Sean Baker's subversion of the American dream

The Oscar success of Anora shines a light on Sean Baker's cinema, which portrays those on the fringes of society with a sense of empathy

- Aditya Mani Jha

During his Oscar acceptance speech for Anora's screenplay on Sunday night, Sean Baker said, "I want to thank the sex worker community. They have shared their stories. They have shared life experiences with me over the years. My deepest respect. Thank you! I share this with you."

The speech was in line with what Baker said last year, when Anora won the Palme d'Or at Cannes and he dedicated the film "to sex workers past, present and future". During recent interviews, both Baker and his wife Samantha Quan (co-producer on most of his films, including Anora) have repeatedly spoken about the de-stigmatization of sex work, legal protections and so on. The film is a comedy-drama about Anora, or Ani (Mikey Madison), a stripper who marries Yuri (Mark Eydelshteyn), the immature failson of a Russian oligarch, after he pays her $15,000 for a week with him. It enjoyed a big night at the Oscars, winning five awards including Best Film, Best Director, Best Film Editing, Best Original Screenplay for Baker and Best Actress for Mikey Madison.

The film's success is the culmination of Baker's body of work across the last decade or so—outside of Anora, this comprises Starlet (2012), Tangerine (2015), The Florida Project (2017) and Red Rocket (2021). In Starlet and Red Rocket, the lead characters are porn actors, while Tangerine, The Florida Project and now Anora are stories involving sex workers. Baker's work portrays these characters at the fringes of society with a palpable sense of empathy and a wide range of tonalities, from straight drama and pathos to dramedy, slapstick and black humor.