The films of Sean Baker feature characters who live on the margins, be it the transgender L.A. sex workers of his debut feature, “Tangerine,” the Florida motel dwellers of “The Florida Project,” or the constantly hustling ex-porn performer of “Red Rocket,” Baker is fascinated by those who live life outside of the mainstream. His latest work, “Anora,” rightfully earned him the Palme d’Or at this year’s Cannes Film Festival. The film is a masterwork of naturalistic emotion and sharp comic energy.

Baker usually sets his non-judgemental cinematic sights on the lives of sex workers, doing his best to remove the scarlet letter from anyone who chooses to make money in that field. His films don’t exploit their characters but examine the reasons their lives are where they are; each picture finds its subjects at a turning point. Baker crafts each work with honesty and soul, consistently achieving something uniquely human. With “Anora,” the director continues his quest to destigmatize sex work by crafting a stirring and profoundly affecting anti-fairy-tale that should send him to the forefront of this year’s Oscar contenders.

An excellent Mikey Madison is Anora (who prefers to go by the nickname “Ani”), an Uzbek-American stripper who is fairly fluent in Russian. As the film opens, Baker shows her as part of a room full of exotic dancers, doing their thing for their clients under the dark neon lights of the club. The camera pans over these women, but it does not exploit them. Dre Daniels’s lens finds both the glamour and workman-like atmosphere of this setting. There is energy in these opening moments. They are not meant to be viewed as erotic but provocatively symbolic. While the male clients throw large wads of cash at these performers, there is a sense of self-empowerment in the dancers. The women must adhere to the club’s rules, yet they are in charge of the moment. This is the atmosphere where Ani and her fellow workers shine, as her lazy homelife and rude roommate could be more satisfying.

Baker’s screenplay finds its humor almost immediately in the matter-of-fact conversations between Ani and the other dancers. One co-worker berates the titular character for giving a dance to her boyfriend, while Ani argues that D.J. doesn’t show any of them the proper respect because he wouldn’t consider playing her self-made playlist. The director is sharp in capturing the way modern twentysomethings communicate. Such a studied perception effortlessly bridges the gaps of how many people over forty just can’t relate to the younger generation, while the screenplay’s instinctive insights into their particular world speak to today’s puritanical social climate regarding the legitimacy of sex workers.

One night, Anora’s boss takes her to a table full of young men who speak Russian. There, she meets Ivan “Vanya” Zakharov (Mark Eydelshteyn), the son of a Russian oligarch. The feeling of this wild but sweet young man being just another client quickly fades as Anora and Vanya seem to find a real connection. As the young man procures her services for a few nights that turn into a week of partying, sex, and plane trips to other cities with fancy hotels, he treats her with real respect and maybe a little admiration. Vanya genuinely likes her, and Anora begins to feel the same. There is an infectious spirit to their time together. Baker and cinematographer Daniels shoot everything as a dream come to life for the lead character. Anora is whisked away by her manchild, Prince Charming, to places she has never seen, where she experiences real fun with her paying suitor and his small band of friends.

As the characters embrace the hormonal lighting that binds them, it is clear that these are Anora’s happiest moments in forever. As an audience, we become complacent in her naivete, as we too don’t want this to end for her. There is still the youth-obsessed materialism of big hotel rooms, champagne, and drugs (badges of freedom for Gens Y and Z). Still, Anora and Vanya have real conversations, eventually seeing beyond one another’s facades and finding a connection. Finding someone who can keep your heart alive is rare in this party atmosphere. Anora feels that way when Vanya proposes marriage. After making him swear he isn’t just living the moment (it is a fact that marrying her allows Vanya a green card and safe haven from his dominant parents), the two run off to a Las Vegas chapel to get hitched. For Anora, this is her real-world fairytale that has come to life, and she seems convinced that her new husband feels the same.

Even the happiest of stories take a dramatic turn, and “Anora” is no exception. When Ivan’s parents learn of the marriage, they send Vanya’s godfather and their lead fixer, Toros (Baker film mainstay Karren Karagulian in a fantastic turn), to force an annulment. The rich parents do not want their son to shame the family name by marrying a “night butterfly’, their term for prostitute. Toros sends his thugs, brother Garnick (Vache Tovmasyan) and Igor (Yura Borisov) to get the job done. The newlyweds fight back, and everything goes to viciously humorous Hell. Vanya shows his cowardice by bolting from the house and disappearing into the night. Ani remains defiant, fighting back hard by breaking Garnick’s nose even though her hubby just left her in a room with these dangerous men.

As things go from bad to extreme cases of worse, “Anora” becomes a comedic hurricane. Watching these characters yell and fight with one another brings a dangerous and brutally emotional mania to this section of the film. The director captures moments so realistically extreme that he reaches the heights of John Cassavetes, a director who made Art by capturing the physical and emotional chaos of his characters. As did the late Cassavetes, Baker keeps a firm hold on his story as the characters spiral out of control. This is a film more ambitious than one might expect.

The filmmaker’s empathetic heart towards his main character takes this film to another level, and Mikey Madison is up to the challenge. As she showed when playing Pamela Adlon’s daughter on F.X.’s excellent show “Better Things” (and not forgetting the unhinged excellence of her work in Tarantino’s “Once Upon a Time in Hollywood” and 2022’s “Scream”), Madison announces herself as one of the best actors of her generation. Ani refuses to let her work define her. She is still young but wants to be free of this life. The money and parties are fun, but her thirties are closer than they once were. Ani has a hard shell when need be, but there is a young woman in there who has dreams of a better life. There is depth to both the character and Madison’s layered performance. Ani makes us laugh and keeps us on her side through such an honest all-in portrayal. As Baker doesn’t judge the character, the actress follows suit. Madison’s performance is thrilling and alive with emotion. When the final act reaches its scene of a transactional exchange that brings the folly of Ani’s life to bright contrast, Mikey Madison will break your heart. 2024 cinema will not see a better performance.

“Anora” is a propulsive and moving drama with bolts of jarringly funny humor. There is a freedom to the rhythms Sean Baker and Mikey Madison have created, making the film a rich and practical experience. Ani is a woman that society objectifies, but the film sees her as a human being who thinks she has found her way out through love and marriage as the pitfalls of reality throw her out of orbit. Though the truth is hard and her dream didn’t come true, Ani will be okay.

This is certainly no “Cinderella Story”–or maybe it is.

Sean Baker and cast at the film’s premiere at the 2024 Cannes Festival