Hot off its impressive sweep at the Oscars, Sean Baker’s indie romance Anora is finally streaming on Hulu, and there are plenty of great scenes and moments that I’m eager to revisit. Anora made Oscars history at the 97th Academy Awards when Baker took home four awards in one night — Best Picture, Best Director, Best Original Screenplay, and Best Editing — making him the first filmmaker to do so since Walt Disney in 1954. Anora is one of the only truly independent films to hit big at the Oscars, and it couldn’t be more deserving of its success.
On top of being a timely story about oligarchs, sex workers, and class inequality, Anora is also one of the funniest films in recent memory. It was the hardest I laughed at a movie theater last year, and I was the only one at the screening. It starts off as a gritty, X-rated reimagining of Pretty Woman, as an escort impulsively marries a Russian oligarch’s spoilt son, but it quickly turns into a Coens-style crime caper like Fargo when the oligarch’s goons show up to get the marriage annulled. Now that Anora is streaming, you can rewatch these iconic scenes.
10 A Day In Ani’s Life
Ani’s Vibrant Routine at the Club
Anora’s opening montage sets the stage perfectly. It shows us a day in the title character’s life and the exhaustive grind of working all-night shifts at a strip club. It’s a job like any other: she works the room, schmoozes potential clients, and has to hustle for dances.
RelatedAnora’s Mikey Madison reacts to her Best Actress win at the Oscars, where she beat frontrunner Demi Moore, who was nominated for The Substance.
Take That’s “Greatest Day” provides a suitably upbeat musical accompaniment; it’s a mesmerizing pop song to kickstart Anora’s soundtrack, and it sets up the greatest day of Ani’s life before she meets Ivan and gets a taste of the high life. Anora’s opening sequence starts the movie off on the right foot.
9 Ani Meets Ivan
The inciting incident of Anora is when an immature Russian kid comes into the club and requests a dancer who can speak his native language. This is when Ani meets Ivan, who quickly falls for her and turns her life around. After watching Ani pretend to like customers all night, it’s clear that her instant chemistry with Ivan is real.
This scene highlights Baker’s knack for realistic dialogue. Ani and Ivan’s dialogue flits between Ani’s perfect English, Ivan’s perfect Russian, Ani’s imperfect Russian, and Ivan’s imperfect English, and it still has the naturalistic flow of Baker’s usual screenwriting.
8 Ivan Gives Ani A House Tour
The Opulence of Ivan’s Mansion
After quickly falling for her at the club, Ivan invites Ani over to his house for a private session. Ani is blown away by the lavish mansion his uber-rich dad bought for him. Ivan’s house is so big, it has an elevator.
It’s easy to see why she’s so taken with it, because who wouldn’t be?
This is Ani’s first taste of her new lifestyle. Much like the Copacabana sequence in Goodfellas, it shows us how quickly Ani is seduced into a life of glamor and luxury — and effectively seduces us with the 1% treatment, too. It’s easy to see why she’s so taken with it, because who wouldn’t be?
7 Ani & Ivan Party In Las Vegas
When Ivan offers Ani $15,000 to stay with him for a week, he impulsively takes her on a private jet to Las Vegas with a bunch of his friends. They get a giant hotel suite, they make a scene at the pool, and they gamble away a bunch of money he can afford to lose in casinos.
Baker’s editing beautifully captures the delirious whirlwind of a carefree night of partying. This is when the first half of Anora — the romantic Cinderella story — starts to peak, and it slowly dawns on you that this can’t possibly last.
6 Ani & Ivan’s Wedding
The Intimate and Sudden Ceremony
The culmination of the romantic first half of Anora is Ani and Ivan’s wedding. While they’re staying in Vegas, they decide to head down to a wedding chapel for a quickie ceremony so Ivan can get his green card and keep living his unearned American Dream.
At the back of your mind, you know this is a bad idea; they’re practically strangers, and their relationship is distinctly transactional. But at the same time, just like Ani and Ivan themselves, you get swept up in the romance of the moment, especially with the dazzling spectacle of fireworks exploding in the background.
5 Ani Quits Her Job
The Decision to Leave the Past Behind
After marrying Ivan, Ani is able to quit her job at the strip club. It’s sweet to see Ani say her goodbyes to the colleagues she actually likes, like Lulu, but it’s hilarious to see her passive-aggressive farewell to her workplace rival, Diamond.
Diamond barely hides her resentment of Ani — she clearly wishes she was the one who married a wealthy john — and Ani exploits that resentment and jealousy for her own amusement. As she leaves the club, Ani burns Diamond with one of Anora’s best quotes: “I’m just gonna go chill in my mansion or whatever!”
4 Ani Fights Toros’ Goons
Ani’s Courage to Protect Ivan
Around the midpoint of Anora, Ani and Ivan’s marital bliss is cut short as Ivan’s father learns about the marriage and sends his goon squad to get it annulled. Ivan’s godfather Toros shows up with his henchmen, Garnik and Igor, and the movie suddenly becomes a farce.
Ivan flees the scene, Ani beats up Garnik and Igor, and Toros desperately tries to be the voice of reason amidst all the chaos. This is the funniest scene in the movie by far, getting big laughs from slapstick gags and furious bickering, and it’ll never get old.
3 Ani & Toros Search Brooklyn For Ivan
The Tension of the Search in a Hostile Environment
After Ivan abandons his bride to enjoy one last decadent night out in New York, Ani, Toros, Garnik, and Igor embark on a city-wide search to find him. The handheld cameras and off-the-cuff dialogue give this fast-moving montage an almost documentary-like sense of realism.
It’s another prime example of Baker’s Oscar-worthy editing, racing through an hours-long manhunt with rapid energy.
Garnik’s ever-worsening broken nose gives the montage a darkly hilarious running gag, and Baker takes this opportunity to show Ani and Igor reluctantly growing closer, starting to build toward the movie’s jaw-dropping final scene.
2 Ani Stands Up To Ivan’s Mother
The Defense of One’s Own Dignity and Love
When Ivan’s parents fly out, Ani is hopeful she can win them over, and they’ll be one big happy family. But from the second she meets Ivan’s mother Galina, it’s clear that she barely sees Ani as a human being.
It’s fun to see a powerful Russian put in their place for once.
Galina tells Ani that if she pursues legal action against the family, she’ll destroy her, so Ani’s hands are tied. But that doesn’t stop Ani from giving Galina a piece of her mind, and that small victory is hugely satisfying to see. As Conan O’Brien pointed out, it’s fun to see a powerful Russian put in their place for once.
1 Anora’s Final Scene In Igor’s Car
The Reflection on the Past and Future
You have to watch the final scene of Anora a couple of times to fully understand it. The ending of Anora sees Igor dropping Ani off at her dingy old apartment. Her fleeting marriage to Ivan is over — her brief tenure as one of the wealthy elite is over — and now, she’s right back at square one. Igor is nice to Ani and treats her like a human being, not a sex object, which she’s not used to. She initially starts having sex with him to get control of the situation, but ultimately breaks down crying.
After her whirlwind romance with Ivan, this is the first time things have quietened down enough for Ani to reflect on the past few weeks and how quickly her happiness came and went. Igor treating her with kindness and humanity is a heartbreaking reminder that none of the other men in her life, including her spineless now-ex-husband, treat her that way. This poignant scene ends Anora on an emotional, thought-provoking note, and proves that Mikey Madison deserved her Best Actress win.
