"Oscar" for Best Picture went to "Anora," a film about the marriage of an American stripper and the son of a Russian oligarch: what the actors said about the war

At the Oscar 2025 ceremony, the American Film Academy recognized the film "Anora" directed by Sean Baker, which drew criticism for its cast. The plot tells the story of the marriage of an American stripper and the son of a Russian oligarch, and a number of roles were played by citizens of the aggressor country Russia.

OBOZ.UA tells more about the movie, the actors and their attitude to the war against Ukraine. We also tell you how film critics reacted to the movie.

What the movie is about (spoiler alert!)

Director Sean Baker said that he was "inspired" by a friend's story about a Russian-American couple in which one of the newlyweds was kidnapped for ransom. He also used his experience editing wedding videos in the early 2000s.

The film centers on "Anora" (Ani) Mikheeva, a sex worker from Brooklyn who grew up in a family of Russian-speaking immigrants and lives in the Brighton Beach neighborhood of New York City, also known as "Little Russia." The girl works as a stripper in a fashionable club in Manhattan, where she meets Ivan, a Russian man, the frivolous and dissolute son of an oligarch.

He has come to the United States to study, but, as is typical of the "golden youth," he prefers to party and play video games at the family estate. He is looked after by his godfather, the priest Toros, and his assistants Garnik and Ihor.

The Russian hires Ani for a few intimate encounters, and later becomes "attached to her" and agrees to spend a week together for $15,000. Later, the couple develops a stormy romance, and eventually Vanya proposes to Ani to become his wife so that he can get a green card and stay in the United States. A little doubtful about the sincerity of the Russian's feelings, the girl eventually quits her job and plunges into married life.

When the news of this reaches Russia, Anora's fairy tale is threatened, as Ivan's parents travel to New York to seek an annulment and take their son home, where a career in their father's business awaits him.

Russian propagandists in the cast

The director gave the main role to American Mikey Madison even without casting. She is also known for her role in the films "Once Upon a Time in Hollywood" (2019) and "Scream 5" (2022). Especially for filming "Anora," the actress learned Russian and visited strip clubs.

Her fiancé was portrayed on screen by actor Mark Eidelstein, who lives in Russia during a full-scale war. Journalists have nicknamed him the "Russian Timothée Chalamet."

He grew up in Nizhny Novgorod and got his breakthrough with the film "The Land of Sasha," which had its world premiere in Berlin nine days before Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. At that time, a significant part of the filming took place in the temporarily occupied Crimea, and the film was distributed by Central Partnership, a subsidiary of the state-owned gas giant Gazprom, which has close ties to the Kremlin.

In addition to him, Russians Alexei Serebryakov, Daria Ekamasova and Putinist Yuri Borisov also starred in "Anora." The latter also illegally visited the occupied Crimea and starred in Russian propaganda films funded by the Kremlin.

At the beginning of the full-scale invasion, Borisov signed a letter from the Union of Cinematographers with the following text: "We received the news of Russia's military actions against Ukraine with pain and anger. No national, political, and geopolitical values can be more important than the main one – the value of human life. We demand an immediate end to the legalized killing of people by a man whose name is WAR."

However, after that, instead of highlighting the truth about Russia's war against Ukraine, the actor chose a silent position and occasionally promotes Putin's narratives. For this position, Borisov is listed in the Myrotvorets database. He is accused of acting in state-sponsored propaganda, in particular for his role in the 2020 film Kalashnikov. This film was also partially filmed in the temporarily occupied Crimean peninsula.

Anora director Sean Baker met Borisov at the Cannes Film Festival in 2021: he approached the Russian with a proposal to star in his film after seeing his role as a Russian miner in the Finnish film Compartment 6.

None of the actors made any statements about Russia's armed aggression against Ukraine. Sean Baker also did not comment on the decision to make a movie with Russians during the war. Vulture wrote that he had avoided politics in his films until the release of "Anora."

Critics' reaction to the movie

The world premiere of "Anora" took place on May 21, 2024, at the Cannes Film Festival, and on May 25, the film won the Palme d'Or, becoming the first American film in 14 years to win this award. The Los Angeles Film Critics Association and the Boston Film Critics Circle named Anora the best film at the 50th Los Angeles Film Critics Association (LAFCA) Awards.

The film was released on October 18, 2024 in the United States. It has won seven BAFTA awards (the host of the film award mocked Putin and the movie "Anora," which starred Russian actors, from the stage). The film was nominated for six categories at this year's Oscars, and as a result, "Anora" won five statuettes – Best Editing, Best Screenplay, Best Director (Sean Baker), Best Actress (Mikey Madison), and Best Picture.

According to Variety, during the premiere at the Cannes Film Festival, Anora was greeted with a "7.5 minute standing ovation". The Guardian movie reviewers expressed their belief that this "eccentric Sean Baker's Cinderella tale elevates him to greatness", and according to Time film critics, "Yuri Borisov creates tender, seething magic in every scene".

However, film reviewer Alex Kelaru did not share the excitement around the film, saying: "I don't think this movie quite deserves the recognition it's getting. I don't think it's a contender for the Oscars for best picture, cinematography, editing or screenplay."

The Telegraph drew attention to the Russian problem of the Oscar contender and wrote that the Palme d'Or winner, "Anora," is indeed a critical favorite, but Hollywood is blatantly ignoring the pro-Kremlin work of some actors.

According to observers, like the world it portrays, "Anora" has a dark side that no one talks about – three years after the start of the full-scale Russian invasion and eleven years after Russia seized Crimea and part of Donbas, its stars continue to live and work in their homeland.

"Both Eidelstein, 22, and Borisov, 31, appear to have been compromised by their previous (and future) work, both because of where it was made and its propagandistic nature," wrote The Telegraph's Liam Kelly.

Ukrainians working in the film industry also expressed outrage at the praise for Anora and its propaganda actors.

"The ongoing war is no longer a concern for major film festivals, it's like yesterday's news. Half of the cast continues to participate in pro-government film festivals in Russia, playing the main roles in government-funded films. "It's very questionable...'Anora' is a sign that no one has canceled Russian culture and will not cancel it. It is a victory for them," said Olga Sidorushkina, program curator at the Ukrainian Institute in London.

Ukrainian film director, producer and screenwriter Ksenia Bugrimova emphasized: "Art is becoming a tool for manipulating the perception of Russia. Imagine if the characters were from Israel or Gaza, how the audience would react. It's the same."

This year, a Ukrainian film was nominated for an Oscar – the documentary "The Porcelain War," created jointly by the United States and Ukraine, was nominated for Best Documentary Feature.

As OBOZ.UA reported earlier, at the BAFTA 2025 awards, where the film about the war in Ukraine – Rock, Paper, Scissors directed by Franz Boehm – won, American actor and musician Jared Leto found himself at the center of a scandal for taking selfies with Russian actors. In this way, the frontman of the band 30 Seconds To Mars decided to draw attention to the nominees from Russia.

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