Why is “Anora” rated R? The MPAA rating has been assigned for “strong sexual content throughout, graphic nudity, pervasive language, and drug use.” The Kids-In-Mind.com evaluation includes many scenes of topless women performing lap dances and pole dances, several scenes of a man and a woman having sex while fully nude, several scenes of people kicking and punching each other with some resulting blood and bruises, a woman being restrained and tied up, extensive drug and alcohol use, and over 300 F-words and other strong language. Read our parents’ guide below for details on sexual content, violence & strong language.

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The life of a young woman (Mikey Madison) working as an exotic dancer is utterly changed when she meets the young son (Mark Eydelshteyn) of a wealthy Russian oligarch (Nikolai Zakharov). After spending a week together, he asks her to marry him but her Cinderella story is threatened when his parents learn about the marriage and come to America to confront him. Also with Yura Borisov. Directed by Sean Baker. Several lines of dialogue are spoken in Russian with translation, and several others are without translation. [Running Time: 2:19]

Anora SEX/NUDITY 8

 – A man has sex with a woman from behind: we see violent thrusting and both of them moan loudly as someone knocks on a door and calls the man’s name (he shouts at them to go away). A man has sex with a woman from behind fully nude and we see the man thrusting aggressively: the woman stops him and tells him it would be better and last longer if he slowed down and when she moves more slowly, he moans loudly and says, “I think I love you.” A man and woman remove their clothes and move to a bed (the woman’s bare buttocks and breasts are visible, and the man’s buttocks and testicles are just visible when he moves); the woman holds up a condom and asks if he wants to put it on, or if she should do it for him and the woman straddles him and thrusts as the man tells her to go faster, then to stop and moans loudly. A man lies on top of a woman on a sofa (we see his bare back and buttocks); he thrusts aggressively, stops, moans loudly, and the woman laughs to herself. A man and woman have sex with the woman on top and both are fully nude (we see bare breasts, buttocks, abdomens and legs) ; we see thrusting, and when he moans loudly she asks, “Oh, you like that?” A man and woman have sex: they are fully nude and we see the man thrusting aggressively. A man and woman have sex in a shower: we see their bare shoulders and thrusting while they moan. A man and woman have sex on a sofa while clothed; they are interrupted by a doorbell, and the man goes to answer the door.
► A woman performs a lap dance for a man and he puts his hands on her bare buttocks (she is topless and wearing thong underwear); she tells him, “This isn’t allowed, but I like you,” and removes her underwear, then thrusts on his lap and the man moans. A woman performs a sexual dance for a man, to a sexually suggestive song with explicit lyrics; she writhes on the floor, simulates thrusting, runs her hands over her body suggestively and steps forward to straddle him. A woman climbs into a man’s lap while he sits in the driver’s seat of a car; we hear her open his belt and see her lick her hand; they have sex in the car, the man tries to kiss her and she resists and slaps him.
► In many scenes throughout the film several women wearing thong underwear and no tops dance at an exotic dance club while men watch and occasionally touch them (bare breasts and buttocks are visible); women dance suggestively on men’s laps (bending over and gyrating) and touch themselves suggestively (on their own bare breasts or covered groins).
► A man and woman sit on a sofa, cuddling and the man is shirtless (we see his bare chest). In a few scenes, a woman cuddles with a man while he plays video games; in some scenes he is shirtless (we see his bare chest). During a party scene, we see an ice sculpture in the shape of a woman’s nude torso with breasts visible; people pour liquor down tracks alongside the breasts and people drink from it. In several scenes, women wear low-cut dresses or tops that show cleavage. A couple gets a couple’s massage; we can see their bare shoulders and part of their backs. In several scenes, topless women pole dance while wearing thong underwear (we see bare buttocks and breasts). A woman is shown getting dressed (it is implied after sex) in several scenes; we see her bare buttocks before she puts clothes on. In a few scenes, men and women swim and hold each other in the water, wearing swim trunks and bikinis (bare shoulders and chests as well as buttocks and legs are seen).
