In the popular children’s story Cinderella, the protagonist lives a miserable existence, mistreated by her evil stepmother and wicked stepsisters, but ultimately ends up living an enchanted life with Prince Charming, with a little help from her fairy godmother. Written and directed by Sean Baker (Starlet; Tangerine; The Florida Project), Anora doesn’t feature a protagonist who has a splendorous ending, but the trajectory of the film, from winning the Palm d’Or at Cannes Film Festival in 2024 to sweeping the Academy Awards in 2025, to the surprise of everyone, is a fairytale story. The independent film distributed by Neon and made for just $6 million dollars, won five Academy Awards — Best Picture, Best Director, Best Actress, Best Original Screenplay, and Best Editing. A little over a month after winning all of those Academy Awards, The Criterion Collection is releasing a director-approved 4K UHD and Blu-ray combo edition of Anora, which includes a ton of fabulous special features.
For a spoiler-free exploration of Anora, head over to EoM Contributor Justin Waldman’s initial TIFF 2024 festival review.
L-R: Mark Eydelshteyn as Ivan and Mikey Madison as Ani in ANORA. Photo courtesy of The Criterion Collection and NEON.
Anora has been compared to the movie Pretty Woman (1990), which is much closer to a Cinderella story, featuring a protagonist who lives happily-ever-after with a wealthy businessman. The protagonist of Anora, Ani (Mikey Madison), doesn’t have a storybook ending, but the film does a fantastic job of portraying sex work in a much more realistic and human light compared to Pretty Woman. Ani lives in Brighton Beach, a Russian American neighborhood in Brooklyn, and works at the strip club Headquarters where she gives lap dances and private sessions in the VIP rooms. Ani is fierce, unafraid to speak her mind, and says “fuck” a lot in her heavy Brooklyn accent. One night, the son of a Russian oligarch, Ivan Zakharov (Mark Eydelshteyn), who goes by Vanya, requests a girl who is fluent in Russian. Knowing that Ani learned Russian from her grandmother, her boss asks her to entertain Vanya. He enjoys her company so much that he hires Ani for a week for $15,000 — and then asks her to marry him. After the couple quickly get married in a Vegas wedding chapel, in an attempt by Vanya to stay in the U.S., Anora becomes an absurdist dark comedy as his father’s bumbling henchmen try to track them down to have the marriage annulled. It’s clear early in Anora that Ani’s story probably won’t have a magical ending, but, like her, you want to believe that it might, thanks to Mikey Madison’s knockout performance as Ani.
L-R: Mark Eydelshteyn as Ivan and Mikey Madison as Ani in ANORA. Photo courtesy of NEON.
Anora isn’t Baker’s first film about sex work and he and Madison have both publicly advocated for sex workers on many occasions; some members of the cast are strippers and sex workers, like Lindsey Normington, who gives a terrific performance as Diamond, Ani’s archenemy. Members of the cast like Normington also consulted with Baker to ensure the film feels as authentic as possible. In interviews, Baker has said he hopes that if people can relate to the sex workers in his films on at least an emotional level, it might help remove some of the stigma associated with the profession. He had Madison in mind to play Ani from the beginning, and she was even involved in developing the character’s story, which is obvious in the nuances of Ani’s facial expressions, body language, and the way she uses her voice. This is an intimate performance of a character that Madison helped create and knows very well. Her portrayal of Ani is raw and exposed, not just in the physical sense because of the explicit nudity in the film, but in a soul-stirring way that feels profound. Ani is a performer who wears her nudity as a costume and sex is transactional for her, until she makes the mistake of falling for Vanya, who likes to party and play video games all day. Eydelshteyn does an excellent job of embodying an irresponsible, spoiled child, who makes bad decisions on a whim and frivolously spends his father’s money.
L-R: Ivy Wolk as Crystal, Anton Bitter as Tom, Mark Eydelshteyn as Ivan, and Mikey Madison as Ani in ANORA. Photo courtesy of The Criterion Collection and NEON.
When Vanya’s parents discover he married a “prostitute,” his mother, Galina (Daria Ekamasova), demands that Vanya’s Armenian godfather Toros (Karren Karagulian) find the couple and have the marriage annulled. Karagulian is superb as Toros and has worked with Baker on several films including Starlet (2012) and The Florida Project (2017), and he’s the only one involved in the search for the couple who isn’t incompetent. Toros sends his lackeys, Garnik (Vache Tovmasyan) and Igor (Yura Borisov), to Vanya’s father’s mansion where the young couple having been living, while, unbeknownst to Vanya, his parents are on their way to the U.S. to bring him back to Russia. When Garnik and Igor arrive at the house and Vanya refuses to let them in, they force their way in. After confirming that they are at the house, Toros is on speakerphone with Garnik while on his way there and makes the mistake of calling Ani a hooker, causing her to get into a screaming match over the phone, using the word “fuck” in every way imaginable. This is the setup for the most unexpected, laugh out loud, wild sequence ever in a Sean Baker film, which provides much needed comic relief for an ultimately tragic situation.
