The Horrifying Fairytale Of 'Anora'

 Anora, released in 2024 directed, produced, written, and edited by Sean Baker. The film won Palm'dor in Cannes film festival distributed by Neon. It won best picture at the Oscars 2025.

                                               

Anora goes by 'Ani', is a Russian-American sex worker who works in a strip club in LA, often known for her high-priced services in headquarters. One day while working, she met Vanya, a rich 21-year-old Russian boy. Actually, Ani was eating her food, but her boss reluctantly told her to work and to meet this Russian kid because she could understand Russian. As a part of her job, Ani was sweet and friendly to him and his friends, and she took it into the private while having a conversation, she came across that Vanya is the son of a rich oligarch in Russia and came to the States for a vacation. Then things start turning wild, Vanya, who acts silly, shows his 'coolness' offering Ani an out-of-the-club-business deal to be his girlfriend for a week with an amount of $15,000 on the table, which she eventually agrees to. 

THE BEGINNING OF A ROMANTIC TALE 

Anora meets his American friends and they go to the club, wild parties, and sex just like how rich people do. The crazy one-week vacation became crazier when Vanya proposed to Ani to marry him, after a crazy 'wild session' he gave a wild proposal to Ani, as her to confess if she gets a three-carat ring while showing her beautiful manicured hands and Vanya gives her a four-carat ring. They get married in a chapel in Las Vegas. Honestly, that scene that so good. The visuals of the song 'The Greatest Day Alive' are amazing. Ani and Vanya go to their mansion as a married couple. To think they just know each other for only a week and they get married is superficial. Ani quits her job as a sex worker and begins her Cinderella fairytale. She also comments to one of her friends that she wants to go to Disneyland, as it was her childhood dream. 

THE DEVASTATION, BETRAYAL, AND REALITY

Soon this fairytale comes to an end as Vanya's parents got the information that their son had married a sex worker, as a rich oligarch, it bales their reputation and became a nation's laugh in Russia. Their assistant Toros sent two of his men to see its true or not. While Vanya and Ani were in their beautiful house Toros man comes inside unwelcomingly and it grips Ani's beautiful fairytale to wild chaotic arguments fights meanwhile as soon as Garpnick informs Toros that they have a marriage license it creates more engalment as Ani has no idea what is happening, Vanya runs away without even bothering about Ani as she wanted to get dressed. The entire scene was crazy, screaming, shouting, swearing at each other without knowing what's gonna happen next. Ani tries to run away too, but Igor, who is a silent, deliberate man, tries to handle her with concern that she might hurt herself, but Ani feels unsafe as a woman inside the house with two huge men, but unexpectedly gave them a hard time with bruises and broke garpnick nose. The unapologetic life of Ani Toros arrives and confronts Ani that it is not true and it needs to be annulled as soon as possible, meanwhile Ani is living in her fairytale life, convincing them that Vanya is in love with her, which is obviously not. 

VANYA- A REALISTIC CHARACTER

Out of all the characters, Vanya's character is the most realistic one, a rich boy who thinks he can do whatever he wants while living under his parents' shadows. Vanya went to the States not only for vacation but also to kind of delete Russian life. He marries Anora he can stay there for a long time. Also, the one-week party girlfriend, his deal with Anora, wants to show his friends that he has a girlfriend too. Upon meeting his parents to get divorced from Anora, he's yet another immature kid with an uncountable amount of money who eventually used Anora only for his personal purpose, saw her as nothing but a sex object. While Anora believed his lies and ultimately thought she was in love with him, although trying to defend his ultimate moves of betrayal as an intoxicated man. Vanya was yet another man who saw a hard-working sex worker as a purpose for his own use. 

AFTER DIVORCE AND THE ENDING, IGOR THE REAL MVP

After Anora is left with nothing, the story of rags-to-riches eventually alters to begins from where she left. Igor is my favourite character, who is a silent goon but a truly unsung hero. He felt bad for Anora as he kind of took a stand for he, saying something to Vanya that he needs to apologize to her for all the humiliation and disrespect. On the other side, Ani, who never knew the difference between affection and attraction, as everything was a transactional matter of her living in that environment. She misunderstood Igor with someone who have rapey eyes and saying if they were alone he would have raped her, which was validating from her side because she never came across with someone who had affection and sympathy for her. At the end of the movie, Igor returns her diamond, which was snatched by Toro from her. The ending of Anora is very open-ended as she broke down her tears in Igor's arms. Anora, a statistically independent, unapologetic woman whose life turned upside down after she met Vanya, is a tribute to every young sex worker's untold story.