“Anora ”marks Sean Baker's most earnest depiction of sex work yet

Mikey Madison is funny and heartbreaking as the titular stripper Anora.

Sex sells, as the aphorism goes, but for filmmaker Sean Baker, that's a message he wants to complicate.

From Tangerine to Red Rocket, Baker has explored the hopes, dreams, and daily lives of sex workers. Now, Anora, which won the Palme d'Or at this year's Cannes Film Festival and is now making its North American debut at the Telluride Film Festival, offers up his most fully realized vision yet.

Mikey Madison plays Anora, who goes by Ani, a New York City stripper who occasionally sleeps with customers on the side for extra money. When Vanya/Ivan (Mark Eydelshteyn), the son of a Russian oligarch, goes into her club one night, the two instantly hit it off. Ivan hires her to come to his house for sex, eventually paying Ani to be his girlfriend for a week. Think Pretty Woman without the fairy-tale luster.

On a trip to Las Vegas, Ani and Ivan marry one night, and then Ani makes a tragic error. She buys into the fantasy of her wealthy prince charming a bit too readily. But when Ivan's parents find out what he's done, the marriage is put to the test as a trio of hapless goons attempt to coerce them into getting an annulment.

Baker's film is a sex-positive, open-hearted love letter to gals like Anora — those of big hearts and little means. Ani wins us over from her first moments on screen, charming customers and droppings one-liners amidst lap dances. Madison is effervescent in the role, blending street smarts, romantic naivety, and an effortless charm; it's obvious why Ani is good at her job. Madison is heartbreaking, sexy, audacious, hilarious, and righteously enraged at different turns, making Ani a mesmerizingly real person.

As Ivan, Eydelshteyn is a gangly Russian doppelgänger for Timothée Chalamet, possessing much of the same f---boi energy that Chalamet has previously wrought masterfully. Ivan is as reliable as a goldfish's memory, and yet, the appeal of his enthusiastic youth and the zest for living that radiates from the actor makes it clear that Ani isn't merely interested in Ivan's flush bank account.

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As the trio trying to undo Ani and Ivan's marriage, Karren Karagulian, Vache Tovmasyan, and Yura Borisov steal many scenes. They somehow manage to convey thuggish menace while remaining hopeless, bumbling fools. The comedy of errors that unfolds as they try to restrain Ani is one of the funniest sequences on screen this year. Madison gives as good as she gets with the three of them, and they all deliver an epic smorgasbord of physical comedy underscored by delicious one-liners. Baker's script is not merely earnest, it's also downright hilarious — all of which is helped by a cast full of actors with subtlely perfect comedic timing.

If there are any faults to Anora, it is the film's running time. At two hours and 19 minutes, the pacing is often out of whack, and many sequences could be condensed for the sake of tightening the action. If the purpose is to make Ivan and his actions feel tedious and tiresome, the film succeeds, but the length somewhat undercuts the film's effectiveness otherwise.

Still, it's hard to fault it too much when the movie's heart is in such a warm and open-minded space. Ani is a heroine for our times, and as portrayed by Madison, she's a bundle of contradictions — a feisty, independent business woman and a lost girl looking for love in the worst places. In short, she's a human being. Full stop. Which makes it all the more galling when the only reason that everyone in Ivan's life opposes his marriage to her is solely because of her commitment to the oldest profession.

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Ani's greatest fault isn't her job; it's that she foolishly believes a shallow rich boy sees her true value. But Baker makes it clear, right up until the final frame, that Ani is utterly in control of her body — and she is the one choosing to use it for her livelihood. This is no sob story about a poor girl forced to sell her body to survive. Instead, it's a sex-positive manifesto and a cautionary tale about trusting the rich.

Baker's films are often intent on humanizing sex workers and reminding audiences that sex work is work, period. Work that, in the filmmaker's opinion, should be decriminalized and understood as a job like any other. Here, he makes an earnest plea for their right to dignity. Those who disrespect Ani, who judge her without ever knowing her, are the small-minded villains — a fact that Ani gleefully reminds them of, while still showing us the hurt that their cruelty inflicts. In Madison, Baker has found a perfect conduit for his ideals, making Anora a culmination of the themes that have dominated his work for years.

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As we learn in the film, the name Anora means grace, light, or honor, all traits that Ani embodies, upending the expectations of those around her. Baker invites audiences to grant that same grace to those we might seek to judge, upholding his belief in human beings' innate worthiness of respect and love. Grade: B+

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