Screwball Stripper Movie Should Win All the Oscars

Films, by definition, are all things to all people, and yet Aor—Winner Cannes Film FestivalHigh honour, Palme d'Or – manages the Varmica between different registers with stunning and ultimately influential aplomb.

Another one of Florida Project And Red rocket writer/director Sean BakerTales of marginalized people trying to survive and find themselves in an often unforced environment, the film is a character study, romance, crime saga, screwball comedy and drama Vérité, all wrapped up in one unique and deft package. More impressive than its uprootedness, however, is its poise and empathy, the latter of which is largely rewarded by its protagonist, whose life is thrown on a roller-coaster ride thanks to a random introduction.

Spending the floor trying to encourage people to line up their gring with cash, smoking and gossiping on the sidewalk with her friend and co-worker Lulu (Luna Sofia Miranda), and gossiping in a crowded dressing room with her rival Diamond (Lindsay Normington), Ani is completely comfortable in these conveyrons. For all the derogatory comments and questions she receives – like a client asking if her family knows what she does for a living – she looks much happier than she would anywhere else.

Since her grandmother was a Wuzbek and she speaks a bit of rusty Russian, Anya's boss Jimmy (Vincent Radvinsky) asks her to entertain Ivan (Mark Eidelstein), an immature Russian gambler who tricks her with bottles of booze and $100. At the end of the evening, Ivan asks for her number, and the next day she is invited to his home – a luxurious mansion that is protected by a gate and a guard and boasts an elevator, lots of luxury flooring and views of the balconies over the water.

Ani is naturally blindsided and identifies Ivan as a potential sugar daddy whom she can milk for huge profits. What she does though is Ivan quickly strains their relationship, starting with an invitation to his “smash” eve party. He is soon so smitten that he makes a deal with her: be his exclusive girlfriend for a week and he will pay her $15,000. It's no surprise that she agrees.

Ani understandably thinks she's amazed, it's rich Pretty Woman And it involves her playing Ivan, complete with passionate sex, which always seems like a performance to her. On a whim, the duo – coupled with Ivan's friends – head to Vegas, where more debauchery causes Anya's head to spin and her heart, if not to swoon, then at least to soften.

When, while in bed, Ivan proposes to her, she initially perceives it as a gag. However, he turns out to be sincere and they are quickly engaged in the iconic little white wedding chapel. Back home, Ani packs her bags from the club and dreams of a subsequent honeymoon at Walt Disney World with Cinderella—knowing to wink at the decidedly fairy-tale nature of Baker's story.

A giant engagement ring and a fur coat later, Ani is completely ensconced in her crazy new life. Alas, once rumors suggested that Ivan tied the knot with such a humble figure as ANI, the boy found himself in big trouble with his powerful oligarch parents. Direct responsibility for fixing this mess falls to their minion Toros (Karren Karagulian), who is sworn to baptism to solve the problem when his own subordinates Garnik (Vache Tovmasyan) and Igor (Yura Borisova) don't do the job.

The clownish attempts of Garnik and Igor to contain Ivan (who runs away) and Ani (who causes damage to them and the house) is the moment when Aor Segyu into a more overt comic mode, marked by a prolonged bout of unnecessary slapstick as Ani strives to seize some control over her expedient circumstances. It's an impossible mission, as she is ultimately forced – under enormous duress – to join Toros, Garnik and Igor on a random metropolitan search for Ivan before his domineering mother (Darya Ekamasova) and father (Aleksey Serebrakov) arrive in the morning to force the newlyweds to their united united.

Baker mixes chaotic madness and slapstick absurdity without ever losing sight of Ani, who remains front and center in his and the cinematographer's luminous and fluid widescreen framing of Daniels. For all his sweating, Aor Constantly captures the shared glances, sudden remarks and random gestures that speak about its characters.

Ani is a whirlwind of calculated ambition and sentimental angst, always caught up in the angles she must play to keep herself in the pick, and yet also naive enough to think she can handle this crazy situation. Madison has a ferocity that is both genuine and a posture designed to mask frustration and despair, and she plays Ani – whose real name is Anora, which she knows she doesn't like – as a force of nature who is nonetheless at the mercy of stormy criminal, economic and social dynamics.

Aor Loses a little weary of Anya's lengthy and futile efforts to find Ivan, and once this is achieved, prevent permanent separation, and in conclusion thirds it radiates a sadness that speaks to its underlying themes of work (and sex work in particular), exploitation, opportunism and the possibilities of the happy as well.