► A woman who works at an exotic dance club sees the husband of a woman who used to work there and tells others she is going to “give him a dance”; the woman takes him to a private room and performs a lap dance to a song with sexual lyrics and she thrusts her hips against him suggestively while topless and wearing thong underwear (we see her breasts and buttocks); the man is visibly inebriated and tells her she has the best skin he has ever touched, and repeatedly says he loves her. In many scenes, young people party and dance suggestively with each other while drinking.
► A man and woman get married in a Las Vegas chapel and after exchanging vows, they kiss passionately. A man and a woman kiss passionately in several scenes. During an argument, a woman moves close to another woman’s face, and then forcibly kisses her; the other woman pulls back and shouts profanities.
► A man invites a woman to his home (it is implied he has invited her in order to pay to have sex with her); they hug and when she removes her coat, he stares at her and says she looks beautiful. A man asks a woman, whom he is paying for sex, if she will be his “[sexual reference deleted] girlfriend” for the week for ten thousand dollars. A man tells a woman he has “a hard [anatomical term deleted] and lots of money.” Two women who work at an exotic dance club discuss strange clients; one woman says a man looked like an “Indian Jeffrey Dahmer” and kept rubbing her legs, the other woman says a man told her she looked like his eighteen-year-old daughter then bought five dances from her. A man asks a woman who is giving him a lap dance if her family knows what she does for work and if they’re okay with it; she tells him yes and asks if his family knows that he is at an exotic dance club and he says he hopes not. A woman asks a man what he is looking for in asking her to his house and he tells her he is looking for sex; she asks him what kind, “a little bit of everything?” and he says yes. While picking rooms at a hotel, a man jokes with another man, “If you claim this room, I claim your sister,” and the other man responds, “I claim your mother.” A man and woman (whom he is paying for sex) discuss marriage so he can stay in America and when she asks who he would marry, he jokes that he would marry her friend, saying, “She’s hot”; he then asks her to marry him and she agrees. A man shouts, “Your mother is a whore” in Russian at another man (the dialogue is translated). A man calls another man a “donkey [F-word deleted].” A man asks another man how his flight was and the other man says, “Face down, [anatomical term deleted] up.” A mother and father argue with their son, who has gotten married to a woman he was paying for sex; the mother says, “Better you married a man,” and the son says, “Why not marry a man?” A woman tells a man that, when he and others had held her in a house against her will, she thinks the man would have raped her if the other people hadn’t been there; he asks her why she would say that and she says, “You have rape eyes,” and he replies that he is not a rapist. A man says that he doesn’t care if his parents object to his marriage and, “They can suck my [anatomical term deleted].” In several scenes, people refer to a woman as a prostitute and an escort and she gets offended. A woman tells her new husband that he can meet her sister anytime, but “she might try to steal you.”
► A man holds a woman, whose hands are bound, on his lap to prevent her from escaping a house; she shouts at him that he must “like this” and be “getting off on this,” and calls him names. A man screams at a younger man, whom he has been searching for, “This guy has been [sexual reference deleted].”
► A woman is seen alone in a shower and her bare shoulders are visible.

