Happily Never After - An Anora Analysis
Time to get controversial. Among the favorites for the Best Original Screenplay (and even Best Picture!), Anora has to be the most vapid piece of cinema to be held in such serious contention for decades. I read the screenplay blind and was underwhelmed, but as a fan of Sean Baker’s work - Tangerine and The Florida Project are personal favorites - I trusted his knack for improvisation would elevate it. I was wrong.
Today, I’ll break down Anora and discuss at each juncture why it doesn’t work, while suggesting alternative writing choices for a stronger execution. Don’t get me wrong, a reverse fairytale is a great concept, but this Valentine’s Day you should maybe heed the red flags.
OPENING IMAGE
We meet the titular Anora (Ani) in her element - an ‘erotic dancer’ at HEADQUARTERS, a Manhattan gentlemen's club. But there’s no real introduction. We don’t learn who she is, what she looks like, or what emotion the close-up shot reveals. She’s simply part of the scenery.
Right away, this introduction feels bland. The setting is inefficiently described with nothing meaningful happening within it. The opening image should be a microcosm of the story to come, and in this case that’s accurate - bloated, detached, and indifferent to Ani herself.
SET UP
We get a glimpse of Ani’s typical nine-to-five (or five-to-nine perhaps), dancing for clients, collecting tips, sharing a blunt with her colleague Lulu. Though unstated, it feels like she enjoys the work, thriving under the club’s neon glow. We also learn she has beef with another dancer, Diamond.
Interrupting her break, owner Jimmy assigns her to a client requesting a Russian-speaking dancer. Though Jimmy is pushy, Ani is petulant toward her employer. If Baker aimed for a true dark fairytale inversion, this should be Ani’s moment of entrapment - her mundane, oppressive reality. We’d see her stuck in a tower, clashing with ugly stepsisters, or facing a forced marriage. Instead, she’s framed without fanfare - an isolated, unknowable figure - making the reader feel voyeuristic. We cross boundaries into the world she inhabits, but are never offered insight into her mind.
Enter Ivan, our Prince Charming, a young ‘big spender.’ Ani speaks basic Russian, a workable middle ground for Ivan’s broken English.
You might expect the exchange above to hint at a deeper backstory; maybe a past trauma or a revealing character moment. It doesn’t. Ani casually explains that her grandmother never learned English, and that’s that. With this thin connection established, she pressures Ivan to pay for a VIP lounge, where he feeds her $100 bills until she bends the club’s rules and straddles him nude. By night’s end, she gives him her number.
A problem I have with Ivan’s introduction - what are we supposed to feel about him? Is he a stupid rich kid, there for Ani to exploit or are we supposed to like him, meaning Ani is taking advantage? The screenplay would benefit from clarifying this. Not only does it influence how we view Ivan, it impacts the reader’s relationship with Ani.
Back at home, we get a fleeting glimpse of Ani’s life beyond the club. She lives on Brighton Beach Avenue with her sister Vera and Vera’s boyfriend, spending her days asleep while her graveyard shift hours clash with her housemates.
INCITING INCIDENT
Ani visits Ivan’s expensive mansion. After some awkward small talk, he gets down to business.
Ivan is eager and inexperienced, rushing through the act before quickly switching his focus to a music video channel. He tips generously, leading to a conversation about his wealth. He confesses he’s the son of Nikolai Zakharov, a Russian oligarch.
The inciting incident doesn’t happen when Ani first meets Ivan, but when she steps outside the regulated environment of her workplace to meet him in his dominion - a realm of ambiguity. This choice is made off-screen, without fanfare, and no hint of consequence. Is she risking her safety? Is it an exciting opportunity? Does she do this with all her best clients? We’re left in the dark, diminishing what could be an important narrative development.
DEBATE
Ani eagerly tells Lulu about Ivan’s background, seeing a major opportunity for profit. She’s already agreed to meet him again tomorrow, compounding the ‘debate’ with the inciting incident. Her options are framed as a choice between the (relatively) steady income of her current work or the uncertainty of becoming more exclusive with Ivan. This dilemma is introduced when she mentions she might need to work on New Year’s Eve.
Bringing Lulu - someone from her ‘old life’ - highlights Ani’s hesitation to fully embrace a ‘new life’ and is one of the few independent suggestions she makes in the screenplay. At the party, we meet Ivan’s posse, including Tom and younger sister Crystal.
