Maison Close: Season One

[McCrutchy]

Maison Close: Season One Blu-ray

Arrow Films will release on Blu-ray Maison Close: Season 1. Set in a nineteenth century Parisian brothel, Maison Close is a unique new eight-part series produced by Canal+ which adds a controversial and contemporary twist to the traditional costume drama format. Street date is September 3rd.

Paris, 1871. In a luxury brothel, three women try to escape from servitude. Vera is 35. She knows that the end of her career as a prostitute is near. All her hopes are resting on Baron du Plessis, her main customer and the only one able to redeem her debt. Hortense is the owner of the Paradis. She must retain her girls and withstand the pressures of a thug from the suburbs who is demanding money from her. Rose, a very young girl, arrives in Paris in search of her mother, a former prostitute. She is trapped by a pimp and forcibly conscripted into the Paradis.

Behind the romantic fate of the three heroines, the series takes an uncompromising look at the world of brothels and prostitution in the late nineteenth century. Starring Jemima West, Anne Charrier, Valérie Karsenti, Catherine Hosmalin, Clémence Bretécher, and Deborah Grall.

Now this is a surprising announcement. I had read something about this series, and I got the impression it was probably too hot for UK television, (but I have the feeling I am confusing this costume drama with one of France's many series to do with porn), so I'm surprised to see that Arrow has it and are releasing it on Blu-ray.

[chip75]

Originally Posted by McCrutchy

Now this is a surprising announcement. I had read something about this series, and I got the impression it was probably too hot for UK television, (but I have the feeling I am confusing this costume drama with one of France's many series to do with porn), so I'm surprised to see that Arrow has it and are releasing it on Blu-ray.

Great another series on Sky which no-one will watch due to their piss-poor marketing. I couldn't tell what channel number Sky Arts was if my life depended on it!

Yes Sky, we get it, you have football! Try and plug something else....

[Dr. Seymour Love]

How is this show? Worth it to import?

[malcy30]

Originally Posted by Dr. Seymour Love

How is this show? Worth it to import?

If you like French period drama.
With regard importing depends where you live. If in the US you do know this has been released locally, so may be a better option.

[agentalbert]

I'll ask here, as it seems to be the only thread on this series. I see that there is a US blu-ray release of S1 and S2 as well.

Can anyone tell me if there are different versions of the episodes on US vs. the UK or other releases? I do see two listings for this show at Amazon in their Prime Video section, one (with slightly longer runtimes) indicates not available for me to view in my location (the US), while the one I can view has slightly shorter times for each episode.

18+ with longer run times
https://www.amazon.com/EPISODE-5/dp/...o%2C113&sr=1-3

TV-MA with shorter run times
https://www.amazon.com/gp/video/detail/B00ST1EE5E

For instance, time in minutes on the left for the listing shown as "TV-MA" and on the right time from the listing for the episodes shown as "18+" for a rating.
S1 E1: 56 - 58
S1 E2: 53 - 55
S1 E3: 52 - 54
S1 E4: 53 - 55

I watched S1 years ago and really liked it, though I'm not sure which version. I think it was probably the version not currently available, as it shows way back on my watch list. Anyone got the details on this?

As far as blu-rays, it looks like the French releases have each season spread over 3 discs while the US and UK releases have each season on only 2.

[agentalbert]

Following up on my own question, as I got the S1 blu-ray. I checked the times on disc 1 and they would more closely approximate the longer times on the right in my above post. There are two logos (Music Box, I think, and StudioCanal) that are about 20 seconds at the beginning of each episode.

Anyone know if there are actually different cuts of these episodes?