Anora VIOLENCE/GORE 4

 – A man says he is going to tie a woman up if she doesn’t stop fighting him and she screams at him not to tie her; he pins her face down on a sofa and binds her hands behind her back with a phone cord while she screams and a man on speakerphone hears the ruckus and asks, “What is happening? Are you killing her?” Two women argue in an exotic dance club and one punches the other in the face; they fight and grapple, falling to the floor and other dancers gather to watch the fight (one woman has scratches on her face later).
► A man tries to prevent a woman from leaving a house, blocking her exit; she hits his chest repeatedly, slaps him in the face (we see blood on his cheek), yells at him to stay away from her and throws a candlestick at him; it hits a framed painting and the glass shatters. A man and woman (wearing only a shirt and underwear) struggle in a living room; the man tries to restrain the woman and they run into many fragile items and furniture, breaking things and the woman screams and resists when he pins her down on the sofa. A woman injures two men who are attempting to restrain her: she bites one in the neck and kicks the other in the face (we see them both bloody and bruised). While a woman’s hands are bound behind her back, a man forces her onto her stomach on a sofa so he can remove her engagement ring and she screams and resists; he tries to stop her from screaming by covering her mouth and she bites his hand. A woman screams “rape” repeatedly while she is being held against her will and a man screams back at her, begging her to stop; in the next scene, she is seen gagged with a scarf. While chasing someone, a man slips on ice and falls hard on the pavement and groans in pain.
► Three men threaten a man and a woman working in a candy shop, demanding that they call a man they are trying to find; the man working there threatens them with an aluminum bat, saying he will break their legs if they don’t leave and one of the three men grabs the bat and smashes glass display cases.
► When a man shouts that a woman broke his nose, she shouts back, “Next time I’ll kick you in the [F-word deleted] [anatomical term deleted].” While driving, a man tells another man that he needs to go to the hospital and he thinks he has a concussion after a bad fall and a kick to the face; the man driving tells him, “You’re fine,” does not take him to the hospital and the man says that his head is pounding. A man argues with a tow truck driver preparing to tow his car away; the man gets into his car and presses the gas in reverse, causing the front of the car to tear off and stay attached to the tow truck, so he can drive away. A woman asks a man what he does to have so much money; he tells her that he is a drug dealer, then a gun dealer, then laughs and says his father is rich. A man panics when he finds out a young man has gotten married without his knowing, saying, “His parents will kill me.” During an argument with his parents, a young man yells, “Just kill me, Mom.” A man in a voice-over says, “I hate this [obscenity deleted], I want to vomit when I see her face.”
► A man vomits in the passenger seat of a car, we see a large amount of vomit and see the other passengers react in disgust; the driver stops to try to clean the vomit (we see it splattered on the interior of the car) and yells at the man who vomited. When the passengers get back in the car, they cover their faces and complain that the car “stinks.” A man is visibly drunk during a court hearing and says his stomach hurts, then lies down on a table; the judge calls for the bailiff to get the man out “before he throws up.”
► In several scenes, a man plays video games and we hear shooting sounds; we briefly see images of the video game and some explosions; in one scene, the man says angrily, “Why don’t you shoot?” At a New Year’s party, people shoot fireworks from the roof and we hear the explosion sounds and see the fireworks flash. A man tells a story about several young people getting “stoned” and making Kool-Aid in the swimming pool and causing massive amounts of damage.

Anora LANGUAGE 10

 – At least 315 F-words and its derivatives, 24 scatological terms, 31 anatomical terms, 24 mild obscenities, 5 derogatory terms for gay men, name-calling (crazy, spoiled brat, whore, hooker, ho, psychopath, lazy, stupid, idiot, disgusting, pathetic), 5 religious exclamations (e.g. God bless America, Jesus, Jesus [F-word deleted] Christ, I swear to God). | profanity glossary |

Anora SUBSTANCE USE

 – People smoke marijuana in joints and from bongs in numerous scenes, a man tells a woman about his mother catching him smoking marijuana in their “cryochamber,” a shop owner tells young people who work at his shop to stop “smoking dope” inside and they joke with him that they are “addicted to the reefer,” a man tells a story about several young people getting “stoned” and making Kool-Aid in the swimming pool, people prepare lines of ketamine and a woman licks some of the powder from her fingers before kissing a man, a woman says the best ketamine she ever had was in Las Vegas, and a man prepares lines of cocaine (we do not see anyone snort it). There are frequent scenes of people drinking alcohol. There are many scenes of people smoking cigarettes and nicotine vapes.

Anora DISCUSSION TOPICS

 – Sex, sex workers, sex for money, oligarchs, Russia, exotic dancing, wealth and wealth disparity, marriage, divorce and annulment, betrayal, drug and alcohol use.

Anora MESSAGE

 – Cinderella stories rarely end happily ever after.