Anora (2024): The Twist, the Ending and Why Critics Disagree

Last updated on October 17th, 2026 at 09:38 am

For its first half hour, Anora plays like a modern fairy tale: a young dancer meets a rich boy, he falls for her, and they marry in Las Vegas. Then the boy’s family finds out, and Sean Baker’s film turns into something much funnier, sadder and more honest about money and power than any fairy tale.

Anora won the Palme d’Or at Cannes in 2024 and Best Picture at the Academy Awards in March 2025. I had expected Conclave to take the top prize, but I understand why it won. Here is my guide to the film, its twist and its ending, and why critics argued about it. Spoilers follow.

The Story

Ani (short for Anora) is a twenty-three-year-old exotic dancer in Brooklyn. One night she meets Vanya, the immature, partying son of a Russian oligarch, who hires her for a week of companionship and then, on a whim, proposes. They marry in a Las Vegas chapel. For a few days Ani believes she has escaped her life.

When Vanya’s parents hear the news, they send their local fixer, Toros, and two henchmen, Garnik and Igor, to the couple’s mansion to get the marriage annulled. Vanya panics and runs away. What follows is a chaotic, darkly comic chase through Brighton Beach and Coney Island, with Ani and the three men searching for her husband through the night.

The Twist

The real twist is not a plot surprise but a recognition. When Vanya is found, he does not defend Ani or their marriage. He hides behind his parents and lets them treat her as a problem to be solved. The story Ani believed she was in, the Cinderella story, was never real. Vanya’s mother arrives from Russia, the annulment goes ahead, and Ani is dismissed as if she never mattered.

The Ending, Explained

In the final scene, Igor, the quiet henchman who has watched Ani all along and shown her small kindnesses, drives her home in the snow and returns the ring she was forced to give up. In the car, Ani initiates sex, as if it is the only way she knows to repay him. When he tries to kiss her tenderly, she breaks down sobbing in his arms.

It is one of the most discussed endings in recent cinema. For me, it is the moment Ani finally stops performing. Faced with genuine kindness, the only thing she can do is grieve, for the marriage, for the illusion, and perhaps for how rarely anyone has treated her as a person.

What the Film Is About

Money and Power

Vanya’s family can buy anything, including the erasure of a marriage. Ani’s fierce resistance is admirable and also hopeless. The film is clear-eyed about who holds power.

Work and Dignity

Baker has made several films about sex workers, and he treats Ani’s work matter-of-factly, without judgement or glamour. That approach sparked debate. Some praised it as honest and humane. Others questioned whether a male director should tell this story and whether the film relied on sex workers’ input enough.

Place

Brighton Beach, the Russian-speaking neighbourhood of Brooklyn, is almost a character in itself, with its boardwalk, cafes and winter emptiness.

Performances

Mikey Madison is extraordinary as Ani: loud, funny, tough and finally heartbreaking. She won the Academy Award for best actress. Mark Eydelshteyn makes Vanya both charming and pathetic, and Yura Borisov’s nearly silent Igor earned an Oscar nomination for best supporting actor.

Success Against the Odds

Made on a modest budget, Anora was a small independent film by Hollywood standards. Its five Oscars included Best Picture, Best Director, Best Original Screenplay and Best Film Editing, four of which went to Sean Baker personally, tying a record for the most Oscars won by one person for a single film.

Why Critics Were Divided

Most critics loved it. A minority found the long middle chase repetitive, the comedy uneasy given the subject, or the film’s politics too vague. Some viewers simply felt Best Picture should have gone to a more traditional “important” film. To me, that is part of what makes the win meaningful.

My Verdict

Anora is funny for an hour, tense for another, and devastating in its final minutes. It is a film about a young woman who believed money could buy her safety and learned that, for people like her, it rarely does. If you have only heard about its awards, watch it for its heart. For a very different story about women and power, see my review of The Handmaid’s Tale.