Anora, a young woman from Brooklyn, has the chance to experience a Cinderella story when she meets and marries the son of an oligarch. When news reaches Russia, her fairytale is put in jeopardy, as her parents head to New York to annul the marriage.
By Donjeta Abazi
Psychological (traumatic) reflection
Anora (Ani) lives a life of debauchery, as such a lifestyle can be called in principle. Her relationship with the other girls in the group who perform the same profession (as sex workers) is as deep because of loneliness as it is superficial because of the environment. Anora's character has invisible trauma, her choices are not simply pragmatic, but are shaped by need, emotional hurt, and aspirations. This is constantly noticeable since her story is not told from the start but when she begins to understand that beyond being alone, someone will notice her, someone will even love her, maybe.
And when it comes to psychic reflection, the ending of the film provides strong support, her tears in the car with Igor are interpretable, it is a kind of liberation, but also a shattering of illusion. Some of the film's reviews indicate that the last scene is an "existential" moment, Anora perhaps realizes that her dream (marriage, love) is not what she thought and there is tension between her power and emotional pain.
'Anora' as social criticism and class division
Beyond the premise of a film that tells the story of a 'reckless' girl and her ambition for economic liberation, the other side of the story is the treatment of the huge economic gap between a sex worker and the rich oligarchic world when she meets Vanya. Although theories about marriage change interpretations based on geographical boundaries and world cultures, for a category of people (regardless of geographical and cultural differences) marriage is not simply a romantic act, but a strategy to improve economic status.
Vanya's family and he himself, knock on the border of class divisions, making sure that this border does not undergo any possible deviations along the way. The wealthy classes (Vanya's family) use power and wealth to maintain superiority, not just for love.
Anora is not portrayed as just a victim or “in need of rescue”, but as an ambitious person, she uses her work as a way to live and to aspire to something greater. But there is, or rather it is supposed to be, a division between “Anora as a sex worker” and “Anora as a person”, in terms of where her personal identity begins and where her professional role ends, but we hardly notice this distinction in the film.
Anora's American Dream
In 'Anora', the protagonist herself is a symbolic figure of the American dream; she lives on the margins, as a sex worker in Brooklyn, and yet she longs for something bigger, more beautiful, more normal. When she is trying to get married, she is actually seeing the opportunity to rise to another class, to move from the darkness of the strip club to the light of a luxurious life. Marriage to Vanya is for her the "winning match", as a modern version of the "American lottery" for a better life. In this sense, Anora embodies the spirit of the American dream, she works, dreams, loves, and dares. However, the director, Sean Baker, shows this with a dose of sadness and irony, because every step she takes to rise, brings her back to the same place. In the film, the 'American dream' is like a bright, visible, but unattainable showcase. Anora does not fail because she does not work hard enough, but because the system is not built for people like her. Baker doesn't mock the dream, he shows us how powerful and painful it is to believe in it.
Identity and geographical aspect
The name "Anora" has symbolic meanings: "human, enlightening, or honorable," indicating that there is something more to the character than what appears on the surface.
There is a gradual transition from “Ani” to “Anora” throughout the film, and this is not just a matter of name but an internal transformation as a kind of bridge. Some interpretations say that the title “Anora” (not “Ani”) indicates that we, as viewers, should see her not only as a sex worker, but as an individual with enlightenment, dignity and potential. But beyond the name and the metaphors hidden behind it, another interesting connection is that of the Russian, post-Soviet diaspora. Vanya’s parents (oligarchs) are figures who preserve power and tradition, but also cultural and historical tension, and this brings a commentary on the consequences of capitalism, globalization and social change. While Vanya’s family exists, there is also the character of Igor as a symbolic figure. He is not just a “bad boy”, he represents that part of the Russian diaspora who are content with their reality and who at the same time offer another mirror, that of love and care.
also
Somehow throughout the film (with the exception of the end) we are accompanied by the presence of a spiritual void, family crisis, institutions that are "sanctified" such as marriage, which are crumbling before our eyes. Marriage as an act in 'Anora' is not just a sanctification, it is transformed into a contract and not a spiritual oath. However, in a greater or lesser dose, is it always like this, everywhere?
In this film, ideas such as family, way of life, and human value are challenged in the sense that in a world where everything is for sale (the body, love, relationships), what remains true?
"Anora" also carries within itself the symbolism of coldness, telling us about the emotional distance and spiritual isolation of the character.
In the end, 'Anora' is neither a tragedy nor a triumph, it is a mirror; a story of a woman searching for dignity in a world that sees her only as a tool, and a reminder that, even amidst the deception of dreams, humanity and true feeling do not completely disappear.
…
The film had its world premiere at the 2024 Cannes Film Festival, where it won the Palme d'Or, the festival's highest award and one of the most prestigious honors in world cinema. Following its success at Cannes, Anora was officially released in theaters on October 18, 2024, to critical acclaim for its authenticity, Mikey Madison's extraordinary performance in the title role, and Baker's sensitive but uncompromising style.
In the 2025 awards season, Anora became a cultural phenomenon. At the 2025 Oscars, the film won five major awards, including Best Picture, Best Director, Best Original Screenplay, Best Film Editing, and Best Actress for Mikey Madison. With these wins, Sean Baker became the first director in history to win four individual Oscars for the same film, cementing his position as one of the most important auteurs of modern American cinema.
/Express newspaper
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