Anora

Anora

The Palme d’Or winner at this year's Cannes, which barely caused a stir until now (probably because of the recent Cinema Day celebration), is an impressive attempt, but that’s about it.

The plot? Pretty familiar stuff. It’s the story of a sex worker who meets a wealthy client—a scion of Russian oligarchs—and that kicks off their relationship, which eventually leads to marriage and, of course, the struggle for acceptance from her husband’s social circle.

The film’s a bit too long for its subject matter, dragging in places—mainly due to the screenplay’s attempts to build suspense around the outcome. If it had been cut by about half an hour, it might have packed more punch and maybe even tugged at the heartstrings a little more.

But what exactly makes this movie captivating? Without a doubt, its lead actress: 25-year-old Mikey Madison!

Yes, I immediately remembered her from her dark role in Once Upon a Time in Hollywood, where she caught my attention with her portrayal of a Manson follower who meets her unlucky match in Brad Pitt (one of Tarantino’s best scenes, by the way).

In Anora, Madison is everything. She plays a Brooklyn-based sex worker, slipping into the role with rare skill (I’d go as far as to place her close to Al Pacino's performance in Scent of a Woman). It’s a portrayal that will definitely raise her profile in the near future. Whether it’s her movements or her facial expressions, we’re witnessing a rare case of a role so bespoke that it may hold a timeless allure in cinema history. Will she win an Oscar? I’m skeptical.

In the end, though, we’ve seen far better Palme d’Or winners. I think they wanted to give it to Emilia Perez (which is in the running for many awards), and maybe in the spirit of supporting indie cinema—and with Netflix in the mix—they settled on Anora.

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