The director of Anora set the record straight on the film's cryptic ending months ago.
The Neon film starring Mikey Madison has swept awards season, including at the Oscars this past week, inciting a new degree of fervor for the independent film.
But while Anora's plot is easy enough to grasp, some viewers still have questions regarding the film's open-ended conclusion.
What Happens at the End of Anora?
Anora is a comedy-drama following a young sex worker in New York named Ani who thinks she's finally about to receive her dream life when she gets caught up in a whirlwind romance with Ivan Zakharov, the son of a rich and powerful Russian family.
After ditching her job and running off with Ivan to get married in Las Vegas, Ani believes her fairytale life is about to begin, only to learn that Ivan has not told his parents about the wedding, and they are furious.
The Zakharovs send their employees, Toros, Igor, and Garnik, to collect Ivan and annul the marriage, which leads to Ivan ditching Anora and fleeing. Ani does not take Ivan's abandonment quietly and has to be awkwardly and forcibly restrained by Igor.
After hunting for Ivan all over the city, the group succeeds in collecting him, but they find they cannot get a divorce due to the wedding occurring in Nevada.
The Zakharovs arrive to collect their son, and Ani desperately tries to keep their marriage on the table, but after receiving no support from Ivan, she reluctantly agrees to a payout and travels with them to Las Vegas to finalize the divorce.
Afterward, Igor drives Ani to her house, but before she goes, in a kind gesture, he returns the wedding ring to her. Ani then attempts to repay Igor by getting intimate with him, only to end up breaking down and crying after he tries to kiss her.
Anora Ending Meaning Explained
Anora's abrupt ending has left many audience members questioning the truth of its meaning.
Director Sean Baker has said in the past that the ending of Anora is "really up to the audience" to determine.
However, the director did reveal in an interview with IndieWire in November of last year what he intended the final scene to mean, reiterating that "it's designed in a way that allows for different interpretations."
Baker added that he sees the scene as Ani "regaining the power that she lost" and that when Igor tries to kiss her, she sees it as "crossing a line:"
"It’s designed in a way that allows for different interpretations. I do see it more of it being about her and not really something that she’s giving to him but something in which she’s now regaining the power that she lost entirely throughout this journey. We’re playing with different themes, and one of them is consent, and when he then tries to kiss her in that moment, that’s crossing a line for her. It’s like, ‘No, I’m in control of this moment.' "
In a more recent conversation on Script Apart with Al Horner, Baker expanded on his thoughts about Anora's ending, revealing he was hoping to leave the audience in a "devastating place" to reflect the emotional state of the main character.
He reiterated the same thoughts about Igor's kiss in the scene but also revealed that the initial screenplay contained some added lines of dialogue that ended up being cut from the film:
"If you read the screenplay there are a few more lines of dialogue after she gets on top of him and it's a little bit of back and forth... And when we were rehearsing I think all three of us, Mikey, Yuriy, and myself, we realized that those words weren't necessary. It was actually going to take away from the scene. Because it was the first time in the film, it can be argued, that two people are finally communicating. What I thought was interesting was there was communication in a non-verbal way, but there was connection."
Baker also revealed that he wrote an epilogue for Anora "that was never intended to be shot" but revealed that "there is hope:"
"It was always the ending, however, I did write an epilogue that was never intended to be shot or even really shared past the actors... It was more of a directing tool to put into the heads of the actors where I saw it going. I can't go into too much detail because the whole ending is designed to allow the audience to have their interpretation and write their own endings but, it was hopeful. There is hope there."
In particular, it seems that Baker was referring to there being potential for some kind of relationship between Igor and Ani after the ending of the film, which "maybe came through in the performance:"
"I think that giving my actors that knowing where this could possibly go between Ani and Igor, I think maybe, we'll never know, but maybe that came through in the performance a little bit."
The director added that he's "not saying you can't be hopeful about what may happen between these two."
Anora will soon be available on streaming services allowing audiences to pore over the ending's meaning themselves. In the meantime, it is available to view in cinemas or on VOD platforms.
