19 year old Linnéa has come to California to become the next porn star because “the Swedes are boring,“ as she tells her colleagues after her very first shoot. Director Ninja Thynberg has delved into the porn business and shoots at many original locations with a lot of protagonists from the field. The impressive protagonist Sofia Kappel wasn‘t an actress or a porn star before this film. She plays Linnéa aka Bella Cherry as an inexperienced but brave, curious and ambitious person. During her first shoot she is about to quit and the crew takes a break. But when she encounters the “Spiegler Girl“ Ava during a photo shoot – ice cold glamour through and through, a devoted entourage – her goal becomes clear. The fact that Spiegler doesn‘t see her as anything special at first and that her colleagues warn her that Spiegler Girls can‘t have any taboos doesn‘t deter her. Just the opposite, she sets up an ultra-hardcore shoot because of it.

Ninja Thynberg shows the world of professional porn productions as one in which the boundaries between support, persuasion, coercion and violence, between agreement and ambushing, blur and where there‘s absolutely no protection for the actresses. A “no“ is theoretically possible, but it can mean your career is over. On the other hand, that doesn‘t mean that Bella Cherry and her colleagues are spineless and powerless. Linnéa finds friends and allies, she experiences good and bad shoots and she actively builds her career, even if that means crossing her own boundaries. PLEASURE is resolutely told from the perspective of the women and paints a complex picture.

Hendrike Bake (INDIEKINO MAGAZIN)

Translation: Elinor Lewy