| Anora | |
|---|---|
_poster.jpg) Theatrical release poster | |
| Directed by | Sean Baker |
| Written by | Sean Baker |
| Produced by |
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| Starring | |
| Cinematography | Drew Daniels |
| Edited by | Sean Baker |
Production companies |
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| Distributed by | Neon |
Release dates |
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Running time | 139 minutes[1] |
| Country | United States |
| Languages |
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| Budget | $6 million[2] |
| Box office | $58.2 million[3][4] |
Anora is a 2024 Americanromanticcomedy-drama[5] film written, directed, produced, and edited bySean Baker. It starsMikey Madison as Anora "Ani" Mikheeva, a stripper from New York who marries the wealthy son of aRussian oligarch played byMark Eydelshteyn. The supporting cast includesYura Borisov,Karren Karagulian,Vache Tovmasyan,Darya Ekamasova, andAleksei Serebryakov.
Anora premiered at the77th Cannes Film Festival on May 21, 2024, where it received critical acclaim and won thePalme d'Or. It was released theatrically on October 18, 2024, byNeon. The film grossed $58.2 million worldwide against a $6 million budget, making it Baker's highest-grossing film.
Anora receivednumerous accolades. The film was named one of the top ten films of 2024 by theNational Board of Review and theAmerican Film Institute. The film received six nominations at the97th Academy Awards, winning five forBest Picture,Best Director,Best Actress (Madison),Best Original Screenplay, andBest Film Editing. It is one of only four films in history to win both the Palm d'Or and the Oscar for Best Picture.[note 1]Anora also received seven nominations at the78th British Academy Film Awards, winning two; five at the82nd Golden Globe Awards; three at the31st Screen Actors Guild Awards; and one at the70th David di Donatello for International Movie, which the film won.
Anora "Ani" Mikheeva, a 23-year-oldstripper, lives inBrighton Beach, aRussian-American neighborhood inBrooklyn, New York City. Her boss introduces her to Ivan "Vanya" Zakharov, the 21-year-old son of theRussian oligarch Nikolai Zakharov, who requests someone fluent in Russian. Though Vanya is in the U.S. to study, he spends most of his time partying in clubs and playing video games in his parents' lavish Brooklyn mansion.
Vanya hires Anora for several sexual encounters. He invites her to a New Year's Eve party at the mansion, and the following day, he offers her $15,000 to be his girlfriend for a week. During the week, Anora parties with Vanya and his friends, and they all go on an extravagant trip to Las Vegas. At the end of the trip, Vanya reveals that he has to return to Russia permanently to work at his father's company and expresses disdain for his parents. He suggests that he will not have to leave if he marries an American and impulsively proposes marriage. Anora is reluctant at first but agrees after Vanya assures her that his feelings are genuine. They elope at a Vegas wedding chapel. Vanya then buys her a large wedding ring and an expensive fur coat. She resigns from her job and moves into Vanya's mansion. When news of their marriage reaches Russia, Vanya's mother, Galina, orders his Armenian godfather, Toros, to find them and arrange anannulment while she and his father, Nikolai, fly to the U.S.
Toros sends his henchmen, Garnik and Igor, to the mansion. They inform Vanya that his parents are taking him back to Russia and enrage Anora by calling her a prostitute, suggesting Vanya only married her for agreen card. Vanya flees the premises, and Anora engages in a violent struggle with Garnik and Igor before they restrain her. When Toros arrives, he tells Anora that Vanya's mansion and wealth belong to his parents and that he is immature and financially dependent on them. He confiscates her wedding ring, gags her, and offers her $10,000 for the annulment. Anora insists she and Vanya are in love, but she agrees to help find him.
Anora, Toros, Garnik, and Igor search Brooklyn. Anora learns from friends that Vanya is at her former strip club, where he is being entertained by Diamond, a rival dancer. They drag Vanya out of the club, but he is too intoxicated to listen to them, and the group is forced to wait outside the courthouse overnight. The annulment is dismissed since the marriage took place in Nevada.
At the airport, Anora introduces herself to Nikolai and Galina in Russian, but Galina rejects her. Conceding to his parents, Vanya coldly tells Anora their marriage must end while Galina orders everyone onto a plane to Las Vegas. Having not signed aprenuptial agreement, Anora pledges to file for a divorce settlement, but Galina threatens her with financial ruin if she does not comply. Realizing Vanya's cowardice and his family's power, Anora signs the annulment papers. Igor suggests Vanya apologize to Anora, but Galina objects. Anora insults both Vanya and Galina before leaving, telling Galina that Vanya only married her to spite his mother, much to Nikolai's amusement.
