10 Intense Recent Movie Scenes You Couldn't Watch
2. Bella Abuses Ava - Pleasure
Ninja Thyberg's drama Pleasure certainly isn't for the pearl-clutchers among us, but it is a brilliantly frank - and yes, necessarily explicit - drama about the realities of working in the Los Angeles porn industry.
The story revolves around Linnéa (Sofia Kappel), a young Swedish woman who moves to LA and starts working as a porn actress under the moniker Bella Cherry.
The bulk of the film focuses on Bella's struggles navigating the high-pressure, deeply misogynistic corners of the porn world, and in the film's climax, her frustrations end up getting the better of her.
Bella eventually performs a scene with an up-and-coming porn actress, Ava Rhoades (Evelyn Claire), but Ava embarrasses Bella by refusing to perform oral sex on her, proclaiming that Bella has a yeast infection.
The scene is changed with Bella now penetrating Ava with a strap-on, at which point an incensed Bella impulsively decides to get revenge, aggressively penetrating Ava and grabbing her by the neck, far beyond the lines of consent the pair agreed to.
It's the queasiest moment in a film full of them, as Bella comes to appreciate that she's treated Ava just as so many men have treated her during her time in LA. The victim has become the victimiser, as is a depressingly common occurrence where abuse is concerned.