Sundance 2021 Review: Pleasure – “Intellectually stimulating”

Pleasure (2021) is a drama, written by Ninja Thyberg and Peter Modestij, and directed by Ninja Thyberg. It is Thyberg’s first feature.

Pleasure tells the story of Jessica, aka Bella Cherry (Sofia Kappel), a recently legal adult who travels from her homeland of Sweden to Los Angeles to become a porn star. More specifically, to become the world’s biggest porn star.

Her first act of business upon arrival in the U.S.A. Is to go straight to a porno set to shoot a scene. At first, Bella is uncomfortable. Suffering from stagefright, and overwhelmed by the entire situation, Bella is having difficulty performing. A couple of the guys on set have kind word, and reassuring things to say to her. They tell her how this is normal, and how it happens all the time. They give her some space, and before too long, Bella returns to finish the scene.

After the shoot, a member of the crew gives her a lift to the “model house” where she is staying. This is a house that is paid for by her agent (I think) for the models that the agent represents to have a place to stay in town. He also offers her some words of wisdom. Advice about how the industry works, and what and who to look out for, etc.

Bella has a sense of drive and ambition about her, which she immediately begins to employ. She looks at the other girls with a critical eye. She listens closely to what other people say to try and figure out who she should be talking to; what she should be doing to make a name for herself in the world of adult entertainment. She tries to ascertain exactly what it will take to put herself in the fast lane to stardom and success.

Her desire to bypass any queue-up to the top motivates her to make some risky, questionable decisions and career moves. She very quickly finds that she might be in over her head. But her determination and drive won’t allow her to quit. If Bella Cherry is going to succeed or fail, she will do so on her own merits, in her own way, and she won’t stop fighting until the proverbial bell rings.

Every so often a film comes along that is so provocative that it becomes famous for its reputation, and not necessarily because of how many people saw it. Nymphomaniac (Lars Von Trier, 2013), In the Realm of the Senses (Nagisa Ōshima, 1976), Henry and June (Philip Kaufman, 1990), and The Brown Bunny (Vincent Gallo, 2003) are all films that achieved varying degrees of notoriety for their raw, and sometimes unsimulated depictions of sex and sexual activity. Pleasure, despite having no unsimulated sex scenes, is a likely candidate for this kind of infamy.

Opinions are going to be all over the place on this one. There will be intense discussion about whether or not the film is gratuitous, what the message is, whether or not Bella is a victim, the morality of pornography, the dangers of the business, what happened at the end, etc. These are all fascinating subjects. Most of the questions raised by the film are not the kind that have one objectively correct answer. The philosophical and moral debates raised by the film are going to rage into the night, bottle after bottle of wine being drained at intimate dinners between friends, that are as intellectually grueling as they are satisfying.

Or none of that will happen. My money is on that. What will likely happen is that word of mouth will get out about how much flesh is on display in the film, and half of the movie-watching public will avoid and decry it for that reason. Most of the other half will use its salaciousness as an excuse to get into an online argument over the film without actually having seen it. Sadly too few will have the desire to actually engage with challenging art.

And good for them, right? After all, why would you want any questions raised about elements of your worldview? Especially when there is some far more easily digestible nugget of echo-chambery goodness a mere click or two away, just waiting to tell you that you are right, and to reinforce what you already think or feel.

Am I too cynical? I hope things aren’t as bad as I have described, and that the initial scenario I painted will be the more accurate prediction. This would be the response that Pleasure deserves. The film is a seemingly accurate, non-judgmental parable about the adult film industry, and those that work within it. At no point does Pleasure ever make a judgment about what it depicts. It simply shows the viewer what’s up, and then leaves the viewer to decide on their own what is right and wrong, what is acceptable and what is not, what is or is not going too far. The audience takes the journey right along with Bella.

I found this aspect of Pleasure to be quite satisfying. Porno is a thing that a lot of people have a lot of strong feelings about. It also tends to be a subject about which a lot of the things that examine its inner-workings gets very preachy about. This isn’t to say that an anti-porn stance is wrong or invalid. Its the preachy-ness that irks me. It’s the idea that I need to be lead like a dog on a leash to one side of the aisle or the other, and not allowed to make up my own mind about things.

Writer/director Ninja Thyberg has crafted an unflinching, thought-provoking look at an industry that, like it or not, is way more popular than most people are willing to acknowledge. Pleasure is a wonderfully existentialist treatise on personal responsibility. It is an impressive debut feature that allows the viewer to reach their own conclusions. It exists to promote discussion and introspection, not to preach and/or “educate.”

In addition to her thoughtful approach to how her story is told, Thyberg also got some excellent performances out of her cast. True, there are a good number of people in the cast who work in the industry in real life. Most of whom are surprisingly convincing in their roles. Even though they do this thing for a living, acting like you do something for a living isn’t as easy as actually doing it is. The inclusion of these individuals also lends an air of veracity to the proceedings. Certainly, if the film was an inaccurate portrayal of things, intended as some kind of hit-piece, these people would not have participated. Unless there was a shitload of money on the table. But this is something I strenuously doubt.

A lot of people who work in the industry would prefer that their occupation be viewed as a legitimate one. It is likely that they saw their appearance/performance in the film as an opportunity to do just that. Shine a light on how things really work, set the record straight, and be seen as professionals doing their job. Some will agree with them and see it their way, some won’t. Regardless, their participation suggests that what we witness in the film is more representative of the truth. Or at least their truth.

As far as the performances by people who are not porn stars outside of the film, they are quite good indeed. Although I must admit that some of them might be real porn stars and I just don’t know it. They were that believable. Sofia Kappel does a magnificent job in what appears to be her first film role. Pleasure is absolutely her film, and she shines in the lead.

Bella’s roomie Joy (Revika Anne Reustle) also turns in what, for me, would be the standout performance in the film, if Sofia Kappel wasn’t also so good. Reustle’s Joy is warm, outgoing, and plucky, yet she also shows remarkable vulnerability in certain moments, and is completely credible. She also has no other film credits that I can find, which makes her performance that much more noteworthy. Even if some of the minor, supporting cast aren’t exactly scene-stealing, the two women that carry the brunt of the film are both superb in their roles.

Love it, hate it, or feel somewhere in the middle about it, porno is a permanent part of life in the 21^st century. Almost everybody watches it, even though almost nobody will admit it. Pleasure is a bold, assertive debut feature from a director who has an eye for the provocative, as well as for eliciting quality performances. It attempts to shed some light on a subject that is a ubiquitous component of this digital age we live in, yet for most, is enshrouded in mystery and taboo. There is a lot of skin on screen, and some very intense scenes centered around sexual activity. This film is not for the feint-of-heart, the squeamish, or the puritanical. However, Pleasure is an intellectually stimulating film (likely a physically stimulating one for many as well), that demands great thought and careful consideration. An impressive debut to be sure.