Anora emerged triumphant from last week’s Academy Awards presentation, winning five Oscars including best actress for Mikey Madison for her performance as Ani, a sex worker who elopes with the feckless son of a Russian oligarch, only to find herself at odds with his powerful family and their henchmen. As in his previous films, writer-director Sean Baker shows generosity and affection for the marginalised characters, and especially for its heroine. Even when she gets roughed up, it’s played for laughs and you’re confident she won’t meet one of the sad fates of screen sex workers of yore, such as Louise Brooks as Lulu, stabbed to death in Pandora’s Box, or Vivien Leigh as Myra, who throws herself under a lorry in Waterloo Road.
Madison said in her acceptance speech, “I also just want to again recognise and honour the sex worker community. I will continue to support and be an ally.” However, members of the East London Strippers Collective weren’t impressed by Anora. “We didn’t see any of, like, who she really is as a person,” said Maddie, who went on to admit it was a step in the right direction. “But if they had gone just a little bit further and said: ‘We need full decriminalisation now,’ that could have actually had a much bigger impact.”
