Anora is a American comedy-drama film produced, written, directed, and edited by Sean Baker. It follows the beleaguered marriage between Anora Mikey Madison , a young, insolent sex worker , and Vanya Zakharov Mark Eydelshteyn , the son of a Russian oligarch. Anora premiered on May 21, , at the 77th Cannes Film Festival , and was released theatrically on October 18 by Neon , and received critical acclaim.
The film received several accolades. Her boss introduces her to Ivan "Vanya" Zakharov, the year-old son of a wealthy Russian oligarch, Nikolai Zakharov. Vanya is ostensibly in the United States to study, but prefers to party and play video games in his family's Brooklyn mansion. Vanya hires Ani for several sexual encounters. Vanya and his entourage fly to Las Vegas , where Vanya asks Ani to marry him so that he can obtain a green card instead of returning to Russia to work for his father.
Although Ani is skeptical, Vanya insists his love is genuine, and they elope to a Vegas wedding chapel. Ani quits her job and moves into Vanya's mansion. When news of the wedding spreads to Russia, Vanya's mother, Galina, orders his Armenian godfather, Toros, to find the couple and arrange an annulment while she and her husband fly to the US.
Toros sends his henchmen, Garnik and Igor, to the house. They inform Vanya that his parents will take him back to Russia, and enrage Ani by calling her a prostitute. Vanya flees and Ani fights Garnik and Igor, injuring them and destroying furniture, but they tie her up. Ani insists that she and Vanya are in love, but agrees to help Toros find him.
Ani, Toros, Garnik, and Igor spend the night driving around Brooklyn looking for Vanya, who is on a bender. Ani catches a drunk Vanya with a stripper at her former workplace. Vanya is too intoxicated to listen to Ani, and the group is forced to wait outside the courthouse overnight. The next day, the annulment is thrown out of court because Ani and Vanya were wed in Nevada.
