Anora - Review 

Rating: 4 out of 5

SEAN Baker’s Oscar winner Anora entertainingly combines a Pretty Woman inspired fairytale with something a little more realistic.

It’s a foul-mouthed, nudity strewn wild ride that places a streetwise escort on a collision course with a Russian ogliarch family - but with results that few will see coming.

Baker’s film picked up the Palmer d’or at Cannes as well as the Oscar for Best Picture (among several) and it’s easy to see why. This feels edgy and has something to say about the absurdity of wealth and perception, as well as the culture clash of Eastern and Western values.

Mikey Madison (who was crowned best actress at the Academy Awards) plays the Anora of the film’s title (although she prefers Ani), a New York escort and table dancer whose fortunes appear to be transformed when she is asked to take care of Vanya (Mark Eydelshteyn), a spoilt Russian rich kid who likes to party.

Ani is chosen because of her knowledge of Russian - she has an Uzbek background and her late grandmother spoke Russian.

Vanya immediately takes a shine to her and hires Ani for a week of partying and sex, even taking her to Vegas for a high spending weekend. In a surprise twist, he then proposes and the two marry at a Vegas chapel.

But once news of the nuptials reach Vanya’s parents, he furiously sends some goons - led by a fixer named Toros (Karren Karagulian) and including tough but sensitive Igor (Yuriy Borisov), and his more bumbling colleague Garnik (Vache Tovmasyan) - to sort things out and secure an annulment.

When they arrive, Vanya does a runner, leaving Ani to fend for herself, mistaken in her belief that her ‘husband’ will stand up for her. But as her predicament worsens and the odds become increasingly stacked against her, Ani must rely on her resourcefulness to give as good as she gets.

For all the danger inherent in Ani’s plight - a slight girl pitted against several Russian heavies - there’s almost a screwball nature to the comedy that ensues. Ani can definitely give as good as she gets and her feisty defence of her self and dignity is mesmerising in its ability to surprise and delight.

And yet there’s a nagging sense that Ani knows she’s out of her depth but feels both betrayed by her cowardly husband and entitled to some of his wealth: and so holds out for as long as possible in the hope of that elusive fairytale or miracle.

Madison delivers a tour-de-force of a performance; by turns sassy, determined, wily and eventually vulnerable. A final scene, expertly delivered, combines an element of confusion and kindness, with a breakdown befitting the extent of her ordeal - all triggered by an unlikely act of kindness, the like of which she is clearly not used to.

But Madison is surrounded by a great cast, with the likes of Borisov and Tavmasyan surprising with their comedic, self deprecating ineptitude, and Karagulian a determined and often exasperated fixer.

The bittersweet outcome of the story, meanwhile, feels more appropriate to the story than the wish fulfilment of traditional Hollywood (and Pretty Woman in particular), as evidenced by that final scene that leaves you feeling as uncomfortable as you may be emotionally flawed.

It’s a ballsy move by Baker - but one that befits his filmmaking style. And one that undoubtedly elevated the film at both Cannes and with Academy Award members. In a film that continually defies expectations, Anora’s climax ensures the film ends with a scene you won’t forget - and which delivers the high point of a genuinely gutsy and moving performance from Madison.

Certificate: 18

Running time: 2hrs 20mins