Igor takes Anora back to New York to collect her belongings. At the mansion, she confronts Igor about their encounter, accusing him of assault and saying he would have raped her if they had been alone, though Igor assures her that he had no intention of doing so. The next morning, Igor gives Anora the money Toros promised her and drives her home. In the car, he returns her wedding ring as a token of goodwill. Moved by the gesture, Anora initiates sex with him but stops when he tries to kiss her; she breaks down and sobs in his arms.
The director,Sean Baker, saidAnora was inspired by a story from a friend about a Russian-American newlywed kidnapped for collateral. He was also inspired by his work in 2000 and 2001, when he edited wedding videos, including ones of Russian-Americans in New York.[8]: 47 Baker said his intentions were towards "telling human stories, by telling stories that are hopefully universal [...] It's helping remove the stigma that's been applied to [sex work], that's always been applied to this livelihood."[9] Baker hiredAndrea Werhun, a Canadian writer and actress known for her 2018 memoirModern Whore about her prior time as a sex worker, as a creative consultant.[10]
Baker castMikey Madison after seeing her inOnce Upon a Time in Hollywood (2019) andScream (2022).[8]: 47 [11] He hired Madison without an audition.[12] Madison learned Russian, visited strip clubs, and studied theBrooklyn accent to prepare.[12] Although some media outlets incorrectly reported that Anora Mikheeva wasUzbek-American, Baker said that Anora "is ofRussian ethnicity" and "from one of thepost-Soviet countries".[11][13][14]
Principal photography took place starting in February 2023 in Brooklyn, including the neighborhoods ofBrighton Beach,Coney Island, andSheepshead Bay.[15][16]Anora was filmed over 37 days, with the 25-minute home invasion scene taking 10 days. It was shot onKodak35 mm film framed in4-perf widescreenanamorphic using anArricam LT, withcolor correction completed viaDaVinci Resolve atFotoKem.[16][8]: 45–46 VintageLOMOprime andzoom lenses were mainly used for filming, while Atlas Orion lenses were used for low-light scenes.[16] Scenes were also shot at thePalms Casino Resort and onFremont Street inLas Vegas.[16] The film's cinematography was inspired by 1970s crime dramas set in New York, includingThe French Connection andThe Taking of Pelham One Two Three.[16]Alex Coco, one of the producers, worked as a disc jockey for the music in the scenes in the club.[8]: 49 Baker is credited with the casting, with the cast including more than 30 different speaking parts.[8]: 54
For the Zakharov mansion, Baker filmed at 2458 National Drive, aMill Basin mansion once owned byVasily Anisimov, an oligarch with ties to Russia. Baker had searched onGoogle for "the biggest and best mansion in Brighton Beach".[17] To learn more about the area, Baker and Mikey Madison temporarily moved to southern Brooklyn during pre-production. Toros and Ani's search for Vanya was filmed in several restaurants and clubs that the producers had frequented.[18]
At a press conference at the Cannes Film Festival, Madison said that Baker and the producerSamantha Quan, Baker's wife, would act out different sex positions to demonstrate what they wanted the actors to do. Madison was offered anintimacy coordinator, but said: "As I'd already created a really comfortable relationship with both of them for about a year, I felt that that would be where I was most comfortable with and it ended up working so perfectly."[9]
The soundtrack includesRobin Schulz rework of "Greatest Day" byTake That and "All the Things She Said" byt.A.T.u. Madison also said that her friend curated a "stripper playlist" for her to get into character, including tracks fromCardi B,Megan Thee Stallion andSlayyyter.[19]
Like his previous films, Baker edited the film himself inAdobe Premiere Pro.[20]
Worldwide distribution rights were acquired byFilmNation Entertainment in October 2023. The film was then sold by FilmNation toLe Pacte for France, Lev Cinemas for Israel, Kismet Movies for Australia and New Zealand, andFocus Features/Universal Pictures International for the rest of the world excluding North America in deals similar to those made on Baker's previous film,Red Rocket.[15] In November 2023,Neon acquired North American distribution rights to the film,[21] and opened it inlimited release on October 18, 2024.[22][23]
Anora premiered at theCannes Film Festival on May 21, 2024,[24][25] and won the festival'sPalme d'Or on May 25.[26] It earned a 10-minute standing ovation at the end of its screening.[27] It became the fifth consecutive Palme d'Or winner distributed by Neon in the United States,[28] and the first American-produced film to win the Palme d'Or sinceTerrence Malick's 2011 epicThe Tree of Life.[29]
