Everything you need to know about Mikey Madison’s Anora(Photo Credit – YouTube)
Advertisement
Anora, starring Mikey Madison owes its popularity to its six Oscar nominations at the upcoming 97th Academy Awards, including one for the Best Picture. Not only this but the movie was also nominated in five categories at the 82nd Golden Globe Awards.
The film is a comedy-drama that follows a sex worker and her rollercoaster life after she is married to the son of a Russian oligarch. It first premiered at the Cannes Film Festival in May 2024. The film and its lead, Mikey Madison have earned rave reviews from the audience. Baker’s portrayal of Ani and the class divide between the rich and the poor is one of the few appreciating points in the film.
What is the plot of Anora?
Anora follows Anora aka Ani (played by Mikey Madison), a 23-year-old sex worker living in Brooklyn who has a rush-rush wedding with Ivan “Vanya” Zakharov (played by Mark Aleksandrovich Eydelshteyn), the son of a Russian oligarch. The wedding takes place in Nevada. When Vanya’s family in Russia finds out about the marriage, his mother Galina orders his Armenian godfather Toro to arrange for the marriage to be annulled.
Ani insists that she and Vanya are in love but her protests fall on deaf ears. After facing multiple obstacles at the hands of Galina, Toros, and others, Ani’s marriage to Vanya is annulled.
Watch the trailer of Anora here:
Is Anora based on a true story?
Anora is not based on one single true story. However, it draws inspiration from several sex workers whom Sean Baker, the film’s director, encountered during his research and collective experience with the community.
While the story is not based on a real-life person, it is, however, drawn from a story that Baker’s friend told him one day about “a Russian-American newlywed kidnapped for a collateral”, as quoted by Filmmaker magazine. Baker’s experience as a photographer, having witnessed several Russian-American weddings, also contributed to the film’s story.
In other news, Mikey Madison is known for her work in Better Things and Once Upon a Time in Hollywood. Anora is counted as her breakthrough film as it put her on the radar, after receiving multiple nominations for the film.
