With Anora, Sean Baker delivers two different films. The first half presents itself as an off-beat rom com about two crazy kids falling in love. Pretty Woman meets Tolstoy meets Harmony Korine. But then the second half turns into In Bruges meets Dostoevsky meets The Princess Bride. Igor spends most of that final stretch giving Anora the same “as you wish” attitude that Wesley gave Buttercup. It’s cool, it’s fun, but Baker also has something to say about intimacy. So let’s explain the ending of Anora.
Anora Ending Explained
A different kind of climax
Ani wasn’t unaware of Igor’s puppy love for her. Her entire job is based on reading, adjusting, and managing the emotions of men. So she absolutely picked up on the implication of his acts of kindness and soft stares. It’s probably part of the reason she was constantly so mean to him. She hoped that at some point he would take the hint. Why? Because as much as she went on about loving Vanya, Ani really wasn’t in a romantic relationship with Vanya. Everything about their time together had been superficial, sexual, and fiscal. If Vanya wasn’t paying Ani for her company, he was spending money on experiences they could share. But they themselves weren’t actually sharing anything real.
Igor, meanwhile, is the opposite of Vanya. He didn’t have money. He was close with his family. He paid attention to Ani as a person. And he stuck around. He even defended her by asking Vanya to apologize. The request went unfulfilled but it showed a concern for Ani’s emotions, something Vanya never did.
So at the very end, Igor presents Anora with her engagement diamond. It’s probably worth tens of thousands of dollars. He could have easily kept it for himself. Instead, he gives it to her, in yet another act of kindness, of sacrifice. Finally, Anora caves and decides to reciprocate Igor’s affection. So she slides over, onto him, straddles him, then proceeds to sex. But what does Igor do? He tries to kiss her. And suddenly Ani, in the middle of intercourse she initiated, resists.
Why?
The opening shot of Anora shows a dancer grind on the lap of a patron. The camera slides left. Another man, seated; another woman, dancing. One after another, after another. Until the camera settles on Anora, doing the same thing, part of this exchange of friction for money.
At the end, when Anora mounts Igor, it comes off, initially, as yet another transaction. Igor’s reward for his support and the expensive ring. It recalls that same superficial interaction, friction for money, that had defined Anora’s life, including her relationship with Vanya. Except Igor doesn’t want the same thing from Anora that everyone else did. It’s not about having her. For him, it’s about being with her. When he tries to cross that barrier and actually have that kiss, a genuine kiss, not performative, superficial, or purchased, but a genuine, loving kiss…she can’t handle it. Finally, the emotional armor she has worn throughout the movie falls from her. And she collapses in tears on Igor’s chest. The dam has broken. She finally has someone she can be vulnerable with. Maybe not forever, but at least in this moment. And that’s really something.
So that’s what’s going on at the end of Anora. It’s the switch from the superficial intimacy Ani had with Vanya to a deeper, more emotional intimacy with Igor.
America versus Russia
Anora has this whole subtextual theme juxtaposing Russia and America. Remember Past Lives? Celine Song used Nora’s relationships with Arthur and Hae Sung to comment on her South Korean childhood versus her American adulthood. There’s something similar in Anora.
Look at Anora herself. She has this Russian name, Anora, but goes by the more American “Ani”. Her first interaction with Vanya is because he wants someone who can speak Russian. But she convinces him to default to English. Multiple times throughout the film’s first half, Vanya talks about how he wants to stay in America and how great America is. The whole group goes to Vegas, arguably the poster child for US capitalism, and it’s there that Ani marries Vanya and quite literally makes him an American.
Then Anora shifts gears. A Russian shadow falls over the film in the form of Vanya’s parents and the pressure they apply to Vanya, Toros, Garnick, Igor, and Anora, and anyone else that gets in their way. The movie is no longer about this superficial fun but now emphasizes consequences, responsibility, and “good” behavior. All through fear and violence. The tonal shift can create a good degree of whiplash.
The “American” relationship Ani has with Vanya is based on consumerism. While the “Russian” courtship she has with Igor is this sweet thing that happens under the cloud of stress. Once Vanya’s gone, it’s like we enter into this third world that’s outside of both cultures. Anora is no longer on the clock, playing her part in Vanya’s American Dream. Igor’s no longer a henchman in this Russian mob thriller. They’re just two regular people outside the dramatics and influences of their cultures, back in the melting pot of Brooklyn. Igor brings Anora back to more of her Russian roots, while Anora provides Igor with more liveliness than he’s probably used to. It’s the softer side of each culture.
The meaning of the title: Anora = light
I think this cultural commentary ultimately explains the movie title. “Ani” is incredibly driven to hustle and make money and have a good time. It’s her at her most American. While “Anora” is the softer side. The more traditional Russian roots that she tries to ignore. Until this very Russian man challenges her to drop the mask she wears and rediscover this vulnerable side of herself that she’s kept buried. He even tells her the meaning of her name: light, brightness.
To me, that speaks to this idea of wholeness. That Ani had been “incomplete” because she was so focused on the hustle of day to day life. Because that’s what American culture emphasizes. Hustle, money, upward mobility. And she had made that her whole identity. But there’s more to her than that. Just like there’s more to America than just capitalism, and more to Russia than just gangsters, and more to Igor than being the bald, prototypical henchman. That contrasts Anora’s relationship with Vanya, a relationship that was based on limited perspectives. If Anora had been honest with herself about Vanya, there’s no way she would have bought into their marriage. But she wasn’t being honest, she wasn’t being holistic, she kept the truth in darkness. That’s what allowed her to convince herself that the relationship was not only real but could last. Once she stopped lying to herself about that, she could stop lying to herself about everything else. The light will banish the dark. And so she evolves from “Ani” to “Anora”.
That makes Anora a movie about both self-recognition and self-acceptance. Which comes back to why Anora cries at the end. Igor recognizing her and accepting her allows her to start to do the same for herself.
Cast
- Ani/Anora – Mikey Madison
- Vanya/Ivan – Mark Eydelshteyn (Eidelstein)
- Igor – Yura Borisov
- Galina Zakharova – Darya Ekamasova
- Nikolai Zakharov – Aleksei Serebryakov
- Toros – Karren Karagulian
- Garnick – Vache Tovmasyan
- Diamond – Lindsey Normington
- Lulu – Luna Sofía Miranda
- Written by – Sean Baker
- Directed by – Sean Baker
