Maison Close: Season One

Set in Paris in 1871, right after the suppression of la Commune, a workers' revolutionary movement that briefly took power, MAISON CLOSE follows a cast of gorgeous women trapped by circumstances beyond their control in the luxury brothel 'Paradise'. Considered a first class "closed house" reserved for aristocratic or bourgeois clientele and noted for strange and refined practices during a time when prostitution was legalized, Paradise is populated by a fascinating cast of characters, each of whom struggles to find escape and solace in their own way. Hortense (Valérie Karsenti), is the manipulative and, in turn, manipulated mistress of the Paradise who runs her business with iron hand; Véra(Anne Charrier), the star of the bordello, is a beautiful courtesan in her thirties whose career is nearing its end; and, Rose (Jemima West, Mortal Bones: The City of Instruments), the heroine, is a country ingénue raised by nuns who goes to the Paradise searching for her mother, only to be blackmailed into becoming a prostitute.

Unfolding like a serialized 19th century French naturalist novel, this uncompromising series, produced by Jacques Ouaniche at Noe Productions International for Canal Plus+, is the perfect mix of style and substance, a richly compelling period drama with unmistakably modern sensibilities.