There have been several movies released recently tackling the sensitive, often-taboo topic of the adult entertainment industry – including Ti West’s X, which saw a 70s porn shoot go horrifyingly wrong, and Sean Baker’s spiky character study Red Rocket, charting the shenanigans of an ex-porn actor who heads back to his hometown. Neither of those look to be quite as scathing or shocking as Ninja Thyberg’s Pleasure, which got a slick new trailer today. Watch it below.
Pleasure follows Bella (played by newcomer Sofia Kappel), a Swedish girl who moves to Los Angeles to try and fulfil her dreams of becoming the porn industry’s next big superstar. That doesn’t quite go to plan, as her ambition gets her into some uncomfortable situations, and she discovers that the career from which she was seeking empowerment and liberation has an extremely dangerous dark side.
The film is Thyberg’s feature debut as director, expanding on the short film of the same name that won her an award at Cannes, and is set to be a provocative, daring look at the male-dominated adult film industry through a relentlessly realist lens. Pleasure by name, but potentially unpleasant by nature.
After scoring substantial buzz as it’s made its way through the film festival circuit over the past year or so, Pleasure will be released in the UK next month, with limited special event screenings in cinemas taking placing on 15 June before it arrives on MUBI on 17 June.
