Brighton Beach. Anora is a stripper working in a strip club. After a lap dance for the rich student Ivan, whose father is a Russian oligarch, Ivan invites Anora at his mansion. They have sex and hang around in private. While in Las Vegas, Ivan proposes Anora and they get married. Back in Brighton Beach, two Armenians, Toros and Garnik, and a Russian, Igor, employees of Ivan's father, storm Ivan's mansion to demand the annulment of the marriage. Ivan flees, so Toros, Garnik and Igor force Anora to come with them and search for Ivan across the neighborhood. They find Ivan drunk. Ivan's parents arrive and bring them all in a private jet back Las Vegas. Realizing Ivan doesn't love her, Anora agrees to dissolve their marriage. Igor escorts Anora back to her apartment, returns her wedding ring, she tries to kiss him, but he refuses, so she starts crying.
Despite numerous awards and critical recognition, Sean Baker's independent film "Anora" is in reality still two notches below all the hype. Its main virtue is the excellent actress Mikey Madison who plays the title role, a stripper, yet she, despite her charm, and every other character, are so underwritten they never quite rise to the occasion. The storyline is hacky, jumbled together out of three disparate segments which are shoehorned together without ever managing to fit into a harmonious whole. The first third is a simple romance, a sort of "After" for strippers, or a restructuring of "Pretty Woman": Anora does a lap dance for the rich student Ivan who hires her to be his girlfriend. Their romance is superficial, though: the viewers don't find out much about Ivan, except that he takes drugs, drinks and plays video games the whole day, and thus either this segment wasn't thought out or it seems as if Baker wanted to imply that there is no real emotional bond between them and that she is just after his money. Later on, they even get married in Las Vegas—isn't it illogical that Anora would agree to that even though she never met Ivan's parents, Russian oligarchs possibly connected to the crime world, nor that Ivan met Anora's parents?
The second segment brings a huge shift in tone, as two clumsy Armenians and a Russian thug, Igor, employees of Ivan's father, storm Ivan's mansion to have the marriage annuled. Ivan flees and thus the whole next 40 minutes is a wild goose chase trying to find him across the neighborhood. From Anora's perspective, she is coerced into participating by the two Armenians and Igor, and their comical inability to properly communicate with other people is what makes this whole middle segment funny, albeit episodic. The third and final segment is some sort of a blend between "Meet the Parents" and "What Happens in Vegas", but in a more serious, somber edition, as Ivan's parents want to annul the marriage. When the Armenian forces Anora and Ivan to the local Brooklyn court, wouldn't it have made sense for Anora to seek help from the judge and call the police because they were forced to appear there against their will? It seems heavy handed. One great little dialogue between Ivan's mother and Anora, though: "And you are a disgusting hooker!" - "And your son hates you so much, he married one to piss you off!" The finale doesn't work. Igor didn't do anything near redemption to reach any levels of a "prince savior", and thus Anora's peculiar behavior in the last scene doesn't have any foundation, comes out of nowhere and isn't earned. "Anora" is a good film, depicting the underclass of strippers and their often disappointing personal problems, yet it seems it was aimlessly meandering itself before it got to that point.
Grade:++
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