trailofpebbles

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I live under the impression that I haven't had access to social media all these years I would be a better person right now idk

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Some thoughts on Anora and sex work

I've seen a lot of ppl on twitter complaining about Anora being a romanticization of sex work. I'm not a sex worker and I don't mean to invalidate any perception this film might arise. But my interpretation has been so different I'd like to share it.

From the very beginning Ani is presented as a hard worker, if anything. The way she scans the club for clients with cold calculating eyes and how her demeanor changes whenever she aproches a man and starts talking all sweet and banal in order to sell herself. She seems to know the ropes and be good at what she does.

And this might be an impopular opinion and maybe motivated by the fact that I live in a poor country, but she seems to be doing ok? She's surely not rich and her job is shown as informal and precarious, but she's able to make a living out of it. This fact is not romanticization to me. Ani's marginalized from the system by the fact she couldn't get a better, less violent and more stable job. But my feel is that from a bunch of precarious, informal jobs, she chose one that could get her more money.

Of course, Ani is a young white girl living in (the outskirts of?) NY, and her somewhat privileged experience may be far from the average sexual worker. But to me, Anora's aim is to dig into one specific aspect of this kind of work, and it's its relation to love.

I'm aware sexual workers know how to set boundaries between personal and professional life. And I've read people complaining about how unbelievable it was Ani falling for Vanya's lies. But personally I didn't find it that unnatural. Maybe it's because as well as a sexual worker, Ani's a young girl. And no matter how feminist one tries to be, I think the fantasy of Prince Charming is ingrained in us from a very early age and in a very deep place. Ani wants to do her honeymoon at Disney with a princess theme. To that, you can add that Vanya seems to be a way out of a job that can give her enough to get by, but not much more, and who knows for how long.

I don't think it gets to be clear whether Ani got to feel something real for Vanya or not. It's clear he didn't. But while it's pretty obvious she married this boy she met one week ago for money, the fact that she's trying to learn Russian and wants to meet his family seems like an attempt to actually fit in. I was also moved by the fact that she added her to his group of friends. Ani, with her working hours, didn't seem to have much of a life outside the strip club.

But what I liked the most about the film is how the last scene with the wedding ring continues this ambiguity. Ani's affair with Vanya earned her a total amount of $25,000 dollars. While it's a lot of money, you can't call it a life changing sum. However, assuming she's telling Toros the truth about its quality, the ring is worth about $160,000. That number can have a bigger impact on her life.

The ring seemed to me a great symbol for this problem. It's both an expensive piece of jewelry and an emblem of love. It wasn't only her chance at an aristocratic life that got stolen away, it was a feeling of being loved and belonging.

Sexual market needs love and sex to be separated in order to sell the latter. Ani is an experienced worker and success in this. But what happens when this premise coexists with the desire for love patriarchy also needs us to feel? To me, this was the particular vulnerability of sex work the film helped me dig into.

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Obsessed with this character posters for Anora. I love how every tagline changes since the film can actually be read as any of those genres.

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I cannot get over how much I loved Anora. I shall now proceed to make thousands of edits.

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"The city", by greek egyptian poet Konstantínos Kaváfis (1863 - 1933)

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2025

Hi, if anybody is reading this. I have had this blog for many years, intending to make it some sort of collection of films, I guess. I recently turned 30 and every day, with adulthood and its events and incidents, I feel more distant with the things I used to love when I was younger.

So this year I'll be more flexible with the criteria that organizes this blog and I'll simply add all things that arouse my attention and seem easy to be posted here. That's it.

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Calendar illustrations for « Très riches Heures » of the duke Jean de Berry. These miniatures from the XV century depict an harmonious life, in which every member of the stratified and immobile feudal society diligently undertook their tasks.

Leaving all the social injustice aside, I'm very fond of the paintings. Also love the way this ideal harmony extends to the relationship between men and nature as well. Also the zodiac signs.

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This is not gonna stop. It keeps going on and on. Fatal Attraction (1987) Adrian Lyne.

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I guess you thought you'd get away with it. Well… you can't. 'Cause part of you is growing inside of me, and that's a fact, Dan, and… you'd better start… learning how to deal with it. 'Cause you know, I… I feel you. I taste you. I think you. I touch you. Can you understand? Can you? Fatal Attraction (1987) Adrian Lyne.

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We were attracted to each other at the party. That was obvious. You're on your own for the night. That's also obvious. We're two adults. Fatal Attraction (1987) Adrian Lyne.

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And, you know, another thing is that you thought that you could just walk into my life, and turn it upside down, without a thought for anyone but yourself. Fatal Attraction (1987) Adrian Lyne.

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Benoît Magimel in La pianiste (2001, Michael Haneke)

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"Dreaming of the things they don't have, feasting themselves on good and bad. Next morning, all had vanished." And here the mood switches to irony. D, d, d. "Yet still, they've had their share of pleasure." That rhythm is the obstinacy of the middle class. "And hope that what they left behind will be found once again on their pillows."

La pianiste (2001), Michael Haneke

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“After all, love is built on banal things”

La pianiste (2001), Michael Haneke

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"I don't have feelings. And if I ever did, they would not defeat my intelligence"

La pianiste (2001), Michael Haneke

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 Blue Gate Crossing (2002), Yee Chin-yen.

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Blue Gate Crossing (2002), Yee Chin-yen.

"When I see you, I always take a second look at... you."