Critics reviews

Pleasure astutely reframes the conversation around the [porn] industry... Sophie Winqvist’s restrained but calculated camerawork allows us to step into Linnea’s shoes... And Kappel’s astounding performance constantly draws the film’s energy back to her in a way that ensures the audience is never in doubt of Linnea’s own agency, even in her most vulnerable moments.

Thyberg’s credentials are impeccable — she spent five years embedded with LA porn producers as research. And Bella’s on-set experiences seem utterly authentic (porn industry personnel play supporting roles). As a film, it’s fundamentally depressing, but always fascinating.

Perhaps some blind spots were only to be expected: there’s more to this topic than a single feature could possibly cover, particularly a debut one. But Thyberg knows which angles she wants to work – and my goodness, does she go for it.

This well-crafted, adventuresome film dares to go where few have before. But once there, it ultimately seems to have nothing to say.

Pleasure is an arresting workplace drama-meets-bildungsroman that demystifies the adult film industry without flat-out demonizing it – a delicate balance to strike.

Despite the movie’s name, “Pleasure” is rarely concerned with the viewer’s gratification... “Pleasure” [is] a stirring debut by both Thyberg and Kappel and a daring picture that makes you love it, not for tawdry reasons but for all of the truthful crimes, perils and delights it covers.

Despite Thyberg’s efforts at remaining impassive, the most suggestive unspoken statements in “Pleasure” come from its miserablist European arthouse style... By presenting this story with stylistic flourishes associated with grim, depressing movies, “Pleasure” passes judgment through form on what the filmmaker is so assiduously trying not to say in content.

If you’re curious what a feminist take on [the porn] world looks like, “Pleasure” might surprise you as much as it did me. It’s a smart, gutsy, wholly unexpected movie that, at center, is an old-fashioned story about an ambitious striver overcoming the odds to become another American success story.

Pleasure isn’t the first film to attack the intersection of capitalism, misogyny, and exploitation endemic to the porn industry, but it does so with style and intelligence to spare.

An Alice in Wonderland fantasy of highs and humiliations... Pleasure should not be taken as an opportunity to condemn an entire field, but a chance to investigate what it means to be a worker within an industry with a significant imbalance of power.

Thyberg simply has to show us what we’d rather not think about in order to suggest that maybe the problem isn’t sex on video, or even rough sex on video, but the way patriarchy ensures that men can achieve pleasure at the expense of women’s, and whether that pleasure comes from orgasm or from being a star.

Thyberg explores gender stereotypes and attitudes along the way, adopting an admirably non-judgemental approach to a controversial subject while Kappel negotiates her debut role with uncompromising candour.