Dive into New York’s hottest club: The plot of ‘Anora’
The Best Picture winner at this year’s Academy Awards is Sean Baker’s Anora. If you suddenly have the urge to watch the film but want to know what it is about first, we’ve got you covered.
The New York based film brings us into the whirlwind romance of Ani (Mikey Madison) and Vanya (Mark Eydelshteyn) after they meet at a strip club. Ani is a sex worker and goes to spend time with Vanya, agreeing to stay with him for money until the two fall in lust with each other. Vanya is the Russian son of a rich family and is taking his freedom a little too freely.
Ani marries Vanya, thinking this is her way out of a life as a sex worker and away from her family in New York. But she quickly sees how childish Vanya is and how willing he is to leave her behind. She is paired with Ani as the only woman at the club who speaks Russian, given her own roots, and it leads to the two having the ability to communicate with each other and connect.
But Vanya’s parents want him back in Russia and it leads to their security for their son trying to get Vanya to end his relationship with Ani. When they come to the home he is staying in, Vanya runs away from the house, leaving Ani who is held captive so that Toros (Karen Karagulyan) and Igor (Yura Borisov) can force the couple to end their relationship.
Before they can do that, Igor, Toros, and Garnik (Vache Tovmasyan) must take Ani with them to try and find where Vanya went. And Ani isn’t exactly the kind of woman to be quiet when being held against her will.
Wild to see Coney Island representation
Trying to find Vanya leads the foursome to Coney Island where they destroy a candy shop that Vanya’s friend works at for answers. It leads them to finding Vanya at the club that Ani used to work at, receiving a lap dance from her enemy there. All of it leads to Vanya’s parents forcing him to go back to Russia.
The duo go back to Las Vegas, where they got married, and Ani tries to fight for her marriage. Vanya essentially rolls over and does what his parents say. It leaves Ani and Igor together back at the mansion that Vanya was staying at with Ani. And it leaves the audience wondering if Ani found a man she was really meant to be with throughout this mess.
Igor and Ani find comfort in each other
Throughout the film, Ani insults Igor, hits him, and turns her anger with Vanya on him more than she does Toros and Garnik. The other two do get her ire, especially when she fights back, but Igor is the one who takes a lot of Ani’s emotional lashing. It leads to them turning to each other in the end.
When they stay at the mansion together, the two are honest with one another and then in the morning, Igor takes Ani back to her old apartment. She is upset at the life that was taken away from her and the reality she has to go back to. Igor is left yet again at the hands of those who need his services, a parallel to Ani’s sex worker past that she is returning to.
The two connect in Igor’s car, sleeping with each other and then in that moment, Ani cries. After everything she went through, she didn’t show her sadness despite every other emotion she was willing to share. And she shares her sadness and her upset with Igor.
That’s the plot of Anora and it is a beautiful film that you should see (in theaters if you can).
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