Released this Wednesday, October 20 in dark rooms, Pleasure tells the sometimes very crude story of a young Swedish woman who came to Los Angeles to become a renowned porn actress.
"I want to be the new pornstar" , immediately announces Bella Cherry (played by the young Swedish actress Sofia Kappel) in the trailer for Pleasure .
Released this Wednesday, October 20 in dark rooms, the first feature film by Swedish filmmaker Ninja Thyberg tells the story of a 20-year-old young woman who left her native Sweden for Los Angeles, in order to make a career in the porn industry. A quest crowned with success during which pleasure quickly gives way to risk, and to the toxicity of an often much criticized environment.
Selected at Cannes 2020, then presented at Sundance before entering competition at the 47th American Film Festival in Deauville, this sulphurous feature film, which was shot in 2018, has already won over critics across the Atlantic.
The bet was however ambitious, especially since Pleasure presents a sometimes very raw reality of the environment, which earned it a ban on those under 18 at the time of its presentation. In French cinemas, the film is prohibited for children under 16.
Pleasure is not a simple presentation of the situation of sex workers, as confirmed by director Ninja Thyberg at 20 Minutes :"The film evokes the porn industry on which I researched. But pornography is also a metaphor for talking about the oppression suffered by women in a patriarchal society" .
Consent, a very current issue, is also widely discussed. "You are asked for your opinion, but how can you resist when you have to endure the pressure of a whole team that is waiting for your approval in order to earn a living?" , summarizes the filmmaker.
Read also:Liza Del Sierra, The X actress who wants to establish a code of ethics in porn
And if the picture is bleak, Ninja Thyberg still believes that things are moving in the right direction. "There's still a long way to go. It's time we also thought about making porn with a female gaze, films that could appeal to women."
If you are still hesitating to go discover it in theaters, here is the trailer for Pleasure :
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