The single tear Mikey Madison sheds was a happy accident, as Baker tells IndieWire in a spoiler interview, bringing full circle the movie’s connection to Federico Fellini’s “Nights of Cabiria.” “Anora” ends with a grand gesture and a moment of gratitude that curdles into despair and possibly hope. Sean Baker is present to discuss the methods used.
The writer/director’s finale, set inside a car as snow falls on Brighton Beach outside it and windshield wipers lull the audience into a kind of trance until Baker and his team drop the hammer, is one of the all-time great movie endings. It’s the sort of shattering cut-to-black that leaves you stuck to your seat, an emotional sendoff to what was heretofore a deceptively screwball comedy about a sex worker and exotic dancer, Ani (Mikey Madison), whose “greatest day” leads to a rock-bottom revelation.
Dispatched Russian henchman Igor (Yura Borisov), the breakout heartthrob of the picture, has carted Ani from Vegas, where she had a whirlwind contract marriage to a party-hopping childish whisp of an oligarch’s son (Mark Eydelshteyn), back to New York. When Vanya’s (Eydelshteyn) parents strip Ani of her nuptials and gravely threaten her if she tries to make any noise about it, the marriage (“a fraud marriage?” she rasps at one point) ends, leaving Ani with nothing.
But Igor, who we’ve seen hanging in the wings of the movie slowly falling in love with Ani as he works to capture but eventually protect her, has saved for Ani the greatest gift: her wedding ring as an emblem of goodwill. And of course, the only way Ani knows how to thank him is with a sexual favor. Then he tries to kiss her, breaching her barriers against intimacy. She stops, pulls back, and then collapses in his arms, sobbing as he holds her. And scene.
Federico Fellini’s “Nights of Cabiria,” where prostitute Cabiria (Giulietta Masina, Fellini’s own wife) sheds a mascara-stained tear at the film’s end after yet another exploitation by a would-be lover, served as the inspiration for the ending. Cabiria looks into the camera with a nod, as if to say, “It’s OK; keep laughing; I’ll be fine; I’ll go on.”
In Baker’s film, we don’t see Ani’s face in the final shot, leaving her future more ambiguous and potentially allowing audiences to hope for a romance between Ani and Igor long after the credits have rolled. Maybe, but Baker sees it differently. We know at least Ani will be fine.
“I always have the beginning, middle, and end worked out before I start writing. That was a sequence we pretty much had figured out in our heads,” said Baker in an interview with IndieWire with his producers Samantha Quan (also his wife) and Alex Coco.
“I went back and reread the Google Doc we worked off before you went into Final Draft for the script, and it’s the exact same from the very beginning,” Coco said. “We anticipated that the snow would gradually accumulate, trapping them in a snowy cave by the scene’s conclusion,” Baker stated. Separately, he stated to IndieWire, “For me, the endings need to be emotionally impactful.” My favorite films have endings that are the most memorable part of them.
After this long journey, we had to deliver on that end.” “What we didn’t know is that it would take three days to shoot,” Coco said, with Quan adding they shot in two locations in Brighton Beach (where the cast and crew lived before and during production). Coco continued, “The choreography around that scene was not just the performances.
The entire crew around the car worked together to create an intimate, alone-in-the-car space. We had two camera moves. Our production designer, Stephen Phelps, was on the hood of the car, carrying a box filled with fake snow, which he was dumping by the window in an attempt to collect it. I’m attempting to negotiate with the police to avoid being ejected. Everyone held their breath and prayed for five minutes, asking God to align everything in our favor.
Baker, Borisov, and Madison were sitting in the backseat of the car when he said, “This magical moment happened.” I don’t know if you remember ‘Nights of Cabiria,’ but in the last shot, she has this single tear. I vividly recall being in the backseat, leaning over to see if tears were forming, when [Mikey Madison] sheds a single tear. I was struck by the realization that we were unintentionally paying homage to the film that had inspired us.
I interpret the final scene of “Anora” as an existential crisis, where Ani can only express her gratitude through her body. However, the emotional and psychological rollercoaster of her journey with Vanya leaves her at a standstill, unable to proceed with her usual routine as a sex worker—a profession that requires her to steer clear of any meaningful human connections, such as the one Igor may be attempting to establish.
“That’s one way of looking at it. I definitely have a different interpretation. Baker said, “The design allows for different interpretations.” “I see it more as a story about her, not so much about what she’s giving to him, but about how she’s now regaining the power she’s completely lost throughout this journey,” Baker said. We’re exploring various themes, one of which is consent. When he attempts to kiss her during that moment, it crosses a boundary for her. It’s like, ‘No, I’m in control of this moment.'”
Baker said that “Mikey and I talked a lot about motivation and intent for that scene, and meaning, and we came up with something ourselves. But we also, in those conversations, said, ‘I don’t think we’re never going to state it ourselves—what we’re feeling.'” “Everyone seems to have a strong reaction to it regardless of what they think is happening,” Quan said.
Baker’s films, such as the iPhone-shot, L.A.-set “Tangerine” or the street hustlers in his third feature, “Prince of Broadway,” often provoke controversy. In his previous film, “Red Rocket,” a toxic-character study, Baker was concerned about potential audience reactions to the age difference between Simon Rex’s brash portrayal of a destitute ex-porn star and Suzanna Son’s manipulative portrayal of a Lolita-esque teenage counterworker.
“We actually thought [‘Anora’] was going to be more [divisive]—so far, it hasn’t been as divisive as we thought. It’s been peculiar to see that there’s been this acceptance of it,” Baker said. “I even have some Twitter haters who are like, ‘We still hate Sean, but we like this movie.’ They won’t give me a break.” They still hate me!”