Just like with X, here’s another mainstream film dealing with the porn industry that I never heard of until I happened to randomly catch it while flipping channels on cable.

Directed by Ninja Thyberg, who co-wrote it with Peter Modestij, this film from last year stars Sofia Kappel as Linnea, a 19-year-old woman from Sweden who has moved to L.A. to become an adult film star, using the name Bella Cherry, which is what she’s referred to through most of the film.

What’s immediately interesting about this film is that you notice that it has several real-life porn actors and industry figures in it, some playing new characters and some playing themselves. This is notable to me because overall the film does not paint a good picture of the porn industry, which makes me question why they’d agree to get involved. The film takes a rather stereotypically negative view of an innocent young girl being corrupted by porn.

Bella starts off desperate to make it big in porn. She appears at an industry party where it all looks glamorous to her. She sees Mark Spiegler (playing himself), the biggest talent agent in the business, arriving in a limo with a pack of gorgeous women he represents, and she sees them get roped off in their special V.I.P. area, and she makes up her mind right then that she wants to be a “Spiegler girl,” thinking they’re the elite stars of the industry. But being a new girl with no following, her only way of getting enough attention quickly is by distinguishing herself in extreme bondage scenes.

The scene in which Bella shoots her first bondage scene is well done. It’s a professional shoot with a known studio, and female director, and a professional crew, including other women. Everyone, including her male costar, go out of their way to make sure she’s comfortable, even when she’s tied up hanging from a ceiling with a ball gag in her mouth while getting slapped.

This encourages Bella to keep going, but her next shoot, a scene where two male stars are raping her, goes overboard, with her breaking down, in a really uncomfortable sequence. At one point after this, she considers moving back home to Sweden, but she prevails, continuing to push the envelope in her scenes, doing interracial double-anal and lesbian domination.

By the end of the film Bella has seemingly accomplished her goal, she’s now a Spiegler Girl, sitting in the V.I.P. area of a party, but it’s clear that the price she’d paid to get there has left her broken inside.

First, Sofia Kappel is absolutely excellent in this role. And what’s even more astonishing is that it appears to be her first professional acting role, which I never would have guessed, as she seems like a seasoned veteran She carries the movie on her shoulders, and it’s because of her that you remain invested in Bella and her arc.

Other standouts in the film are Revika Anne Reustle as Joy, and Dana Dearmond as Ashley, two other porn stars whom Bella moves in with and befriends, and Evelyn Claire, who plays Ava, a top porn star that Bella initially idolizes, who then becomes somewhat of a rival to her. Also, there’s Jason Toler, who plays Bella’s original agent Mike, who starts off appearing as someone that she can trust but then turns out to be just as exploitive of her as everyone else.

It’s a captivating story but, like I said, it doesn’t paint the porn industry in the best light. And speaking as someone who loves porn, it’s not always easy to watch. But it’s good. Chacebook rating: FOUR STARS

AIRING ON SHOWTIME