Due to the graphic nature of this film, no one under 18 will be admitted.
Linnéa (fearless newcomer Sofia Kappel), is a 19-year-old girl from a small Swedish town who moves to Los Angeles and adopts the stage name Bella Cherry, setting out to become a major star in the adult entertainment industry. What begins as a clear pursuit of fame evolves into a stark and often unsettling journey through a highly competitive, male-dominated system, where ambition is rewarded but personal boundaries are constantly tested. As Bella pushes herself toward more extreme performances in pursuit of success, the line between agency and exploitation begins to blur, revealing the emotional and psychological cost of her ascent.
Released in the wake of the “Me Too” movement, Pleasure announced the arrival of writer-director Ninja Thyberg as a bold new voice in international cinema. Expanding on her 2013 short of the same name, the film was selected for the 2020 Cannes Film Festival before premiering at the Sundance Film Festival in February 2021, where it generated immediate conversation for its unflinching subject matter. Its release history proved unusually turbulent—initially acquired by A24, the film later moved to Neon after disputes over potential edits to the dark and often disturbing story. Blending documentary realism with narrative drama, Pleasure refuses easy moral judgment. Instead, it presents an observational portrait of power-dynamics, image-making and personal risk.
2021, 109 minutes, Sweden/Netherlands/France/Denmark/USA, In English and Swedish with English Subtitles, Directed by Ninja Thyberg, Unrated
“This impressive, unflinching debut from Ninja Thyberg eschews the victim narrative which tends to shadow stories focusing on women in the porn industry, instead following Bella’s cool-headed navigation of this treacherous and frequently exploitative world.”
– Wendy Ide, SCREEN DAILY
“Feels like the first film of its kind.”
– Savina Petkova, LITTLE WHITE LIES
“[Thyberg] approaches her subject with such a clinical gaze that it's hard to shake the feeling that she's doing something revolutionary.”
– Esther Zuckerman, THRILLIST
“Thyberg switchbacks between humor and humiliation with unsettling abruptness, but withholds judgement of the characters’ choices to create an ethical Rorschach test, prompting reactions that may be more revealing than the film itself.”
– Leslie Felperin, THE HOLLYWOOD REPORTER
