Spoilers follow for the film Anora.Â
For the second half of Anora, we’re watching Mikey Madison’s abandoned, abused, and determined-to-endure dancer and sex worker through not just our own eyes, but those of the Russian henchman hired to restrain her, too. If Sean Baker’s film has an audience surrogate, it’s Igor, Yura Borisov’s soft-spoken heavy with a resigned affect, a pleading look, and a growing crush on Ani that culminates in the film’s enigmatic sex-scene ending. Madison plays Ani with her heart incrementally open and then slammed shut, her emotions playing out all over her face; Borisov is more laconic and more restrained. But by the end of Anora, after Baker has aligned them together against Ani’s shitty husband and shittier in-laws, it’s clear that the two see each other clearly — and might be the only people who do.
At first, their dynamic is fraught. Acting on the orders of his boss Toros (regular Baker collaborator Karren Karagulian), Igor ties up Ani in the mansion she’s sharing with her new husband, oligarch heir Ivan. Ivan is Toros’s godson and his responsibility in the U.S., and Toros, convinced that Ani is a gold digger (he jeeringly calls her a “prostituteâ€), threatens her with legal action if she doesn’t agree to annul her marriage to Ivan. During an endless, After Hours–esque night of trying to find Ivan, who ran away when Igor arrived, Toros’s opinion of Ani doesn’t really change. But Igor’s does, and Borisov plays that transformation with small gestures: an approving smile as Mikey curses out her captors, an offered glass of vodka. Maybe it’s wrong to root for the two of them to end up together, but the frankness and vulnerability Borisov provides Igor makes it feel right.
Borisov, a star in Russia and recognizable to western audiences for his co-lead role in the Cannes Film Festival Grand Prix-winning Compartment No. 6, was the second actor cast in Anora after Karagulian. He recommended Mark Eydelshteyn, who plays Ivan, to Baker. (The two also lived together in New York during production.) As Oscar buzz builds around his performance, Borisov just wrapped another project in Russia, Devyataya Planeta. On our Zoom call, he’s glad to talk about working with Baker and Madison, celebrating the spring equinox the Russian way with Eydelshteyn, and the difficulty of shooting the film’s final sexual moment between Igor and Ani. But his theories about whether the two try out a relationship? Those he’ll keep to himself. “It’s open for everyone, and for me, it’s the most important part of art, when your imagination starts working and going forward for an adventure inside you,†Borisov says.
Sean wrote the role for you before he finished the script. What was your first meeting with him like?
I’m trying to remember. We did some Zooms. It was the first time someone from America, a director, called me. He said that he had seen Compartment No. 6 and he liked it, and after that he said, “You want to do a movie about all this stuff involving a girl and Russian guys around her?†I’ve not seen his films before our meeting. I know nothing about Sean. I started to see his films and enjoy his films. That was the reason for me — not his script, but the energy of his films.
Did he tell you anything about Igor during that first meeting?
I think no. That’s not so important for me. More important is the connection with someone. If I’m seeing some film and I feel the soul of the director, for me, it’s the reason. Because sometimes you see the film, and it’s just the film. [Laughs] It could be more good or not, but you don’t feel some energy. And in his films, I feel energy.
You get the script months later. I know you translated it for yourself. How did you feel about the movie, and about Igor, after reading it?
My reaction was, maybe for America, it’s more of a classic story. But for me, I don’t feel that it’s a super-classic story. I feel that it could be a great experience. It’s a lot of characters, and my character comes only in the second part. When Igor is born, that came more later, when we were in New York. During our shooting, it’s a lot of freedom, lots of improvisation on the set. Igor is being born during everything on the set.
Igor is always watching Ani, and Sean cuts to you a lot so we see how you’re reacting to her and what’s happening to her. Did you have certain emotions you wanted to come through when you were looking at her? Did you put a lot of planning into how you would look at her?
You know, I don’t know. [Laughs] It’s easy. I just looked at her, and that’s it.
So I’m overthinking it.
The fact is that. And it’s magic, you know? When you just look at someone, they are changing every second, and you’re changing with them. You’re changing together. For Igor, Anora is the center. I understand that I just have to keep my attention to her, and that’s it.
Was there a moment in the film where you thought Igor fell in love with her, and where you wanted to communicate that feeling?
