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“So, what happened after he climbed up the tower and rescued her?” Edward asks Vivian in Pretty Woman to get a reply, “She rescues him right back,” It’s a moment that created rom-com history to give us optimists the hope to look out for our fairy tale. Vivian, a call girl, gets a magical love story. Possibly a fan, stripper Ani (Mikey Madison), too, would have loved to be in love. Filmmaker Sean Baker returns with a film that radiates the honesty of his celebrated past work to give us a desirable and vulnerable lead girl – Anora alias Ani.
Ani’s workplace is a seedy club named Headquarters in New York City. Along with her co-workers who are somewhat unpleasant towards her, she hosts strange, sex-starved men every night who strap dollar notes into her thongs. The space that Ani calls home looks like a cold, unfeeling place.
Enter Ani’s Prince Charming – Ivan alias Vanya (Mark Eydelshteyn), a hyper-rich Russian brat. Baker’s film instantly drives us wild with Ani and Vanya’s passionate romps. There’s a lot of sex – imagined in many moods, paces, and camera angles – and it’s almost disconcerting. Then again, the graph of physical intimacy makes Anora what it is. In the initial phase, we see Ani agreeing to Vanya’s demands in exchange for a price. The nature of their equation evolves as their “love story” grows. Before we know it, an impulsive Las Vegas trip officiates them as a couple. Now, what?
For a film that behaved like a dazed fairy tale so far, Anora turns into a bona fide black comedy when Vanya’s family finds out about the marriage. Soon, Ani is left with three strange men in a large bungalow – Vanya’s Godfather Toros (Karren Karagulian) and his henchmen Garnick (Vache Tovmasyan) and Igor (Yura Borisov) – and we wouldn’t know what to expect. “I am not a whore,” she echoes repeatedly to everyone who calls her one. So, what if she married an imbecile two weeks into their acquaintanceship? He had the money. She wished to be rescued. And they were in Vegas.
Anora is a fast and bouncy film. The music, the sex, the brawls – everything is crowd-pleasing and is positively loud. Then at one point, it turns uncannily quiet. The two people left in the scene begin to chat, not yell. The decibel levels are low and there’s no beaming background score. The lights are soft and the camera is intimate (DOP: Drew Daniels). From having lived a life where every interaction with men is a transaction for bodily pleasure, the girl is taken aback when a man says, “I wouldn’t have raped you because I am not a rapist,” This leads to a beautiful and somewhat open-ended finale where these self-doubts and apprehensions come wonderfully into play. When the guy says, “I like Anora better,” he refers to the name. In her head, Ani wants someone to love her as Anora, the person.
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Baker’s film is also a sympathetic exploration of sex work. Madison plays Anora with such masterful abandon that we appreciate how confident these women are with their bodies. It is a profession that is as adventurous as it is brutal. Like any overtaxed American, Ani desires health insurance and other perks from her employer. Spotting a glimmer of hope, she bids a royal goodbye to poles, couches, and neon lights. Anora also has a non-judgmental stance to its protagonist’s impulses as it is to others who do their own thing. Some are doing their designated jobs; some are protecting their reputation and some are having fun.
Anora’s men are not that bad either. We may excuse Vanya for he is a kid. Well, almost. Igor is kind, composed, and respectful even when he ties Ani’s hands up. He is perhaps the first man who considered hearing her side too. Toros, an older gentleman who might as well have other businesses and interests, is irked to see the woman tied and demands that she be freed. Even as he asks Ani to annul her wedding with Vanya, he does so with a degree of compassion you wouldn’t expect from a man in his position. Some of the best moments in an already funny film are when he gets irked by today’s Instagram-loving, impolite generation. The ever-bleeding-puking-falling Garnick, too, is considerate towards Ani for all the violence he endures from her. “I forgive you”, says the man in their last interaction to receive a hilarious counter. Even Vanya’s billionaire father (Aleksei Serebryakov), with a loud burst of laughter in the end, scores by simply being in his character’s skin. This way, each actor highlights the human layers in the screenplay with unique interpretations of their respective parts.
When it concludes, Anora quietly deconstructs love for a generation that understands “happy ending” as a mere innuendo. It exposes how economic disparities could rewrite many a dated fairy tale. Baker’s film, however, is not without offering a ray of sunshine. Anora leaves a strong aftertaste as it reflects how true love is hard to come by, and whether you like it or not, there’s no such thing as a free lunch.
Rating: ★★★★
Anora was the Closing Film at the MAMI Mumbai Film Festival 2024 which concluded on October 24, 2024.
