After being hotly tipped to win a lot of awards at the Golden Globes last evening, events in California proved to be something of an anti-climax for Anora, which won the Palme d’Or at last year’s Cannes Film Festival. But there are no shortages of climaxes in the film itself.
This movie is not a remake of Pretty Woman, although it is easy to see why that 1990 movie has been regularly referenced in relation to this one. Here Anora is an ‘exotic dancer’ at a high-end Manhattan strip club who also does escort work, in this specific instance getting to entertain Ivan (Vanya), the 21-year-old hedonistically obnoxious son of a Russian oligarch. She gets the gig because when he comes to the club where she works she is the only girl who speaks some Russian. Other than Mikey Madison who plays Ani (Anora is her working name), which she does with an exceptional mix of brazenness and hidden vulnerability, most of the other featured women from the club are apparently played by ‘real’ lap-dancers. The director, Steve Baker, was apparently very keen on verisimilitude.
Having thus been introduced and had a few energetic bouts of sex, Ivan (played by Mark Eidelstein) offers Ani $15,000 to be his “horny girlfriend for the week”. He also throws in: “Here’s to having a hard-on and lots of money.” The word ‘crass’ doesn’t do justice to his character. But there’s one thing Ani was not going to do with such a seemingly gift horse…she accepts his offer. They go off to Las Vegas. Amid the sort of stuff you would expect such a couple to get up to in Vegas – I’m talking about gambling, of course! – they also decide to get married. Which is the catalyst for the fun to stop.
Ivan’s parents have been employing his godfather, Toros, to keep an eye on him. When they find out he has got married, they are furious. His mother, Galina, orders Toros to set about organising an annulment. In the meantime he and a couple of heavies call on Ivan and Ani at the family’s Brooklyn mansion. Ivan flees, leaving Ani to deal with the mess. During the course of the ongoing arguments, in which she insists the pair are in love and gets especially riled at being called a prostitute, she engages the hoods in a fight which destroys most of the lounge, although not Ani. She physically gets tied up while they are metaphorically in that situation: obeying Galina’s orders while being careful not to hurt her son’s wife.
After things have settled down, Ani and her erstwhile captors cruise around town looking for Ivan, whom they eventually find back at the club where he met her. He’s high on drink and drugs and he’s with another woman. Ani has to acknowledge the marriage is over; it’s just a question sorting out the financial settlement and the divorce complications given that they eloped to Las Vegas. Ani’s final stand-off with Ivan and Galina is well played.
Like I said, this cannot be confused with Pretty Woman. It’s an anti-Cinderella story, devoid both of slippers and previously-pumpkin carriages. And you won’t be shocked to learn it carries an 18 certificate.