Pleasure: The Uncut Illicit Drama You Can Stream On Showtime - If You Dare

Hollywood loves to hold a mirror to itself, and filmmakers have been documenting (or satirizing) their own industry for more than a century. The adult film industry is a different beast entirely. No less fascinating, narratives about pornography require a deft hand — consider all-timers like Paul Schrader's "Hardcore" or Paul Thomas Anderson's "Boogie Nights" — to capture subject matter that is so simultaneously sensitive and provocative.

Now streaming on Showtime, Ninja Thyberg's 2021 film "Pleasure" is a raw and insightful look at the adult film industry, told through the eyes of a Swedish newcomer named Linnéa (Sofia Kappel). As the 19-year-old performer known as Bella Cherry seeks out stardom in Los Angeles, "Pleasure" unfolds as a coming-of-age tale that explores the line between consent and coercion, as well as the limits of ambition.

Based on Thyberg's 2013 short film of the same name, the idea for "Pleasure" — her feature directorial debut — came about when the filmmaker took a gender studies class at university. "I'm interested in how media images shape our identities," Thyberg told Variety. "[Pornography] is a huge part of our culture that exists in a world of shadows and that made me curious to understand more about it. I guess because it was taboo, that's why I wanted to dig into it."

"Pleasure" is available to stream on Showtime, where there is a 103-minute version, as well as an uncut version with a 109-minute runtime. Don't be fooled by the scant R rating, though. "Pleasure" is obviously rife with sexual content, and its sequences of sexual violence can be hard to watch.

Though "Pleasure" is understandably graphic, it never treats sex judgmentally or exploitatively. Thyberg's film provides fascinating commentary about gender, consent, and the kind of unbalanced power structures that aren't specific to pornography. "They're just workers who are performing fantasies," Thyberg explained to RogerEbert.com.

The director continued, "The bad things that happen to Bella in the film don't have to do with the fact that she's having sex on camera, it has to do with problematic power structures that exist in any industry where profits rule over solidarity or empathy. There is just maybe a more extreme version of that in this industry, but the mechanisms are the same."

"Pleasure" has earned critical acclaim, with an 88% score on Rotten Tomatoes to boot. Crucially, it's provocative and challenging without proselytizing. "Like any great piece of art, 'Pleasure' doesn't tell you what to think or how to feel," Marya E. Gates summed up for the same RogerEbert.com piece. "Rather it poses questions about its subject while also inspiring viewers to question themselves."