The 'Pleasure' Principal: Director Ninja Thyberg on Her Porn Opus

LOS ANGELES—As part of the lead-up to today's official Los Angeles opening of Swedish director Ninja Thyberg's electrifying feature debut Pleasure, she hand selected Boogie Nights as the film that would precede its first screening at celebrated arthouse the Nuart, operated these days by the Landmark Theatres chain. It's almost a foregone choice, of course, what with Paul Thomas Anderson's breakout picture—which astoundingly is about to hit its 25th anniversary—continuing to stand as the definitive cinematic portrayal of the porn industry. But the thematic ties between Boogie Nights and Pleasure run much deeper than just their shared milieu. Both center on a wide-eyed, naïve wanderer who lands in Porn Valley and sets out, as Mark Wahlberg's Dirk Diggler so indelibly puts it, to become "a big, bright, shining star," encountering a grotesquerie of wild demons and saints on the journey. The two movies part ways, however—dramatically—in their tone. While Boogie Nights takes a more cartoonish, fanciful approach, Pleasure goes stark, hard and sobering. It also, naturally, casts its eye on the present-day industry, which as most reading this surely know, is a radically different place than that of the late '70s/early '80s depicted by its predecessor. Thyberg's own journey in creating Pleasure has been long and complex, and it grew out of a personal fascination she's had with porn since discovering it, like many, as a teenager. Its first iteration was a 15-minute short of the same title she directed in 2013, before ever making any direct contact with the industry. "I've been interested in porn as a subject my whole adult life, for many different reasons," Thyberg tells AVN. "When I made the short film, I wanted to portray the 'real people' behind the porn stereotypes but I had actually never met anyone from the industry or been on a porn set. I did research from watching documentaries and reading books but I always felt that the short film was based on assumptions rather than actual knowledge. "So when I began working on the feature I knew that I had to experience the world of porn from within," she continues. "I traveled to L.A. to learn more and really challenge my own prejudice because that would be the only way to do something new and interesting. All I knew was that the main character would be Swedish and that I wanted to tell the story from a female perspective." Maestro Claudio, Sofia Kappel, Revika Reustle (aka Zelda Morrison)  In order to gain the trust of industry members, she says, she used her short as a means "to have people understand my genuine intention to learn as much as possible. Most people were very open and willing to help me and step by step I gained real friendships and became part of the community." Her process of ingraining herself into the industry would become part of the basis for the story arc of main character Bella Cherry, played by fellow Swede Sofia Kappel (whose performance in Pleasure was hailed Thursday by New York Times critic Manohla Dargis as "astonishing"). "It definitely was a good way to tell the story because I also had come from Sweden and step by step got to know the world," Thyberg explains. "It allowed me to bring the audience with me on that journey. There is something about her determination and drive to push herself and expand her comfort zone that I saw in myself. In a way, Bella Cherry is half me and half Sofia. It's a character we worked hard on developing together while making the film. She is like our child." Bella's encounters over the course of the movie include a number of very hard-edged, even "extreme," some might say, video shoots that are widely being characterized as everything from uncomfortable to dowright shocking viewing by critics and others who've been granted advance screenings of Pleasure. (The Times' Dargis invokes the desciptor "harrowingly, unequivocally brutal.") One of those screenings was a private one for cast and crew members held last summer (which this writer attended, under the auspices of having a very brief speaking role in the movie, for full disclosure), to which a number of those present reacted with distraught outrage specifically because of these scenes, which they felt zeroed in on the ugliest fringe elements of the industry in favor of the positive portrayal they had been expecting.  Sofia Kappel The most grueling of the scenes in question is one in which Bella endures an "abuse"-type scenario that casts Derrick Pierce as the director, and Nathan Bronson and the late Bill Bailey as her screen partners.  This scene, Thyberg says, "wasn't based on one specific incident but based on several" that she encountered or heard about in her experience visiting sets and speaking with industry members. Without giving away too much about what transpires in the scene, she says that during her research, "I did see boundaries being pushed in ways that were uncomfortable. And I heard a lot of stories about abuse or rape or people persuading and pushing someone until they agree to something that is obviously not what they want. Manipulation and abuse of power happens in porn as everwhere else." She adds, "I want this specific scene to be up to the viewer's interpretation. It's very obvious to everyone that Bella does not want to do that scene and that they cross her boundaries in every way. She is clearly pushed and manipulated into consenting. I think that is an issue that really needs to be addressed. It's not as easy as just signing a paper. A majority of the women I've interviewed have said that they felt like they could always say no at any time and that no one would do anything without their consent. However, when I asked them to tell me the last time they said no, I often got the answer that they never do because they don't want to cause any trouble and feel it would risk them not getting hired again. This is why that scene was so important to the film." She is also quick to express her gratitude to Bailey, not just for his role in realizing this scene but for the guidance he gave her throughout the movie's development. "Words cannot describe what he gave to this film," she says. "Not only was he important during pre-production to guide camera angles and rehearsing sex positions, but he also played the worst villain in a way that helped me and Sofia through such a difficult scene. It breaks my heart that he's not with us any longer." Regarding the response from some of the cast members following that summer screening, Thyberg relates, "The initial reactions from some of the men were very strong or defensive. I'm guessing it was a bit of a shock to see it from a female angle for the first time. Fortunately, after watching the film a second time, some of them have come around and changed their minds, and are now supporting the film and its message. That gives me a lot of hope for the future." She goes on to profess that "Pleasure is not just a film about the porn industry, it's an allegory of different types of power structures and mechanisms in our society. It's a deconstruction of the American dream. I tried to put a focus on things that exist in any industry and are problems in our society as a whole, not just the porn industry. Like this economic system where profit rules our solidarity. We can't put the blame on the porn industry, it's just how capitalism works. "I also want the audience to be more aware of the power of the gaze and the power of the camera," she posits. "Porn today is very much from the male perspective and from the male gaze. Most people are not aware of this. If you are always used to seeing things one way, it's not until you shift perspective that you understand that you have been looking in one direction the whole time. I mainly want to offer the audience more knowledge, with the hope of a more open conversation. Regardless of what you think about porn, it's there and it's not going anywhere." Small Hands, Sofia Kappel Asked what message she has for the adult industry as a whole concerning her intentions with making Pleasure, Thyberg asserted: "I love sex and I love film. The reason why I started making films in the first place was because I wanted to direct porn myself and that's still my goal. "The negative things that Bella goes through on her journey has nothing to do with porn itself. There's a common prejudice or myth that women doing porn are emotionally damaged or self destructive. It's a very misogynistic idea and this was something that I wanted to address with the film. I also wanted it to be authentic and accurate but this is my story and it's told from my perspective. My film doesn't pretend to tell the whole truth about anything or in any way be all-encompassing. "I'm extremely grateful for all the trust and overwhelmed by all of the amazing people who opened up to me and who told me their story." Pleasure is playing in Los Angeles this week exclusively at the Landmark Nuart Theatre, located at 11272 Santa Monica Blvd. Beginning next Friday, May 20, it will expand into the Laemmle chain of theaters.  Thyberg and Kappel will be appearing at the Nuart for a Q&A tonight following the movie's showing at 7. Sofia Kappel, Revika Reustle  Photo of Ninja Thyberg (top left) by Julia Mård; stills from Pleasure courtesy of Neon.