Anora

W/ RJ and Dom this timeeeee  I rlly love this movie!! I can’t stop thinking about the ending. The ambiguous lines in the intimacy and consent are so interesting bc of the dynamics it sets up between transactional love, verbal abuse, sweet nothings, protection, and care, and honesty. It made me think a lot about when and why I choose to receive or perform acts of love and the difference between performing intimacy for other peoples benefit vs intimacy to fulfill my own desire and want to love and be loved. Why would you love someone who despises outwardly but inwardly yearns for you? Why would you love someone who looks down upon you internally but outwardly treats you like a princess? Idk. But I feel like I’ve experienced all of these contradictions before, and so do many other people. In my last review I kind of baselessly compared this movie to Chekhov, but I still agree w it. The seagull is about the same exact thing. Being miserable with the person who truly sees you as you are while you yearn for the famous rich writer who treats you like a toy.  Even though you could be with person who sees you as Anora instead of Annie; someone who wants you  as “her” instead of treating you like a “they.” Someone you could be a part of something with instead of being a part of them. There’s such a weird and common dissonance among me and my American peers where we will ignore so many logical red flags for us because our bodies want people that treat us a little bit like garbage. And when the unfortunate moment happens where you try to logically choose the “right” or “safe” person that offers you security and love and protections and your body just doesn’t want them as much as someone that treated you like trash, it’s so confusing and painful.  We want the fantasy more than we want the “real” or “safe” option. And our brains will fight so so much to make it make sense. I don’t really know where it comes from or if I’m just projecting my own confusion on society, but for me this contradiction is at the beautiful heart of this movie.