There is more than a hint of ‘Pretty Woman’ and ‘Cinderella’ in this modern day tale of the American Dream gone awry, set in the world of sex workers and escorts in a Brooklyn club. Anora (Mikey Madison) works as a stripper and is given the assignment of taking care one evening at the club where she works of Vanya (Mark Eydelshteyn), the son of a Russian oligarch. Anora, known as Ani, has Armenian parentage and so is ideally placed to help Vanya whose English is weak, and she is thrown into a delirious world of parties, sex sessions, and hanging out at Vanya’s palatial accommodation. He is dripping in money, and Ani thinks she has hit the big time.

But, and this is where the film veers into poignant territory, she is not exactly naïve. She is holding on to a dream that might or might not sustain her, and it is the liminality of that world that seems to hold out the best promise for her. On a whim, they get married in Las Vegas, and this is where everything dismantles, once Vanya’s parents arrive by private jet straight from Russia to get the marriage annulled. Henchmen are brought in to find and stop Vanya, who quickly disappears, leaving Ani vulnerable, and in a lesser film these would be malicious brutes who are simply there to use force to follow through the demands of the oligarch for whom they work.

But, there is a softness and humanity to their delineation, and the film’s most tender moment is when Ani and Igor (Yura Borisov) realize that they have far more in common than do Ani and Vanya. The contours of love are difficult to pin down in a milieu where sex is used for monetary gain, and while the film doesn’t exactly offer a critique of capitalism neither does it present an optimistic side to the sex industry. Yet, a happy ending of sorts is not outside the orbit of ‘Anora’, which may be far removed from the temporary happiness afforded by the ‘Pretty Woman’-style presentation of a sex worker taken off the streets by a billionaire.

Finding love in the most unexpected places may be key to ‘Anora’, but the film shifts our understanding of where those unexpected places may be, and in so doing it offers a mature and emotionally strong understanding of broken and marginalized people eager to hold on, if only for a brief period, to whatever it is that can give their lives a leg up. Yet, Ani does not come across as a victim. She may be eking out life on the margins, but her lap dancing puts her in direct contact with those on the other side of the social divide, and she grabs every moment for what it is worth. She literally laps up what is available to her and there is comedy and tragedy in every scene. Indeed, tragedy begets opportunity, and Ani comes across as a more worthy and principled person than anyone else, in this dark-yet-sweet foray into the underbelly of the American Dream.