Oscars 2025: Anora’s Cinderella triumph
The film about a stripper who elopes with a Russian oligarch’s son wins four Oscars

“We may all need to update our mental model of what a Best Picture winner looks like,” said Nate Jones in NYMag.com. When Anora added the top prize to its already impressive haul at the close of this year’s Oscars ceremony, it made Oppenheimer, last year’s winner, look like a big-budget outlier in an otherwise growing run of scrappy art house hits—Moonlight, Parasite, etc.—that have emerged as Academy favorites.
Sean Baker’s low-budget tragicomedy about a stripper who elopes with the hard-partying young son of a Russian oligarch emerged victorious after an up-and-down awards season because, given the voting rules, “the top prize typically goes to the most likable contender.” Still, “the primary reason Anora won is because this is not the same Oscars as it was 10 years ago,” when the #Oscars SoWhite campaign forced the Academy to bring in new members. Those newbies apparently favor bold films.
Baker had a fairy-tale night, joining Walt Disney as the only other person to ever win four Oscars in one year, said Alissa Wilkinson in The New York Times. “But even Disney didn’t pull off Baker’s feat: earning four Oscars on one night for the same movie”—in this case for Best Picture, Best Director, Best Original Screenplay, and Best Editing. Both men, fittingly, specialize in retelling fairy tales, though in Baker’s films, “the American dream is a fairy tale, a beautiful story we repeat that for many goes sour.” Anora’s title character, played by surprise Best Actress winner Mikey Madison, thinks she has hit the jackpot when she weds a wealthy Russian man-child. But she’s wrong, which is why, “more than any other film in many years,” Anora “speaks directly to how it feels to be alive right now,” said Will Leitch in The Washington Post. As a privileged few “rampage through the world,” ignoring the mess they’re making, “the rest of us desperately try to attend to their needs and keep our heads above water.”
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
Anora wasn’t the night’s only winner, said Owen Gleiberman in Variety. Adrien Brody (The Brutalist), Zoe Saldaña (Emilia Pérez), and Kieran Culkin (A Real Pain) all delivered memorable speeches when they were handed their acting awards. Meanwhile, Conan O’Brien “absolutely rocked his debut as a host,” and “the telecast itself was a brisk and elegantly executed piece of media stagecraft.” But those newer, younger, more international voters truly have changed what the Oscars are about. They admire artistic purity above crowd-pleasing, and “that, for better or worse, is what now rules at the Oscars.”
Sign up for Today's Best Articles in your inbox
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
-
The Week Unwrapped: Will the Enhanced Games change how we see doping?
Podcast Plus, how will autonomous weapons change warfare? And are Reform supporters more datable than Tories?
-
Your inner romper is going to wild out at these 7 adult summer camps
The Week Recommends You're never too old to go back to camp
-
Crossword: May 23, 2025
The Week's daily crossword puzzle
-
6 lounge-ready homes with conversation pits
Feature Featuring a terrazzo-flanked pit in California and a fire-side pit in Nevada
-
Is a River Alive?: a 'powerful synthesis of literature, activism and ethics'
The Week Recommends Robert Macfarlane's latest book centres on his journeys to four river systems around the world
-
Good One: an 'intensely compelling' coming-of-age tale
The Week Recommends India Donaldson's 'quietly devastating' debut feature about a teenage girl's life-changing camping trip
-
The best lemon pepper wings in Atlanta
Feature Marinated turkey wings, a Korean barbecue sauce combo and an off-menu staple
-
Film reviews: Friendship and Fight or Flight
Feature An awkward dad unravels after he's unfriended and Josh Hartnett attempts a John Wick sidestep
-
Art review: Ai, Rebel: The Art and Activism of Ai Weiwei
Feature Seattle Art Museum, through Sept. 7
-
Book reviews: 'Second Life: Having a Child in the Digital Age' and 'Mark Twain'
Feature Navigating pregnancy in the digital age and an exploration of Mark Twain's private life
-
Richard Bausch's 6 favorite books that are worth rereading
Feature The award-winning author recommends works by F. Scott Fitzgerald, Ernest Hemingway, and more