Jury Prize at the Deauville American Film Festival, Pleasure delves behind the scenes of pornographic cinema through the journey of a young girl, played by Sofia Kappel, 23 years old. The actress and the director explain how they collaborated on this sensitive subject.
Before “Pleasure”, you had made a short film of the same title which was already in the pornographic cinema industry. What interests you in this environment?
Ninja Thyberg: Several things. My work has always revolved around the same subjects: power, the media, sexuality, in relation to gender identity. Porn, above all, is the essence of the male gaze. It was therefore the ideal pretext, for a feminine gaze, to exhibit it by literally turning the camera over. I wanted to look towards the men and also towards the woman at the center of the pornographic image. Porn is, in general, extremely stereotypical. I was interested in the human dimension behind the stereotype and behind this creation of fantasies. There is a form of honesty in porn. The content is based on what people are really looking for. It’s a part of our culture, a dark side that few are willing to talk about. It is taboo when it is extremely important. About 80% of men consume pornography. Few women do, but their numbers are increasing.
You have immersed yourself, for several years, in this environment. Apart from your heroine, the other characters are played by true pornography professionals, some in their own roles. Was it easy to enter this special world?
NT: I did this for a period of five years. It took a while to get back into this community, but I expected to encounter more mistrust and hostility. People who do this are so used to being judged very negatively! They are victims of all kinds of prejudices. When I said that I just wanted to know and learn, to show the human side, they were happy that someone was trying to get closer to the truth. So they didn’t try to hide anything.
Sofia, were you scared when Ninja told you about this project?
SK: I wouldn’t say I was scared of the project itself. What scared me was wondering how I was going to play this. This is my first role in the cinema. I was very curious, in any case, to know behind the scenes of this universe. I grew up with the Internet, and porn was very familiar to me. It was very different for my parents, for whom it was less accessible. I started seeing porn very early on. My life, as well as that of many people, was affected by it but it was never talked about.
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