Crystal has her sights set on Ivan, but he tells her he’s ‘taken,’ hinting that his relationship with Ani is more serious than it seemed. Ani mentions she has holiday rates, signaling she’s ready to make the most of this opportunity.
At midnight, we’re briefly introduced to Ivan’s handlers, Toros and Garnik, key figures who’ll play a larger role later. Their presence suggests Ivan doesn’t have the autonomy we initially thought, but their purpose here is inconsequential and they could easily be interpreted as security.
To strengthen this debate section, we should focus more on the red flags in Ivan’s behavior, the goons monitoring him, and the uncertainty surrounding his freedom. These elements are either underplayed or absent, making Ani’s decision to keep profiting from the situation feel too easy. With more ambiguity, this could become a real dilemma, pushing Ani to reflect on her choices and their consequences more seriously.
At this point, we’re supposed to find Ivan at least a little bit endearing. Already leaning into the stereotypes of Russian oligarchs, handlers, and muscle, it’s surprising that Baker chooses to portray Ivan’s parents as legitimate businesspeople. If they were clearly mobsters, we might feel more sympathy for Ivan, who escapes their world by partying and drinking, fearing his return to it. Instead, he just seems averse to work, coming off as entitled rather than sympathetic. This is later revealed to be exactly the case - but it’s presented almost as a twist. When the audience is so far ahead of Ani in their judgement of Ivan, it’s frustrating watching her play catch up, and she comes across as unintelligent for missing this.
BREAK INTO TWO
The next afternoon, Ani wakes up to realize she’s late for work. Ivan asks her not to leave, formalizing what’s been looming: he wants her to go exclusive, blurring the lines between work and personal life. Being called a girlfriend instead of an escort brings a whole new set of responsibilities and expectations.
Despite their rapport quickly building and Ivan turning up the charm, we worry about where this could lead as their co-dependency builds, and the distinction between authority and duty blur.
FUN AND GAMES
Things escalate quickly. Ani returns to work but pulls Jimmy aside to announce (not ask) that she’s taking a whole week off. Empowered by her newfound freedom, she’s more assertive than we’ve seen her before.
A quickfire montage follows, with Ivan and Ani hitting various clubs and having sex in every corner of the mansion. The prose lacks any poetry or personality - it's blunt and transactional, failing to suggest the relationship’s supposed progression as illustrated in the film.
We visit a vape store on Coney Island, which Tom manages. In the film, it’s a candy store, and Tom doesn’t run it himself - one of very few changes from page to screen. There’s also a confusing discrepancy: Crystal is described as seventeen and Tom’s cousin, despite previously being eighteen and his sister. This inconsistency might make us suspect she’s lying or playing a role to spy on Ivan, but it’s more likely just inattentive writing.
Ivan shows off the mansion’s cryo chamber and a garage full of luxury cars. He impulsively decides they should go to Vegas, bringing Tom, Crystal, Aleks, and Dasha along. At Caesar’s Place, the manager greets him as a regular. Ivan laughs off losing $200k at the high rollers table. The group indulges in various drugs, but they balance it out with IV treatments. They dine at fancy restaurants and hit up exclusive clubs.
Post coital, Ivan reveals the reason he’s partying so hard is because he’s on the precipice of returning to Russia to work for his father. He jokes that marriage would keep him from being obligated to go back (which is clearly not true based on the proceeding events). After some hesitation, Ani agrees to marry him and they make their vows in a neon chapel.
Up to this point, Act Two has been a fun whirlwind of glitz and glamour, and we’re just happy to be there for the ride. This sudden leap forward in their relationship feels rushed, lacking the necessary introspection. It works, to some extent, given their youth and impulsiveness, but the idea of Ivan breaking free from his family’s control quickly becomes irrelevant - he depends entirely on their wealth and has no means to escape them. It also undermines the promise made to the audience at the Break Into Two; we expect a gradual evolution of the responsibilities necessitated by being a girlfriend-for-hire, leading to conflict and drama. Instead, this formal commitment undoes any potential discord, draining the act of necessary friction.