L-R: Mark Eydelshteyn as Ivan and Mikey Madison as Ani in ANORA. Photo courtesy of NEON.
Realizing he will be forced to go back to Russia with his parents, Vanya tells Ani they need to leave immediately. Dressed only in a t-shirt and underwear, Ani wants to put on some clothes, but before she can get dressed Vanya runs out of the house. When Garnik chases after him, he slips on some ice and hurts his back and Vanya gets away. Still on speakerphone, Toros instructs Garnik and Igor to keep them there until he arrives. Igor is a reluctant henchman and has been trying to make small talk with Ani, but when she tries to run, he attempts to restrain her and the two of them begin to violently struggle. Borisov earned an Oscar nomination for his stellar performance as Igor, who obviously doesn’t want to hurt Ani, he’s just doing his job. Ani is fiery and a fighter and when Garnik comes back into the house while Igor is trying to hold onto her, she kicks Garnik in the face, breaking his nose.
Mikey Madison as Ani in ANORA. Photo courtesy of NEON.
The fight sequence is meticulously choreographed, and Madison does all her own stunts, with visible bruises by the time it’s over. When Toros finally arrives at the house, he finds a shocking scene — the living room is destroyed, Garnik is bleeding, and Igor has Ani on his lap, her hands tied with a telephone cord. His only response to the jaw-dropping scene is, “What the fuck is happening?!” Garnik admits to Toros that Vanya ran away and that Ani broke his nose. Toros can’t believe what he’s hearing because Ani is tiny and “just a girl,” but Garnik tells him she doesn’t fight like one and that she’s an “animal.” Tovmasyan gives a hysterical, tremendous performance as Garnik. Now, Toros, Garnik, Igor, and Ani have to search the city to find Vanya before his parents arrive. Anora is brilliantly written and the dialogue, especially in this uproarious sequence, is outstanding and feels entirely organic.
L-R: Yura Borisov as Igor, Mark Eydelshteyn as Ivan, Karren Karagulian as Toros, and Mikey Madison as Ani in ANORA. Photo courtesy of The Criterion Collection and NEON.
Anora is a sublime, often rollicking, but ultimately heartbreaking story about power dynamics with phenomenal performances. Shot on Kodak 35 mm film, the cinematography by Drew Daniels in Anora is gorgeous. Unlike Pretty Woman, the film’s depiction of sex workers feels genuine and humanistic. Even though Ani doesn’t get her fairytale ending, she never loses an ounce of her dignity or strength. It’s interesting that Ani doesn’t like her name, which is why she chooses to go by Ani instead of Anora. In Russian, the name “Anora” means “bright” or “light,” which perfectly describe Ani’s personality, passion, and spirit.
ANORA packshot. Photo courtesy of The Criterion Collection.
The Criterion Collection 4K UHD and Blu-ray Combo of Anora includes some marvelous special features. The making-of documentary is particularly fascinating and even includes screen tests, and the interviews with the cast and crew are insightful. Everything about the packaging of the combo is lovely; each disc has Anora in the Aquafina Script outlined in neon lighting, and the cover design with Mikey Madison posing with the scarf from the film is a nod to the poster for the 1971 horror film Vampyros Lesbos.
Anora Special Features:
- *New* 4K digital master, supervised by director Sean Baker and producer Alex Coco, with 5.1 surround DTS-HD Master Audio soundtrack
- One 4K UHD disc of the film presented in HDR and two Blu-rays with the film and special features
- Two audio commentaries: one featuring Baker, Coco, producer Samantha Quan, and cinematographer Drew Daniels, and the other featuring Baker and actors Yura Borisov, Mark Eydelshteyn, Karren Karagulian, Mikey Madison, and Vache Tovmasyan
- *New* making-of documentary
- *New* interviews with Baker and Madison
- Cannes Film Festival press conference
- Q&A with Madison and actor-stripper Lindsey Normington
- Deleted scenes
- Audition footage
- Trailers
- English subtitles for the deaf and hard of hearing and English descriptive audio
- PLUS: Essays by film critic Dennis Lim and author Kier-La Janisse
- *New* cover by Bianca Parkes and GrandSon, with photography by Max Abadian
Available on 4K UHD and Blu-ray Combo April 29th, 2025.
For more information, head to the official NEON Anora webpage.
To purchase, head to the official The Criterion Collection Anora webpage.
Final Score: 4.5 out of 5.
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Categories: Films To Watch, Home Release, Recommendation
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