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FILM CRITICISM
The Universe at the Lowest Place
Anora (2024, dir. Sean Baker)
0.
Maybe we watch films not to understand them, but to love them.
1.
It could have been Cinderella. It could have been Las Vegas. It could have foregrounded the chaos. After all, as with The Florida Project and Red Rocket, Sean Baker has previously titled his films after a place or a symbol. This time, however, he chose a person’s name. It is the first time he has done so. Whatever story unfolds, this is a film about one human being.
That the protagonist has two names is therefore significant. A name is commonly understood as something bound up with identity. The fact that she has two of them, that she responds differently to each, and, above all, that the film reserves a conversation about her name for its ending cannot be overlooked.
Annie is her social name. It is the name her clients call her by, the name used for transactions, the name through which the audience first meets her, layered over countless acts of sex. Anora is a far more private name. It is the name she was born with, the name her family would have called her, and the name the audience will remember after the film ends. Sean Baker’s film is nothing less than the journey from Annie toward Anora.