Ani returns to HEADQUARTERS, eager to flaunt her impending marriage and quit her job. The others are jealous of her fairytale ending, which Baker emphasizes (in the film) by suggesting Disneyland as her dream honeymoon. Diamond cynically ‘gives it two weeks’. Whereas Ani might’ve been rattled by this in the past, she now brushes it off, already positioning herself as ‘better than’ Diamond and above such comments. This development is about as close as the screenplay comes to commenting on class or social status.
In a cut scene, Vera postulates that Ivan married Ani for a green card, a suggestion Ani barely denies. The fact that Ivan’s father is worth $22 billion helps soothe any discomfort. Ani officially moves into the mansion, buying a wedding ring and a Russian sable coat as symbols of her new wealth. She and Ivan enjoy a brief period of post-marital bliss.
Conducting a baptism in an Armenian Orthodox Church, Toros receives word from Nikolai and his wife Galina that they’ve heard their son has gotten married. Through his one-sided conversation, it’s clear that this would land him in hot water. While the film labels Toros as Ivan’s godfather, the screenplay makes no such distinction, leaving his exact connection to Ivan ambiguous. Toros sends his henchmen, Garnik and ‘the Russian’ (soon revealed as Igor) to quash the rumor.
At home, Ivan avoids questions about how his family feels about Ani, knowing they would be outraged if they were to learn his secret. Ani is eager to meet them and impress, showing a side of her that’s surprisingly eager for approval.
Igor drives Garnik to Ivan’s house, both uneasy about Ivan possibly marrying under their watch. Garnik warns Igor not to rough him up. They arrive, disrupting the newlyweds.
Strangely, Ivan panics. If marriage was supposed to ward off his family - how was he expecting to achieve this without them learning about it? Garnik and Igor barge in, warning he's in trouble. When Ivan fetches the marriage license, Ani asks Igor what they’re doing in her home. His response - ‘I really don’t know’ - immediately suggests he’s more empathetic than the other goons.
Toros gets photo confirmation of the legitimate wedding. He leaves abruptly mid-baptism, breaking the bad news to his employers. The situation escalates and Ivan becomes increasingly freaked out. Ani, so far quietly restrained during the unwelcome visit, begins to push back against the ‘intruders’.
Ivan briefly defends Ani before chaos erupts. See below how Baker employs shorthand here, summarizing conversations rather than scripting full dialogue, leaving room for his actors to improvise - a hallmark of his work.
Just shy of the midpoint, Ivan learns his parents are on their way to America to punish him and have the marriage annulled.
MIDPOINT
A strong midpoint flips the narrative’s objective. Here, Baker upends expectations as Ivan abruptly abandons Ani. Sixty pages of relationship-building gone in an instant. It’s inevitable yet startlingly sudden - one of the more effective writing decisions.
Ani refuses to accept Ivan’s betrayal, resulting in a frustrating and drawn out second half where she won’t believe what we already know to be true - Ivan is a scared child who has fled at the first sign of danger. Alone in a house overrun by strangers, she has no one to turn to.
Note how the above dialogue reads ‘Ivan is grabs his phone’ - c’mon Baker, try proofreading!
BAD TO WORSE
Ivan outruns Garnik, leaving Igor to restrain Ani. She screams bloody murder and trashes the room while struggling violently. Over the open phone line, Toros panics, fearing she's being murdered. As Garnik tries to restrain Ani’s ankles, she breaks his nose, the bruising and after effects of this which will become more pronounced throughout the screenplay. Fully restrained, Ani makes empty threats while they wait for Toros. Questions, exclamations, and curses fly.
Eleven uninterrupted pages of chaos follow, with very little being accomplished or gleaned. There’s a huge amount of redundancy present here, but credit where it’s due, fifteen minutes of shouting could easily drag in less capable hands. Baker keeps it breezy and entertaining.
Baker strips the characters to their essentials, they aren’t thinking about anything beyond what’s right in front of them - almost feral in their attempt to resolve the impasse. Calls from Toros and Ani’s phones are left unanswered.
The point of view shifts, inviting us to see things from the goons’ perspective. It feels more like a Three Stooges sketch than a thriller. Baker asks us to weigh Toros’ failure against Ani’s fate, suggesting she’s not in serious danger and making her more of a nuisance to the henchmen. Now that Ivan has illustrated he’s a terrible husband, they should all work together to find him and have the marriage annulled. Again - Ani lags behind frustratingly, a passenger in her own story. This is really where the screenplay loses me. We should feel Ani’s fear and desperation - put ourselves in her shoes. This is sacrificed for the sake of comedy.
