PLEASURE
★★★★
OUT 17 JUNE / CERT TBC / 109 MINS
DIRECTOR Ninja Thyberg
CAST Sofia Kappel, Revika Anne Reustle, Evelyn Claire, Chris Cock
There are flashes of Sean Baker’s influence in Pleasure: the beauty of a Californian sunset contrasted with the scuzziness of LA — and somewhere in-between, snippets of genuine humanity. Swedish teenager Linnéa (Sofia Kappel, in an extraordinary screen debut) rechristens herself ‘Bella Cherry’ and sets out to be an American porn star. The tale is familiar — the naive starlet embroiled in an exploitative industry — but first-time feature director Ninja Thyberg is unflinching in showing the industry’s grislier side. Yet the film takes a refreshingly matter-offact approach to sex-work, and suggests there is room for a safe, boundary-driven environment — even in a scene involving double-anal penetration.