Anora, Sean Baker’s film crowned Palme d’Or at the 2024 Cannes Film Festival, is released in cinemas this week. And it’s not to be missed.
The films awarded at the Cannes Film Festival are not always popular with the public. For 30 years, the Palme d’Or flops in theaters, and this prestigious prize, although it sometimes arouses curiosity, is no longer enough to fill cinemas. It must be said that the cliché persists : the palms would reward overly intellectual or contemplative films reserved for an informed audience of film buffs, unlike a more occasional audience (but more numerous) who will favor Hollywood blockbusters or French-style comedies.
However, we recommend that you discover the award-winning film in 2024, which turns out to be to be a refreshing, funny and explosive comedy (this is already rare enough to be noted)! Last May, it was in fact Anora who won the precious sesame. This is the latest film by Sean Baker, an American director known for his portraits of the forgotten outsiders of the American dream.
After The Florida Project And Red Rocketit is the escort girl Anora, played by Mickey Madison, who is at the heart of the plot. Her meeting with the immature son of a (very) rich Russian oligarch will open the doors to a fairy tale that she no longer hoped for. But their impulsive marriage will not please the young boy’s parents at all, who they will try to put back on the right path.
The story ofAnora begins like that of Cinderella, admitting that the latter could have been an escort who does not have her tongue in her pocket. The beginning of the feature film paints a picture of two worlds that were not supposed to collide. Sensual and quite classic in its beginning, the film ends up changing (and that’s a very good thing) as soon as the fairy tale crumbles and reality catches up with the two “lovebirds”.
Anora then becomes a hilarious, uninhibited and refreshing schoolboy comedy, an explosive and unpredictable chase through the streets of New York. But Sean Baker’s tour de force remains the mastery of his writing, moving from comedy to drama with ease, without losing sight of his always worthy heroines (Mickey Madison literally bursts the screen), nor the social criticism. Anorait’s a Pretty Woman realistic, it is Cinderella without her beautiful slipper. The finale, which brings the viewer back to reality after the farce, is overwhelming. And it is probably this mastery that earned him his well-deserved Palme d’Or. In France, it is possible to discover the film on October 30.