Anora received a surprisingly overwhelming response in 2024 that is rarely seen in the movie business. Sean Baker’s romantic comedy-drama starring Mikey Madison as Anora Mikheeva alongside Mark Eydelshteyn as Ivan ‘Vanya’ Zakharov became one of the most talked-about movies of the year.
Since the film’s Palme d’Or win in Cannes and multiple Oscar nominations, Baker has been considered one of today’s most thoughtful storytellers. There has been a lot of work behind the intriguing plot of Anora. Baker, who is already known to focus his subject on marginalized communities, focuses yet again on the theme of s*x workers.
But what is interesting about Anora is how much its narrative, characters, and themes are grounded in real life. The film uses Sean Baker’s research, personal experiences, and the real-life story of one of his friends. All this somehow grounds Anora as a very personal piece of work with all fictional characters.
Plot and reception of Anora
Set against the backdrop of Brighton Beach, the Russian-American neighborhood of Brooklyn, Anora revolves around 23-year-old stripper Anora ‘Ani’ Mikheeva, who gets hired by Vanya Zakharov, son of a wealthy Russian business leader. They fall in love, and things start getting complicated when they impulsively get married in Las Vegas. Zakharov’s parents find out about it, and they send his godfather Toros and henchmen to break their marriage.
The decision to cast Mikey Madison did not require auditions after Sean Baker saw her performances in Once Upon a Time in Hollywood and Scream. In her preparations for the role of Anora Mikheeva, Madison studied Russian while visiting strip clubs and perfected her Brooklyn accent.
The supporting cast members of the movie include Mark Eydelshteyn as Vanya, Yura Borisov as Igor, Karren Karagulian as Toros, and Aleksei Serebryakov as Nikolai Zakharov.
Anora is Baker’s most successful production to date. According to Box Office Mojo, it earned $40.8 million at the worldwide box office from its reported $6 million budget. Critics have mostly given favorable responses, as the movie has a current rating of 93% on Rotten Tomatoes.
Beyond success, Anora has had great performances from its cast that inspired its audience to transcend the stereotypes, especially with the way Ani’s character has been treated. Her character goes from a seemingly transactional relationship to an emotional and vulnerable one.
Inspirations behind Anora
While Anora does not talk about any real-life story, Baker did take inspiration from many of his observations and experiences. In an interview with Filmmaker magazine, he recalled how he formed the ideas.
It was a couple of things at the same time: Karren and I wanting to work together, trying to find a story to tell for a very long time after abandoning the first one and then me hearing a similar real story from a friend of ours in which a young Russian-American newlywed was kidnapped for collateral.
This incident laid the groundwork from which Anora developed. Baker noted that in 2000 and 2001, he worked as a wedding video editor, editing Russian and Russian-American weddings, which gave him a sense of cultural elements that he used later in Anora. He said,
When I was scrambling to pay the bills back in 2000, 2001, I edited wedding videos, one of many side jobs to pay the bills. I edited a lot of New York weddings, and a few Russian and Russian-American weddings. That, in conjunction with [Karren], made me think this is a culture I can tackle in a way I haven’t seen before.
Before Baker’s 2012 film, Starlet, Baker and Karagulian had been trying to make a film about the Russian community in Brighton Beach. They wrote a script about the Russian gangster world with some financing, but everything eventually fell through. “I’m glad it didn’t get made,” Baker later said, because he thought Anora really found its own way.
Baker had a “consultant” who was “a young Russian-American, and her experience in the United States” helped him to structure the story of Anora. It was “years of trying to figure it out” before the final story got shaped, which is quite evident from the way the film handles Ani and Vanya’s green card marriage’s social and political consequences.
Anora attempts to remove the stigma around s*x work
Baker’s interest in s*x workers and their portrayal goes beyond Anora. This film is actually his fifth in a row dealing with characters in the world of s*x work. In an interview with Variety, when he was asked about the pattern, he stated that after Starlet, he was “introduced to the adult film world.”
I became friends with [s*x workers] and realized there were a million stories from that world. If there is one intention with all of these films, I would say it’s by telling human stories, by telling stories that are hopefully universal. It’s helping remove the stigma that’s been applied to this livelihood, that’s always been applied to this livelihood.
Respectful and serious in his approach, Baker’s depiction of s*x work finds expression in Anora. Andrea Werhun, the Canadian writer and actress known for her memoir Modern Wh*re about her life as a s*x worker, was recruited by Baker as a creative consultant. His commitment to authentic representation speaks of his efforts to portray s*x workers as complex and dignified.
Beyond representation, Baker expressed political views regarding s*x work as well. He feels s*x work should be “decriminalized and not regulated in any way because it’s a s*x worker’s body, and it’s ultimately up to them to decide how they will use it for their livelihood.” This shows how Anora views its protagonist.
Using a friend’s true story and combining it with his own observations and his continuous campaign to destigmatize s*x work, Baker carved out the story of Anora. Although the movie is not specifically based on real people, it draws upon real scenarios that give the story an emotional depth, making it one of the most acclaimed films of 2024.
Anora is available to buy or rent on Prime Video and Apple TV+.
This post belongs to FandomWire and first appeared on FandomWire