Toros quickly reveals a nasty streak, taunting Ani when she refuses to comply. He insists they’ll have her divorced by the time Ivan’s parents arrive, and to do so, they need to find him. Toros suggests Ivan married a prostitute to spite his parents, claiming he doesn’t love Ani. It’s here she learns this isn’t Ivan’s house – and certainly not hers.
When Ani insists their marriage is legitimate, using her wedding ring as proof, Toros demands they seize it. In the struggle, she cries rape, causing the men to panic and gag her with Galina’s designer scarf.
Deescalating, Igor apologises while the others smoke outside. Toros offers Ani $10k to agree to the divorce. With no other choice, she agrees, hoping finding Ivan will resolve things.
We move into a new section that feels like a fresh act, with Toros, Garnik, Igor, and Ani setting off to find Ivan. Garnik complains about his broken nose and concussion, prompting a stop for medication. They abandon Toros’ Escalade near Coney Island, hoping to find Ivan at Tom’s vape store.
Clashing with Tom and Crystal, who are reluctant to help, they call Ivan again - no response. After threatening violence, Tom reveals Aleks works at Tatiana’s. They head to the restaurant next, walking through the cold, Ani wrapped in her sable coat.
Aleks doesn't know where Ivan is either, suggesting he may be at home. Frustrated and hitting dead ends, Toros tries to get a photo of Ivan from Ani to help in the search, questioning every guest at the restaurant.
Walking back to the car, Igor offers Ani the same scarf he used to gag her, now using it to fend off the biting cold. This contrasts his softer side with the others, though Ani identifies this weakness and singles him out as a target for insult and ridicule. Meanwhile, Toros’ car is being towed for illegal parking. A confrontation with the Tow Truck Driver leads to a tug of war, ending with Toros’ escape, growing more desperate and unhinged as Ivan remains elusive.
They visit bars, clubs, and gaming halls. Garnik, suffering from his untreated concussion, vomits in the Escalade. They start to land near-misses, leads they’re too late to capitalize on.
This section drags - a tidier screenplay would have included a shorter time window for them to locate Ivan and annul the marriage before the parents arrive. Instead, they search seemingly indefinitely, while we’re aware the plot can’t progress until they do.
Igor seems increasingly entertained by the chaos, while Garnik sinks deeper into misery and Toros grows manic. At a diner, Toros realizes that if he doesn’t find Ivan soon and get him to city hall, the Russians will arrive to find him empty handed, compounding his issues. While the stakes are high for Toros, Ani has little sense of urgency with time on her side. This shift towards the goons' perspective feels manufactured, as Baker uses their stakes to propel the second half. This diminishes tension, as we should care far more about Ani than secondary characters.
We learn Ivan is at HEADQUARTERS when Luu contacts Ani . Diamond, relishing the supposed collapse of the relationship, claims dibs. With Ani reduced to a mere accessory, the resolution of this search by mere coincidence feels unsatisfying, rendering the ‘bad to worse’ act futile. They rush to HEADQUARTERS, where they find a drunk Ivan feeding dollars to Diamond.
Ani begs Ivan to resolve the issue, still hoping it’s a misunderstanding. But Ivan, emotionally checked out, has already accepted that this is the end.
As they drag Ivan from the club, Diamond taunts Ani, flipping their previous dynamic and causing her to flip out.
BREAK INTO THREE
We meet Sharnov, the family lawyer, who secures the first available court slot. Uncomfortable with Ivan’s drunken state and Igor’s presence, he still gets them in front of the Judge. Ani immediately interrupts, refusing to admit the marriage was coerced. Again, the plot backs itself into a corner - the goons have nothing to leverage Ani’s compliance with, and we’re far too early in the screenplay for this to be a tidy conclusion.
As the Judge tries to control the chaos, Sharnov discovers the wedding took place in Nevada, making annulment in New York impossible. The trip proves pointless. This works well, we’ve just experienced an exhaustive search and now out in the cold once again. It becomes clear they must return to Vegas to fix their mistakes.
FINALE
At a private airport, Nikolai and Galina arrive, bypassing pleasantries to ask for Ivan. Toros delivers the bad news: he’s failed to annul the marriage. Galina confronts Ivan, voicing her embarrassment. Ani eagerly waits for a chance to introduce herself.
