It follows the beleaguered marriage between Anora (Mikey Madison), a sex worker, and Vanya Zakharov (Mark Eydelshteyn), the son of a Russian oligarch.

The supporting cast includes Yura Borisov, Karren Karagulian, Vache Tovmasyan, and Aleksei Serebryakov.

Anora premiered on May 21, 2024, at the 77th Cannes Film Festival to critical acclaim, and was released theatrically on October 18 by Neon.

Vanya is in the United States to study, but prefers to party and play video games in his family's Brooklyn 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.

Vanya concedes to his parents and coldly tells Ani that their marriage is impossible while Galina orders everyone on the plane to Las Vegas.

The director, Sean Baker, said Anora was inspired by a story from a friend about a Russian-American newlywed who was kidnapped for collateral.

"[9] Baker hired Andrea Werhun, a Canadian writer and actress known for her 2018 memoir Modern Whore about her prior time as a sex worker, as a creative consultant.

[11][13][14] Principal photography took place starting in February 2023 in Brooklyn, including the neighborhoods of Brighton Beach, Coney Island, and Sheepshead Bay.

It was shot on Kodak 35 mm film framed in 4-perf widescreen anamorphic using an Arricam LT, with color correction completed via DaVinci Resolve at FotoKem.

[16] The film's cinematography was inspired by 1970s crime dramas set in New York, including The French Connection and The Taking of Pelham One Two Three.

Madison also shared that her friend curated a "stripper playlist" for her to get into character, including tracks from Cardi B, Megan Thee Stallion and Slayyyter.

[15] In November 2023, Neon acquired North American distribution rights to the film,[23] and opened it in limited release on October 18, 2024.

The website's consensus reads: "Another marvelous chronicle of America's strivers by writer-director Sean Baker given some extra pizzazz by Mikey Madison's brassy performance, Anora is a romantic drama on the bleeding edge.

"[46] Metacritic, which uses a weighted average, assigned the film a score of 91 out of 100, based on 62 critics, indicating "universal acclaim".

[...] Baker's explorations of outsiders tend to tread between graciousness and gawking, benevolent anthropology and the more malevolent, missionary kind.

[Anora] built up a righteous steam of fury, now unleashes it against the Ivans of the world and salutes those toiling thanklessly in their employ.

[52] Anora was praised by filmmakers and actors including Edward Berger, Maggie Betts, Kelly Fremon Craig, Jamie Lee Curtis, R. J. Cutler, Willem Dafoe, Robert Eggers, Adam Elliot, Tim Fehlbaum, Hannah Fidell, Greta Gerwig, William Goldenberg, Kitty Green, Luca Guadagnino, Ciro Guerra, Chad Hartigan, Max Hechtman, Matt Johnson, Karyn Kusama, David Lowery, Lance Oppenheim, Laurel Parmet, Laura Poitras, Oliver Stone and Juel Taylor.