LOS ANGELES — “Pleasure,” Ninja Thyberg’s film about a Swedish starlet’s rise in the Los Angeles adult industry, will be released in New York and Los Angeles on May 13, according to distributor Neon.
Today’s announcement of the long-delayed U.S. release date for the 2020-2021 film was accompanied by the release of a new non-explicit “green band” trailer.
Thyberg’s original distributor, A24, dropped the film last October, reportedly over concerns about the director’s refusal to create an alternate, R-rated version that toned down the way she had shot several sexual situations.
At the time, Thyberg praised her new distributor, declaring herself “happy and relieved that [her] debut and life’s work is in the hands of Neon who dare to launch the film with [her] original vision, raw and uncut, to the American audience.”
According to industry observers, the unusual delay in letting non-festival audiences in America watch Thyberg’s film was already causing some issues with anachronisms for a film that supposedly portrays the present-day adult industry. For example, none of the adult performers depicted derive any income from premium fan platforms.
The film was conceived and cast in 2017-2018, and shot between 2019 and early 2020, although it is based on a short Thyberg had worked on a decade ago.
Reviewers Use Film to Stigmatize Entire Industry
As XBIZ reported last July, when Thyberg held a private screening in Hollywood for industry performers and directors who had acting roles in her film, some of them voiced concerns about the way the film portrayed the industry.
Several of them opined that the film — which repurposes the ancient “rise of the starlet” Hollywood melodrama plot, in the tradition of “Showgirls” or “A Star is Born” — lends itself to being used by mainstream journalists and War on Porn crusaders to further stigmatize sex workers. Those concerns seemed justified after initial festival reviewers used Thyberg's film to lambast the entire industry.
This trend continued today with IndieWire reporter Samantha Bergeson framing the announcement of the new release date by labeling “Pleasure” as an “eviscerating drama” and “a coolly detached but nevertheless ballsy evisceration of the adult film industry.”
The film stars first-time Swedish actress Sofia Kappel and features retired adult performer Zelda Morrison in a lauded performance that was rewarded with an Independent Spirit Awards nomination this year.
It also includes industry notables Evelyn Claire, Lucy Hart, Chris Cock, Small Hands, Aiden Starr, Mick Blue, Kendra Spade, Dana DeArmond, Mark Spiegler as himself and many others.
Thyberg was also nominated as a director for an Independent Spirit award.
‘A Female-Gaze Film’
Defending Thyberg’s artistry, costar Evelyn Claire told XBIZ last July that “Pleasure” is “extremely hard to watch, I will admit. Even Axel Braun [who tweeted his negative reactions after the private screening] said that, ‘It was too honest’ and that he felt that people would see this and hate our industry.”
“It’s important to remember that when Ninja was doing her research on the industry, as she interviewed everybody, she got some real stories from people,” Claire added. “People who had been through shit. So I think to discredit that this shit has happened is insulting to us [who] have gone through shit, been lied to, been told to act like everything is great for the sake of preserving this industry, when there is so much room for improvement.”
Claire also urged people to "watch this movie to see that female perspective. The entire movie is shot from [main character] Bella’s perspective and her emotional struggle [in] finding her voice and what her boundaries are.”
“I think it’s gonna be difficult for male viewers to watch this film,” Claire said. “I think men are going to have a hard time watching a female-gaze film, period.”