77th Cannes Film Festival | The Palme d’Or goes to Anora by director Sean Baker

(Cannes) Filmmaker Sean Baker received the Palme d’Or at the age of 53 on Saturday for Anoraa New York thriller that moves from the slums to the luxury villas of Russian oligarchs, and augurs a revival of American independent cinema.

“This film is magnificent, full of humanity […] He broke our hearts,” declared the president of the jury and director of barbie Greta Gerwig before presenting him with the prize.

Sean Baker, in his speech, made a plea for films in theaters: “The world needs to remember that seeing a film on your cell phone or at home is not the way to see films.” “In the room we share sadness, fear, laughter,” he insisted.

Film that never presses the brake pedal, Anora begins like a fairy tale, Cinderella version 2024, which turns into drama, before switching to frankly comic sequences.

Anora (Mikey Madison) is an escort at a seedy club. One night of drinking, Vanya (Mark Eydelshteyn), the son of a wealthy Russian oligarch, enters the establishment. She knows bits of Russian: her grandmother, an immigrant to the United States, never learned English. We entrust him with the client. She manages to take his number. They see each other again.

Anora discovers money and not knowing what to do with it, a life of celebration and carelessness. Vanya’s parents stayed in Russia on business, entrusting the priest at the local Orthodox church to keep an eye on him. But when Anora and Vanya’s affair seems to be getting serious, things go off the rails.

Mafioso, trips to the Russian-speaking community of Coney Island, night races in New York, henchman with the false air of Robert De Niro, the 2 hour 18 film effectively rewinds the classics of American cinema and depicts the other side of the American dream.

But surprises by taking unexpected paths, and by promoting its heroine, Anora, who stands firm and even ridicules this world of men corrupted by money. From religious people to small bandits to the ultra-rich, everyone gets their due.

After Tangerine And The Florida ProjectSean Baker confirms that he is a lover of marginalized characters, overflowing with humanity.