ANORA

USA, 2024, 139 min

Director: Sean Baker

Cast: Mikey Madison, Mark Eydelshteyn, Yuriy Borisov,  Karren Karagulian, Vache Tovmasyan , Aleksei Serebryakov, Darya Ekamasova

Palme d’Or at 2024 Cannes Film Festival

 What would Pretty Woman look like if it bore the smallest resemblance to the reality of sex work?

Something like this, Sean Baker’s amazing, full-throttle tragicomedy of romance, denial and betrayal.

One night, the club manager comes into the women’s dressing room and says a high-roller is out there, asking for a dancer who can speak Russian. Anora, who is from an Uzbek background and whose grandmother spoke Russian, volunteers.

Much comic chaos ensues, some of it pushed past the brink of plausibility.

Followed by an eventful few weeks in the life of a stripper who marries the young son of a zillionaire Russian oligarch, and it has an infectious, freewheeling energy that feels like a high-concept comedy that’s gone wonderfully off the rails.

Film reminded of the classic structures of Ernst Lubitsch or Howard Hawks.  Baker’s multifaceted love for his characters proves infectious and sustaining, as does his belief that acts of unexpected kindness can redeem even the darkest nights of the soul.

Original Language: English