Galina isn’t welcoming. She orders the crew to refuel and head to Vegas immediately. Ivan agrees, shattering Ani’s last hope for resolution.
Becoming resolute, Ani refuses to board the plane, threatening to take Ivan for half his money. Galina warns her she’ll destroy what little she has. Ani relents and boards. While Galina presumes Ani has a family, a reputation, a life to go back to - we know that she doesn’t. So why she acquiesces under this pressure is unclear. She makes the threat and immediately retracts it. Newly energized and motivated, she should dig her heels in and milk the divorce for everything it’s worth - but Baker has left it too late in the day to explore this idea.
Onboard, Ivan has nowhere to hide, accepting his parents’ berating. Ani joins in, calling him pathetic for submitting after all his postulating. Igor tries polite conversation, which Ani misinterprets as flirting. He dismisses her, claiming she’s not his type.
At a Nevada rapid divorce centre, papers are signed quickly. Igor suggests Ivan apologize for his behaviour, but the idea is swiftly rejected - giving us some insight into why he grew up to be so entitled. Igor is tasked with taking her back to New York.
They return to the mansion, which she must vacate by morning. Ani learns it was Igor’s birthday yesterday, but she mocks his English instead of engaging in small talk. She insists he assaulted her, and when he continues to deny, she suggests he would have raped her if Garnik hadn’t been present. We get the sense that she’s almost upset about his lack of interest when she reacts by calling him a homophobic slur. They leave the mansion, and she receives her check.
CLOSING IMAGE
Igor drives Ani back to Vera’s house in his grandmother’s car. As a gesture of affection, he returns her wedding ring, asking her not to tell Toros. Unable to let go of this chapter, she has sex with him in the driver’s seat. He’s indifferent but doesn’t stop her. When this fails to affect him, she lashes out to hurt him. Unlike the conclusion in the film, which is without dialogue and seems more reciprocal, we’re left feeling quite uncomfortable at Igor’s lack of consent.
She cries, overwhelmed by the emotional toll of the journey. Returning to her old life, she cuts a solitary figure, her self-worth entirely entirely tied to her ability to please men. I get the feeling that the screenplay had to end here, as the story never fills us in on her life pre-Ivan, and she doesn’t seem to have grown as a person to experience that old world through new eyes anyway.
CONCLUSION
Let’s get right into it; Ani experiences a net zero of character growth. Despite the turmoil and bad luck she experiences, she still measures her worth by her desirability and ends up returning to a hollow existence. You could argue she’s content with this, but that begs the question: why focus on her at all? Igor is the only character who exhibits growth, and he doesn’t even appear until page 45.
A proactive lead is key to driving the plot. While there are exceptions (look at you, Forrest Gump), protagonists generally need to make decisions that channel the flow of the story. Ani is largely passive - she’s dragged along by events and others' choices. She may not like a decision but she’s purely defensive, failing to make her own impact. If the story’s meant to invert the fairytale, why keep the damsel in distress locked away in the tower?
We learn little about Ani’s past or her goals before the events of the film. She swings between moments of enjoyment and irritation, without ever deviating from these two states of being until the final scene. I’m certain that apologists will spin a cynical equivalency to the failure of the American dream or some such - but this isn’t present on paper. Defenders are merely extrapolating themes they have identified in other, more well-rounded projects.
There are times when a writer / director can salvage a messy screenplay with a clear vision, but I’m not sure this is one of those cases. Baker’s vision feels disorganized; his writing is pragmatic and often mismatched with the film’s tone. I believe some external guidance could have helped bring about more coherence. From my perspective, the emotional reactions in the film don’t seem to align with the writing’s intent.
I acknowledge that I am in the minority that dislike this film, and I want to specify that the film works fine. What it fails to do is leave a lasting impact, a deeper commentary, the emotional complexity of his other works, or the parable-like meditation of a film like Uncut Gems or Spring Breakers. Opinions vary, and if you’re happy that a film ‘poses some questions’ - which is a cop out utilized when a thematic core cannot be identified - more power to you. In terms of the Oscar race for Best Original Screenplay, check out our analysis of A Real Pain which should be the frontrunner.
2/5. Don’t @ me.
