Sex Work

Pretty Woman was released in 1990. One of the most beloved and successful romantic comedies of all time, the film tells the Cinderella story of a sex worker, played by Julia Roberts, who finds love with a slick businessman - Richard Gere - after he picks her up on Hollywood Boulevard.

Fast forward to 2025 and the astonishing Oscar success of Anora - director Sean Baker’s tale of a young sex worker whose whirlwind affair with a Russian billionaire’s son turns bad, fast.

So how has the way we treat sex work on screen changed? Ellen E Jones and Mark Kermode delve into the long and thorny relationship between cinema and sex work.

Mark speaks to film historian and critic Pamela Hutchinson about how sex work has been tackled in over a hundred years of movies - from early silent films like Pandora’s Box, to the work of Sean Baker. They discuss Jane Fonda’s Oscar-winning turn as a ‘call girl’ in Klute, and look at how male sex worker films like Midnight Cowboy might approach the subject differently.

Meanwhile, Ellen talks to Andrea Werhun, the writer, performer and real-life sex worker who served as a consultant on Anora - about her work on the film, and her love for another Richard Gere sex work film, American Gigolo.

And Ellen also speaks to Kristen Lovell and Zachary Drucker, whose 2023 documentary The Stroll traced the history of trans sex workers in New York City’s Meatpacking District. Kristen and Zachary discuss why sex work has been a key part of trans history - and what they think Anora’s success means for sex workers.

Producer: Jane Long
A Prospect Street production for BBC Radio 4