For those of us that keep up with pop culture, movies, and the Academy Awards, there’s one film that has been the talk of the town the past few months. “Anora,” Sean Baker’s take on a Cinderella story, has received critical acclaim and renown since its release in 2024. The film took home five awards at the 2025 Oscars, including Best Picture, Best Actress, and Best Director. Clearly, the film did something right.
But what is the movie doing right?
“Anora” stars Mikey Madison as the titular Anora, who goes by Ani, as she often declares in her Brooklyn accent throughout the film. Working as a stripper in New York City, one day she meets the son of a Russian oligarch, Ivan “Vanya” Zakharov, and is immediately swept into a fairy tale romance. The two quickly marry, and Ani moves into his lavish mansion while partying with his friends day in and day out.
One day, employees of his father come looking for Ivan, and he runs away to leave Ani with Garnik, Igor, and Toros. The four embark on a city wide search for Ivan, with Ani refusing to give up faith in her husband. When they finally discover him at the very strip club Ani met him in, they immediately attempt to get the marriage annulled with Ivan’s parents. Eventually they succeed, and Ani is left behind while Ivan departs for Russia with his parents, never to see each other again. Igor, the nicest and youngest of the henchmen, takes Ani home, and the two share a moment when Ani attempts to sleep with him and then finally breaks down in tears, showing her first true emotions and closing out the film.
There are a lot of good things in this movie. The acting is great. Madison and her co-stars do a wonderful job of landing their comedic lines while also driving home the emotional beats of the story. The film is entertaining and beautifully filmed, with a great soundtrack and lovely costuming. The audience can really dive into New York City, and we get to experience the chaos and life of the city along with the characters.
Where the film falters for me is in its pacing and its message. The first half is a glorified montage, with Ani and Ivan partying in every clip to techno music and strobe lights. It’s fun, but it’s not much more than that. Then the second half is spent searching for Ivan, and while the film is still funny, it’s a bit boring. That’s all we get? Just a search for Ani’s new husband, a quick divorce, and nothing? I felt a bit cheated. I needed a big blowout, a crazy twist, or even just a little bit more to make me feel like at least something happened in this film. And while I do think the acting is great, Madison’s performance was definitely not Oscar worthy. She did a wonderful job with what she was given, but I don’t think the script allowed her to deliver award winning acting.
However, I could forgive everything I didn’t like if it wasn’t for the message. What is the message, you might ask? I have no idea. Is Sean Baker saying sex work is bad? Or is he making a commentary on how men use women? Or, perhaps he’s trying to give the audience a lesson on class divides and the exploitation of the lower class?
I truly don’t know. “Anora” never, ever dives into what I think could have potentially been the most interesting plot of the movie, which is Ani’s psyche. We don’t know why she chooses to do sex work. We have no idea what her life is like, or what her childhood was. We don’t know how she feels about her occupation, or what ramification her lifestyle has caused her. We don’t know any of that. It feels like her job is just an excuse for us to get to see big, glamorous party scenes, without any true emotional heart or reality.
The film also isn’t really giving me anything to work with on the dynamics of men and women. While Ani is clearly a victim of Ivan’s lifestyle, Ivan isn’t a typical villain. He’s more of a fumbling man-child, one that is hard to hate and even harder to blame. Instead, we find ourselves blaming Ani, who is presented as more mature and secure in herself. Why would she even allow herself to be married to someone so flighty and unpredictable? The only other female character, despite this being a movie centering around a woman, is Ivan’s mother, who is perhaps the most evil person in the film. Ivan’s father is presented as a nonchalant husband who could barely care about his son’s marriage, while the mother is hellbent on the annulment and despises Ani. Somehow, a woman is the character we hate the most in a film that should be about male manipulation and exploitation.
The film definitely makes a statement about wealth and the class divide, but in my opinion could have done a lot more with that theme. We don’t see enough of the dark side of Ani’s life to really contrast it with Ivan’s, and by glamorizing her work as a stripper it doesn’t even seem that bad. Why should the audience care or think about how hard her life is, if it’s all champagne, cute clothes, and stacks of money?
My final gripe with the film is the character of Igor. When we first meet him, we learn he’s a poor Russian immigrant living in New York, working for Ivan’s family. He’s very sympathetic, and we know and can relate to his quiet stoicism more than any other character, even Ani. He quickly becomes the fan favorite, always supporting and staying close to Ani, even comforting her in the end of the film. But why is he the best character? Why is he the character we root for the most, the one that saves the girl at the end of the film? What kind of comment can this film be making about women and gender, if at the end of the day the most developed, relatable, and likable character is a man? That’s not to say that great characters can’t be men, but it just seems an odd choice to make a man such a pivotal role in a film centering around women and the sex work industry.
I wish we could have seen Ani come into her own more. I wish we could have seen her show some agency, some conviction, or make a choice that influences the film in any way at all. Unfortunately, we don’t, and that’s why I just can’t like this film or believe in it as an Award winner.