They pay for him and depend on the Russian goons to control his actions and clean up his mess. He is the poster child for a spoilt, rich man, and she fades away in his presence.
Anora is a slice of life that cannot fit into a particular genre. It flows through boundaries and transcends all stereotypes. We expect a lot to happen, or nothing to happen at all, but where the film ends is a welcome surprise and a disturbing reality. Anora binds its audience to the chair and does not let go. It is exciting, disappointing, frustrating, and redeeming but never boring.
Anora is a fresh voice in the milieu of rotten narratives. It brings a fresh perspective and almost jolts its audience out of their slumber. Anora deserves its awards and more. It is not a perfect film but a fresh aspect of storytelling, an art that is becoming extinct. Anora must be watched for Mikey’s flawless acting and the perfect storytelling by Baker. It must be celebrated and recommended to break barriers.
Anora is a woman’s story who puts up a façade of strength and control but shatters in the arms of a warm hug.
