Pleasure: Film Review
I read so many great reactions about Pleasure when it premiered at Sundance that it immediately went on my watchlist and everyone was right; this film is great.
Ninja Thyberg‘s directorial debut follows Linnea (Sofia Kappel), who goes by the stage name Bella Cherry. She moves from Sweden to Los Angeles to become a porn star and the film follows her journey as she tests how far she’s willing to go and how much she’s willing to do to get ahead in the adult film industry.
Naturally, given the subject, this film is not for the faint-hearted and will not be everyone’s cup of tea. It is very provocative, gritty, and explicit – you see A LOT of nudity and simulated porn scenes, some of which are designed to make you feel incredibly uncomfortable. Bella Cherry starts off wanting just straightforward one man-one woman jobs but soon realises that she won’t get very far unless she is down to make dirty, extreme and sometimes rough content.
It might sound like this is a salacious and seedy film that is just sex scenes strung together but there’s more to it than that. It’s about Bella Cherry finding her identity as a porn star, learning to stand up for herself in a sea of shady agents, directors and co-stars, and trying to emulate the career of her idol Ava (Evelyn Claire), who she assumes must be having the time of her life. Her journey makes her evaluate if she really wants the adult film life and is willing to abandon all her friends to get ahead.
This role requires a lot of bravery and Kappel gamely takes on the challenge. She gives a commanding, fearless and compelling performance. The majority of her co-stars are actual porn stars and agents and some of them are playing characters while others are serving as fictionalised versions of themselves.
It is a shocking and difficult watch in places (that’s the intention) and some moments involving bodily fluids gave me the ick, but I really liked Pleasure. It was eye-opening and interesting and I became invested in Bella Cherry’s story. I don’t know much about the porn industry so I also found it very enlightening to see a film based in that world with a female lead in 2022.
On MUBI from Friday 17th June