In director/cowriter Ninja Thyberg's auspicious film debut, "Pleasure," Bella Cherry (Sofia Kappel) arrives in LA from Sweden full of aspiration and determination. Underneath her self-confidence, however, belies an air of fragility and insecurity. This is a story of a 19-year-old girl who is eager to enter the adult film industry. What drives Bella to do what she does in front of (and behind) the camera — fame, money, the joy of sex — is deliberately left ambiguous in a film full of explicit sex scenes.
Thyberg's feature is expanded from her 2013 short of the same name. The story follows the rather conventional arc of a young actress looking to make it in Hollywood. It presents the industry in a matter-of-fact way and addresses issues of consent and control. It is compelling (and depressing) even if it does not reveal anything particularly new.