Anora also played at theToronto International Film Festival,[30] theNew York Film Festival,[31] theSan Sebastián International Film Festival,[32] theBusan International Film Festival,[33] theBFI London Film Festival,[34] theRome Film Festival[35] and several others. It was also the closing film at theMAMI Mumbai Film Festival 2024.[36] The film was released on digital platforms on December 17, 2024,[37] with a streaming release onHulu on March 17, 2025.[38] It was released on4K Ultra HD Blu-ray byThe Criterion Collection on April 29.[39]
According to Tom Quinn, CEO of Neon, the P&A and the awards season publicity campaign budget was $18 million.[40]
Anora was released on home media as part ofThe Criterion Collection on April 29, 2025, on standardBlu-ray and4K Ultra HD Blu-ray formats, based on a new 4K master overseen by director Sean Baker.[41] This release also includes two audio commentary tracks, one with Baker, producers Alex Coco and Samantha Quan, and cinematographer Drew Daniels, and another one with Baker and actors Yura Borisov, Mark Eydelshteyn, Karren Karagulian, Mikey Madison, and Vache Tovmasyan, as well as a making-of documentary, interviews with Baker and Madison, a recording of the film's press conference at the Cannes Film Festival, deleted scenes, audition footage, trailers, and essays written by writerDennis Lim and authorKier-La Janisse.
As of April 18, 2025[update],Anora had grossed $20.5 million in the United States and Canada, and $38.8 million in other territories, for a worldwide total of $59.3 million.[3][4]
In the United States, the film made $550,503 in its opening weekend from six theaters; its per-screen-average of $91,751 was the best of 2024 (toppingKinds of Kindness' $75,458 average), and the second-best since the start of theCOVID-19 pandemic (afterAsteroid City's $142,230).[42][43] Expanding to 34 theaters in its second weekend, the film made $908,830 and finished in eighth place.[44] Continuing its expansion, the film made $1.8 million from 253 theaters and $2.5 million from 1,104 in its third and fourth weekends.[45][46] In its 21st week of release in March, following its five Oscar wins, the film was added to 1,130 theaters (for a total of 1,938) and made $1.8 million (an increase of 574% from the previous week), finishing in seventh.[47][48]
On thereview aggregator websiteRotten Tomatoes, 93% of 336 critics' reviews are positive, with an average rating of 8.5/10. The website's consensus reads: "Another marvelous chronicle of America's strivers by writer-director Sean Baker given some extra pizzazz by Mikey Madison's brassy performance,Anora is a romantic drama on the bleeding edge."[49]Metacritic, which uses aweighted average, assigned the film a score of 91 out of 100, based on 62 critics, indicating "universal acclaim".[50] OnAlloCiné, the film received an average rating of 4.2 out of 5, based on 45 reviews, from French critics.[51]
Greta Gerwig, serving as the president of the77th Cannes Film Festival Jury, commented that "[Anora] was something we collectively felt we were transported by, we were moved by [...] It felt both new and in conversation with older forms of cinema. There was something about it that reminded us of [the] classic structures ofLubitsch orHoward Hawks, and then it did something completely truthful and unexpected."[52]
Richard Lawson ofVanity Fair thought the film was "a wild, profane blast." He liked Madison's "lively" performance, yet described the storytelling as somewhat repetitive. Lawson wrote "a darkness thrums under the surface of all this flirting and bickering. Ani is forever yanked this way and that, degraded and disregarded [...] I [was] torn between finding Baker's conclusions compassionate and sensing a vague whiff of something patronizing."[53] Roger Moore ofMovie Nation thought the film had some "gauche, bourgeois clichés." While he praised Madison, he thought Baker's editing dulled "his predictable narrative and message."[54] Stephen Dalton ofThe Film Verdict disliked how "an overlong runtime, underwritten characters and some uneasy tonal wobbles dampen the film's punchy humour and propulsive energy." He wrote of one scene as "an extended struggle that lurches uneasily between slapstick comedy and brutalising assault." Dalton thought the narrative was "oddly paced", describing the "lyrical final section" as lacking "conviction or firm resolution."[55]Justin Chang ofThe New Yorker wrote the film "plays like a wild dream—first joyous, then catastrophic, and always fiercely unpredictable." He enjoyed the "contemporary return to screwball tradition", yet thought it could have been employed better. Chang liked how it "built up a righteous steam of fury, now unleashes it against the Ivans of the world and salutes those toiling thanklessly in their employ."[11]
