Pleasure

Pleasure’s theme of success in show business at the cost of losing one’s innocence and friends is not exactly innovative. However, it is placed in the most appropriate setting and flawlessly filmed in technical terms. A documentary that deceives with the form of a feature film better than its actresses feign pleasure. Seeing it in a crowded screening room at a festival must have been a treat, with giant penises and the porn atmosphere dominating the picture right from the beginning. The film is an interesting guide to how the Hollywood porn business works (agents, parties, film sets and communication between filmmakers), and real figures from that business appear in it. The film is maximally open and not afraid to fully portray even the most unpleasant moments that a neophyte porn actress can experience, if she doesn’t refuse to do anything. On the contrary, by escalating those moments, the film cleverly develops the transformation of the main character, who successfully rises “higher and higher” despite her initial inexperience. The Swedish Sofia Kappel does a good job of personifying the blonde angel with lascivious appetites and the femme-fatale brunette Evelyn Claire is her ideal alter ego, whom she looks up to and with whom she shares the film’s best, climactic scene. I don't want to bring up Mulholland Drive again, but David Lynch is simply a huge influence on the new generation of filmmakers. This time with a thematic shade of porn along the lines of Lost Highway. If the technically brilliant Pleasure wasn’t so cold in the Swedish way, but instead possessed the absorbing poetics and sensory complexity of Lynch’s aforementioned films, it would make the viewer mentally avaricious even sooner than physically. (28.08.2022)

The She-wolf of Porn Street. (22.08.2021)

A realistic, bold and authentic portrait of the American porn industry. A young 19-year-old Swedish girl travels alone to LA to fulfill her dream of becoming a porn star, but soon discovers that the road to the top will not be easy. From overcoming her own boundaries to battling with agents and producers and rivalries between other divas. It's a strange film, definitely one of a kind, but I was impressed. The film is very gritty in certain scenes, breaking cinematic taboos and it certainly doesn't shy away from nudity. All full frontal! I found it interesting that Mark Spiegler plays himself (he is an American talent in the lookout for up-and-coming porn actresses called the Spiegler Girls). The main character is likeable albeit naive, she acts great and is willing to do anything for fame, so some of the decisions are quite unexpected. The rawest scene from a shooting was probably the violent one, which is not very easy to watch. The film could be classified in the sexploitation subgenre and works reliably as a peek behind the curtain into the porn industry. 7/10. (14.03.2022)

This perfectly crafted festival product shields itself with phrases like “a female perspective on a male industry”, “sparks debate”, “provocatively authentic”, “contains disturbing scenes”, etc. At the same time, however, it merely serves up a morality play that says nothing new on the topic of the illusory nature of the career of a porn star. It thus engagingly but predictably maps the career trajectory of the main female protagonist, whose path to shady supposed stardom leads through ever increasing self-degradation and loss of self-worth. Paradoxically, perhaps the most interesting question that the film indirectly raises may be why porn not only uses formulas and stereotypes in its narratives, but also invokes them as an industry and meat-grinder of human bodies and identities. --- It is necessary to praise the experiential benefit of seeing Pleasure at a festival, when stepping out of the Hotel Thermal after the film and finding oneself among stylish girls in stilettos and conceited dandies around the Becherbar added a 4DX dimension to the screening. (22.08.2021)

If we disregard the chosen environment of Pleasure, which offers characters and practices that may be peculiar and unorthodox to some, it is actually a pretty formulaic cookie-cutter movie about a person with ambition and cunning trying to make their way to the top at any cost. This is a subject matter we have seen many times before. Everything in this movie just goes on without any real surprises, and when you get to the finale you realize it does not really make a point. It is perhaps interesting as a peek under the hood of the porn industry, however, there is too much missing in the narrative to make it a satisfying movie. [KVIFF 2021] (22.08.2021)

Pleasure is enticing with its attractive behind-the-scenes view of the porn industry, the hardcore 18+ visual component and the depiction of this environment from the perspective of an aspiring actress, which sounds highly promising and original, and could even spur non-trivial discussions. At its core, however, it is a hackneyed, clichéd morality tale with a formulaic story about the single-minded effort to reach the top for the false illusion of the American dream, in which the protagonist gradually sacrifices friends, her own dignity and part of her personality, only to ultimately become one of those people she used to despise. This is an extremely physical film, but it doesn’t actually have much to say about what goes on behind the scenes in the porn industry (unlike documentaries like Rocco, for example), because regardless of the authenticity of the locations and the practices depicted, as well as the appearance of real porn personalities, it is undermined by its artificially formulaic narrative. (24.08.2021)

This film offered a rather subtle look into the behind-the-scenes world of shooting XXX pictures, and it left me with mixed feelings. Throughout, I had the impression (or I was hoping) that the creators were trying to portray the psychological development of a budding pornstar. However, by the end, it seemed like they either abandoned this pursuit or simply couldn't quite pull it off. I felt there could have been more involvement from the editor, as the long scenes from various parties where not much happened unnecessarily extended the running time. I must admit, I was expecting a more enjoyable experience, especially considering it was set in my favorite industry. / Lesson learned: Don't overestimate your abilities. (21.05.2022)