Anora: The Inaccuracies Are Abysmal *Spoilers*

It's no secret that Hollywood shamelessly promotes degeneracy while only giving the viewer half of the story

Wars that usually start through political corruption and end with millions of dead civilians and soldiers, slavery (sometimes involving children as young as 5 years old), the drug trade which has silently taken control of our busiest of cities and most peaceful rural communities, and of course the oldest profession in history, sex work - Anora, a 2024 American comedy-drama film written, directed, produced, and edited by Sean Baker is the next prime example.

Anora combines the complex subjects of climbing the social hierarchy with a raw portrayal of desperation and dedication to get there, this is showcased by every member of this diligent cast. But beneath the forced dramatic close ups and improv-heavy dialogue, it’s just a heavily diluted Euphoria combined with Pretty Woman repackaged for Gen Z. More simply, a film by a production team catering to a mass group of young people that mean the best with their support, but don't know exactly what their supporting. How many young people have been to a strip club more times than they can count on their fingers? How many young people know a woman that independently works as an escort?

This story is about the ups and downs of our protagonist Anora, but she prefers to be called Ani. Ani is a stripper at a higher-tier local strip club, the kind that implements a no-touch policy. Considering this kind of work environment is competitive and rather toxic, Ani gets along surprisingly well with her peers, except for 1 ginger-haired stripper. The environment is portrayed as a rather safe space for Ani. The customers are very gentle old men. No drunk men getting kicked out because they don't have money to play. No local gangsters buying bottles with sparklers. Nobody doing cocaine. No fighting, No Toxic club manager, no spilled drinks on the floor. This place is heaven.

Anyway, Vanya, the son of a vastly wealthy Russian family requests a Russian-speaking woman, and coincidently Ani understands Russian perfectly, but she can barely speak it. Regardless, The two get along, perfect. Vanya gets a private dance, tips generously and so begins his girlfriend subscription…

I mean, so begins their naturally found love

Vanya lengthens his girlfriend's subscription from hourly basis to an entire week. The two negotiate a fair price but she adds an extra 33%. They spend the entire time partying and cuddling while he smashes his gaming controller like a buffoon. (seriously, who plays a first-person shooter like that?) and that's all they do. They don't build on this relationship, nut we do get 100 scenes of them being intimate. Poof, they're in love and have a happy marriage.

Ani makes a joke at one point asking if he's a drug dealer. He jokingly says yes and she doesn't flinch a muscle. he then jokes more saying he's an arms dealer, and still nothing. This is the most the couple dig into their relationship for the entire movie. They barely talk about goals or family. Vanya never asks questions about her. But when Vanya proposes to Ani, she sarcastically asks him if he means it, he says yes but she reminds him she needs “no smaller than a 3KT ring”. It's very clear at this point neither of them respect each other. Ani even has to teach Ivan

“if you go slower, you can last longer”…

I'm no relationship expert, but i can't see anybody being interested in Vanya if money isn't involved. He is younger than her and has not done anything thus far showing he can take care of her without the help of mommy and daddy's name and fortune. Furthermore, and I mean this with all the truth in my heart, a real seasoned stripper that dabbles with the escort lifestyle would simply use this opportunity to milk him, there is no way of falling in love in this game, oligarch or not. There's always a wall between the client and the “trick”

Much to the shock to absolutely nobody, Ani proves she's only in it for her personal gain. How does she do this? Goons hired by Vanya's parents (that known him since he was a baby) attempt to break in to investigate the validity of their marriage. Ani is already comfortable telling goons that known her husband longer than she has to get out of "their" house. The goons retaliate by telling Ani its Vanya's Parents home, that they have been sleeping in Vanya's parents bed, and to leave Vanya's parents house. Ani continues her entitled cringe behavior by saying

“why do we have to leave”

we? … they mean YOU need to leave, Anora.

The goons call their boss, the boss tells Vanya he made his mom cry by marrying a prostitute. Ani gets offended and start implying everyone should f**k themselves, including Vanya's mother (Ani's mother in law).

A movie about a prostitute that doesn't want to be called a prostitute, what can go wrong? Vanya eventually tells Ani to run out the front door so they can escape the emergency situation. Ani demands “she must change first” and walks the opposite direction. Ivan obviously abandons her. Ignoring your spouse in an emergency? Genius!

This leads to the stupidest hostage scene in the history of cinema. Ani screams the “F” word numerous times then proceeds to accuses the most polite guy ever of r***ing her. The accused dude gets the label “f****t a** b****” (this important for later)

The team of Ani and the goons must now find Vanya before his parents arrive.

Ani is desperate to save her meal ticket, I mean marriage. Toro (the head of the goons) is desperate to find Vanya. The unexpected union eventually find Vanya, hammered and not even aware that him and Ani are married. Vanya's parents arrive and Ani dries her crocodile tears to sweet talk Vanya's mother. This is after she spent the first hour and a half of the film telling Vanya and the goons they don't need to listen to her & f**k her. when Ani realizes it's over and they don't want her in the family, Ani then pulls the ultimate desperation card on Vanya's mom…

“i will divorce him and take half of everything.”

The film ends with Ani finally getting the slow jam from an unexpected “f*****t a** bi**h”

(slow sex was her signal for intimacy, Vanya represented disconnection)

The ending to this film was powerful to say the least. I walked into this movie wishing the entire story would be delivered this well, but sadly i was wrong.

character arc did not come full circle in a fun way, the guy she has been sh*tting on the entire movie was the guy that cared for her the most.

By why portray her as this lonely character who needs connection when she has friend's that defend her, no abusive boyfriend, no pimp forcing money out of her, a nice home room mate, and it's clear she's stripping because she chooses too.

While I do understand I'm not the target audience for this film, it leaves the question, why give a speech thanking the sex-working community and ignore the majority of women who do this without a choice?

I Grew up with girls that thankfully were able to escape this lifestyle, and i know bouncers at clubs that witness the tragedies on a nightly basis. I think those voices deserve to be heard, not a story about young woman who's blinded by materialism and will stop at nothing to achieve that status.