Sight and Sound namedAnora the second-best film of 2024,[56] andFilm Comment named it one of the ten best.[57] In 2025,Collider ranked the film at number 36 on its list of "The 40 Best Movies of the 2020s", with Jeremy Urquhart terming it "something of a modern classic".[58]Anora was praised by many filmmakers and actors.[59][60][61][62][63][excessive citations] In March 2025,IndieWire ranked it at number 46 on its list of "The 47 Best Romance Movies of the 21st Century," with Wilson Chapman calling it "exactly the type of love affair only he [Baker] could write: funny, lewd, sexy, tempered by class and financial considerations, and ultimately quite tragic and brutally real."[64]IndieWire also ranked the film at number 34 on its list of "The 100 Best Movies of the 2020s (So Far)" in June 2025.[65] It was one of the films voted for the "Readers' Choice" edition ofThe New York Times' list of "The 100 Best Movies of the 21st Century", finishing at number 141.[66]
However, one commentator, Russian-Jewish screenwriterMikhail Idov [ru], found it difficult to reconcile support for the film, given the ongoingRussian invasion of Ukraine; he commented in theNew York Times on February 27, 2025, "Its Oscar nominations, especially the best supporting actor one for Yura Borisov, have been touted by some as a national victory in Russia. Which puts me in the unsettling position of being in some truly terrible company in cheering for it."[67]
Anora received praise from somesex workers for its depiction of the profession, which they described as a step forward from films of the past that tended to portray sex work as a social transgression worthy of condemnation.[68][69][70] In a piece forSlate, Risdon Roberts contrasted the character of Ani with Vivian Ward inPretty Woman, writing the former "is not a desperate or trafficked waif, nor is she ahooker with a heart of gold. Baker doesn't even set out to make [Ani] worthy ofsympathy—instead, we're in awe of her prowess as she works the floor of a high-end strip club while the opening credits play ... Right away, it's clear that we're rooting for Ani not because she's down and out like Vivian—we're rooting for her because she's shrewd and in control".[68]
Tiff Smith said, "We're seeing a fully developed character doing sex work without their profession defining them—that's what representation really is."[70] Some said Baker's hiring of sex workers for the production as consultants and cast members was reflected in the film's attention to detail like the mundane realities of strip club life and labor issues.[71][69]
Others felt that the film reverted to regressive stereotypes about sex workers as downtrodden and "in need of saving".[68][72][73] A UK-based sex worker commented that the film "rehashes the 'traumatised, vulnerable sex worker' trope, which we've seen a thousand times before".[73] Marla Cruz opined that little is revealed about Ani's life outside of sex work, and that an exploration of the "boundary between Ani the person and Ani the worker" is absent.[72] Ayanna Dozier wrote "the film narratively builds upon and follows the social imaginaries of sex workers as subhuman projections for other people's fantasies".[74] Cruz wrote that it is debatable "whether Ani becomes more clear-eyed about her relationship to power, men, and money throughout the film".[72] Though Roberts appreciated the film generally, she critiqued the ending, writing that for real-life sex workers, the true goal is not to be saved by a man, but "is aboutsurvival (or, ideally, transcending the need to survive)".[68] She added that rather than representing theknights in shining armor archetype, "Clients are a means to an end. Money can't break your heart."[68]
The film has apparently had a mixed response in Russia,[75] with some critics comparing it to a re-hashing ofPretty Woman.[76]Anora has also been portrayed as a "national victory" and a sign of warming cultural relations between Russia and the West.[77]
Anora won thePalme d'Or at the77th Cannes Film Festival.[78] It was nominated for five awards at the82nd Golden Globe Awards, seven at the78th British Academy Film Awards (winningBest Actress andBest Casting) and six at the97th Academy Awards with Baker, Madison, and Borisov receiving nominations at each ceremony.[79][80][81] The film won five Academy Awards, includingBest Picture, becoming the fourth film (afterThe Lost Weekend,Marty, andParasite) to win both it and the highest award at Cannes.[8][82] Baker equalled the record set byWalt Disney for themost Academy Awards won by a person in one year and is the only person to win all four for the same film.[83][84]
TheAmerican Film Institute and theNational Board of Review namedAnora as one of the top 10 films of 2024.[85][86] At the30th Critics' Choice Awards, it became the first film to only winCritics' Choice Movie Award for Best Picture and none of its other six nominations.[87]
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