The movie
Pleasure
Newcomer Sofia Kappel plays 19-year-old ‘Bella Cherry’ who jets from her home in Sweden to LA with porn stardom her goal.
Length: 109 min
Country: Netherlands, Sweden
Language spoken: English, Swedish
Language subtitles: Dutch
Cast: Sofia Kappel, Revika Anne Reustle, Kendra Spade
Director: Ninja Thyberg
Release date: 04/11/2021
Description
A deep and very well-considered dive into the porn industry in Los Angeles, Ninja Thyberg’s explicit and very daring near docudrama captured the International Critics’ Prize (FIPRESCI prize) at the prestigious Gothenburg Film Festival earlier this year. Newcomer Sofia Kappel plays 19-year-old ‘Bella Cherry’ who jets from her home in Sweden to LA with porn stardom her goal. Needless to say, she is in for a rough ride in this ultracompetitive—and often coercive—business.
‘A healthy appreciation for earned knowledge and expertise [and] Thyberg’s keen eye for the small acts and details of “the business”… makes “Pleasure” a far more interesting, gripping and refreshing film than its subject matter might suggest. It’s an often subtle (even in its many XXX-rated shots) and surreptitious study of an industry built on explicit, aggressive imagery, an arresting film which… thankfully delineates between the legitimate work of adult film performers and the toxicity, misogyny and abuse the male-dominated industry allows to fester and lacerate.’—Peter Bradshaw, The Guardian
‘A healthy appreciation for earned knowledge and expertise [and] Thyberg’s keen eye for the small acts and details of “the business”… makes “Pleasure” a far more interesting, gripping and refreshing film than its subject matter might suggest. It’s an often subtle (even in its many XXX-rated shots) and surreptitious study of an industry built on explicit, aggressive imagery, an arresting film which… thankfully delineates between the legitimate work of adult film performers and the toxicity, misogyny and abuse the male-dominated industry allows to fester and lacerate.’—Peter Bradshaw, The Guardian
