Mikey Madison accepts the award for best performance by an actress in a leading role for “Anora” during the Oscars on Sunday at the Dolby Theatre in Los Angeles. The Associated Press

LOS ANGELES — “Anora,” a strip club Cinderella story without the fairy tale ending, was crowned best picture at the 97th Academy Awards on Sunday, handing Sean Baker’s gritty, Brooklyn-set screwball farce Hollywood’s top prize.

In a stubbornly fluctuating Oscar season, “Anora,” the Palme d’Or-winner at the Cannes Film Festival, emerged as the unlikely frontrunner. Baker’s tale of an erotic dancer who elopes with the son of a Russian oligarch — unusually explicit for a best-picture winner – was made for just $6 million.

But Oscar voters, eschewing blockbuster contenders like “Wicked” and “Dune: Part Two,” instead added “Anora” to a string of recent indie best picture winners, including “Everything Everywhere All at Once,” “CODA” and “Nomadland.”

In personally winning four Oscars on Sunday, Baker tied the mark held by Walt Disney, who won for four different films in 1954. That Baker and Disney share the record is ironic; his “The Florida Project” took place in a low-budget motel in the shadow of Disney World.

Twenty-two years after winning best actor for “The Pianist,” Brody won the same Oscar again for his performance as another Holocaust survivor in Brady Corbet’s “The Brutalist. His win came over Timothee Chalamet (“A Complete Unknown”), who had the chance of becoming the youngest best actor ever, a record owned by Brody.

Adrien Brody arrives at the Oscars on Sunday at the Dolby Theatre in Los Angeles. The Associated Press

“I’m here once again to represent the lingering traumas and the repercussions of war and systematic oppression and of antisemitism and racism and othering,” said Brody. “I pray for a healthier and happier and more inclusive world. If the past can teach us anything it’s to not let hate go unchecked.”

Madison won best actress for her breakthrough performance in “Anora,” a victory that came over the category favorite, Demi Moore (“The Substance”). Both she and Baker spoke, as they did at the Cannes Film Festival where “Anora” won the Palme d’Or, about honoring the lives of sex workers.

Netflix’s beleaguered contender “Emilia Perez,” the lead nominee going into the show, weathered the scandal caused by offensive tweets by star Karla Sofia Gascón, to pick up awards for best song and best supporting actress, for Saldana.

Ariana Grande performs ‘Over the Rainbow” during the Oscars on Sunday at the Dolby Theatre in Los Angeles. The Associated Press