For me, love is the same as attention to someone. If you really love someone, you know everything about what he or she does. Attention is trying to help if she needs. And you start understanding that it’s love, you know?
So Igor’s attention for her is a sign of his love. Did you also see him as protecting her from the other people in their group?
Of course, because I think that if it’s love, he gives her what she needs, and she needs protection. [Laughs] If she needs to be alone sometimes, he’s trying to keep her alone. If she needs protection, it’s protection. If she needs to talk with someone, he would talk.
I want to ask you about the ending, because Sean has said that the ending is open for interpretation. People can read it in many different ways. I’m wondering how you interpreted it. Did it feel to you like Ani was telling Igor that she loved him?
Unfortunately, it’s too early for me to feel something, even about the ending, because I feel everything from the inside, not from the outside, like you. It’s not objective from my side. And at the same time, I don’t want to — even if I would feel something — I don’t want to talk about it with people who are seeing the movie, because the perception is more right if you’re by yourself and you interpret it. It’s open for everyone, and for me, it’s the most important part of art, when your imagination starts working and going forward for an adventure inside you.
I can respect that. That allows us to decide. Let me ask you this: Do you think Ani and Igor would ever see each other again?
[Laughs]
I have to try!
We could have a try, but not inside an interview. Of course, it’s interesting talking about it, but I don’t want to do it in an interview because it’s not interesting for people who could feel more than what I could give them by my words.
What was the most difficult scene of the film for you?
The one we did for a long time, again and again, was the final scene inside the car. It’s a very sensitive moment, and if you use this take, it’s one movie, and if you use another take, it’s absolutely a different movie. We did a lot of takes and frames and everything in trying to, very carefully, create a lot of options for Sean for finding the very right energy for the final. It was long, and not one day. It’s a very strong moment for Anora, and for Mikey as an actress. You see it on the screen only one time and you feel something. But we have to do it two, three, ten, 20 times, again and again, and you’re going through this situation, all this energy, like it’s the first time. It’s not easy that many times. You have to say, “Okay, again,†like it’s never happened. You’re just inside, you’re just going somewhere, and every second is a new second. You don’t know what was the last second, like in real life. I absolutely have no idea what was in our takes. But I’m happy about it. I think that was a special moment.
I really enjoy the scene when you’re in the candy shop, destroying all the giant jars of candy with your baseball bat. Was there a scene that was the most fun for you?
More fun were the moments on the street or in some restaurants, in real life, and we’re going in with a camera. It’s like a reality show, when you don’t have a plan but you just have your characters and the goals for your characters. It’s like real theater.
There was a piece in The New Yorker that said that you kept getting stopped by fans during the movie’s production. Were you surprised by how recognized you were?
It was mostly Russian people. No, it was not surprising, because I’m famous in Russia, and of course someone from Russia could recognize me here, too. But I’m not so happy about this, because it’s not about Igor, it’s not about the character. You’re just jumping 1,000 kilometers away from my character in that second, when someone recognizes me, and I remember, “Oh, yeah.â€
Igor is called a “gopnik†in the film. For people who don’t speak Russian, could you explain what that is?
[Pauses] A strong, young guy, living on the streets — I mean, he has a house, but mostly he lives on the streets, fixing some problems. He’s very aggressive, and very stupid. [Laughs]
You recommended Mark for this movie. You two lived together during the production. He calls you an older brother. Is there one memory that you have from living together with Mark that you think best describes your friendship?
We have a holiday in Russia when we make pancakes. It’s a day when you say good-bye to the winter; the start of spring is coming. We burn a doll that is like a symbol of winter. You can make it from old clothes and some wood, whatever you want. We did it in upstate with Mark and someone from our crew. After that, we were cooking pancakes with Mark. He never did it before, and I showed him: “You have to use two eggs, and some sugar, and some salt, and you have to mix it like that, and you have to try and cook it like that.â€
Has the movie come out in Russia?
You can see it in Russia right now. It’s not like an American blockbuster, like a Fast & Furious, where you don’t have culture in the film and you just see some effects. In this movie, it’s American culture, and for some people, they for the first time see real America in this film. It’s very different for everybody. But it’s too early to say something — I need some time to understand the reaction.
Correction: An earlier version of this article mistakenly referred to Compartment No. 6 as winner of the Cannes Film Festival’s Palm d’Or award. It won the festival’s Grand Prix award.