Maison Close: Season One Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		3.5
Video		4.0
Audio		4.0
Extras		0.5
Overall		3.5

Maison Close: Season One Blu-ray Movie Review

'Close' but no cigar (is just a cigar)?

Reviewed by Jeffrey Kauffman February 2, 2015

Prostitutes with hearts of gold have been a cinematic staple since light first hit celluloid, but the strictures of broadcast television have made working girls a bit more of a rarity, at least in any explicit form. The explosion of cable and increased permissiveness generally for television fare helped pave the way for the glossy French television series Maison Close, a supposedly more realistic take on the rigors of prostitution, at least as practiced by a handful of women in the late 19th century in a bordello ironically called Paradise. Maison Close became something of a sensation in France, to the point that HBO evidently gobbled up remake rights, with some notable names attached, including Mark Wahlberg as producer and Lost ’s Elizabeth Sarnoff announced as the writer of the pilot. That project seems to have disappeared into the wind (I could find no follow up information after the flurry of 2012 reports announcing the remake), but the original French version’s first season has finally washed up on the shores of the good old United States, where the series’ kind of Baz Luhrmann-esque take on 19th century Parisian life may find some interested viewers. The series is an at times jarring combination of historical accuracy and contemporary whimsy (the latter coming courtesy of such elements as a rock and pop inflected score filled with various source cues). There are three focal stories that hold sway over much of the first season, and it’s here that Maison Close finds its surest footing, with admittedly soap operatic machinations that offer lots of hand wringing drama out of the lives of some desperate women.

Fabrice de la Patelliere, Director of French Fiction for Canal+ (Maison Close’s producing entity) has an interesting essay in the booklet included with this release which may help to explain the series’ somewhat risky stylization:

We have long rejected the idea of a series in costume. Our ambition was to renew the French series, to give it that touch of modernity that is often lacking, because it always seems to us simpler and more natural to stage contemporary worlds. . .The perspective of a predominantly female cast was very original and the theme seemed to us sufficiently universal: Three women trying to free themselves from male domination.

The challenge posed to the writers, and later to the director, was clear. We wanted to liberate ourselves from the literary tradition and conventional imagery to which French authors refer too systematically when revisiting the nineteenth century.

“Maison Close” had to be a modern and different series.

That may smack of the series’ creative team of wanting to have its cake and eat it, too, metaphorically speaking, in that Maison Close is opulently designed to within an inch of its nineteenth century life, while at the same time viewing its characters through a distinctly modern prism. That tends to invest the three focal characters (about whom more in a moment) with the sort of “female empowerment” perspective that is relevant at least in hindsight. Exactly how “empowered” these characters truly are is in fact what tends to provide most of the drama in Maison Close, and the first season at least tends to suggest that the women are more often than not under the thumb of some oppressive force, whether that be their own financial issues or (more traditionally) a domineering male.

The three main (female) characters in Maison Close are Véra (Anne Charrier), a longtime prostitute who, now in her mid-30s, is passing her prime and aching to move on to a private life with her lover, the Baron Du Plessis (Quentin Baillot); Rose (Jemima West), an innocent naif who shows up at the Paradise looking for her long lost mother and who soon becomes ensnared in the brothel’s trade; and Hortense Gaillac (Valérie Karsenti), the Paradise’s madam who is deeply in debt and struggling to keep her business afloat.

Each of this focal trio has a rather convoluted backstory and continuing arc within the first season. The bulk of the dramatics are fairly evenly split between the three, with Véra not being able to make quite the hasty exit she had planned, Hortense soon falling under the domination of her nefarious brother Pierre (Nicolas Briancon), and Rose dealing with the twin traumas of indoctrination into a prostitute’s life and wondering who her mother is and where she might be. Maison Close deals with all of these strands in a somewhat florid, sudsy manner that is interrupted fairly liberally by relatively explicit sex scenes.

The series’ penchant toward melodrama may make it appealing to a certain demographic who might otherwise be shocked or perhaps even offended by the setting and prurient interest of the carnal side of things. All three of the main female characters are fascinating in their own ways, though, and help to elevate the series above its somewhat turgid baseline ambience. The production design in Maison Close is superb, offering a velvety tufted interior to the Paradise that is very redolent of a bygone age. I personally found the contemporary score to be a major sticking point, something that repeatedly drew me out of the period drama and into some sort of amorphous era where the tunes are supposedly commenting on the action (sometimes ironically, of course) rather than supporting it. Performances are uniformly excellent, though the villains in the series tend to be almost literal mustache twirlers at times.

Maison Close: Season One Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Maison Close: Season One is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of Music Box Films with an AVC encoded 1080p transfer in 1.78:1. According to the interview with director Mabrouk el Mechri included in the booklet accompanying this release, Maison Close was shot digitally in native HD, though the notes do not disclose what camera was utilized. The result is an often striking presentation, though it's hobbled by a somewhat flat look some of the time, something that exacerbates a lack of convincing shadow detail in the many dark interior (and even exterior) scenes. While the series hasn't been overtly color graded to any aggressive degree, many scenes play out in a kind of amber hue that is meant to suggest gaslight or firelight, with a slight diminution in detail resulting. Clarity is still excellent throughout the presentation, and close-ups can reveal commendable fine detail in things like the richly appointed suites in the bordello or the sumptuous costumes. Contrast is generally strong, though I personally wouldn't have minded something a bit more boosted in the darkest interior scenes. There are no issues with image instability, but a very light dusting of (perhaps inescapable) noise shows up in some of the darkest sequences.

Maison Close: Season One Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Maison Close: Season One features DTS-HD Master Audio tracks in both 5.1 and 2.0 iterations, with both offered in the original French (optional English subtitles are included on this release). From a dialogue perspective, there's really not that much to write home about here, with good, clear presentation but no overly dramatic channel placement. Where the surround channels really come into play is with the (to my ears) anachronistic rock and pop soundtrack, which indeed drifts through the surrounds quite evocatively. Fidelity is excellent throughout the first season, and dynamic range has some spikes due to the music elements. There are no issues of any kind to report.

Maison Close: Season One Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• Season 2 (1080p; 1:13) gives a very brief preview of the series' subsequent season.

There's also a rather well done insert booklet which includes lots of photos, good interviews and episode recaps.

Maison Close: Season One Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

One might be tempted to use that old standby with regard to Playboy Magazine (i.e, "I only read it for the articles") when rationalizing why you might be watching Maison Close. "Why, I only watch it for the fascinating characters and beautiful production design." Yeah, right—the kinky, at times provocatively explicit, sex scenes have nothing to do with it at all. This is a distinctly Gallic offering with that typical French savoir faire when it comes to the Art of Love. The actual story, however, is a bit more hackneyed, as if Victor Hugo were attempting to write a modern day French equivalent of a telenovela. Maison Close nonetheless provides some really interesting characters (no, really), and if its post-modern approach to its subject matter is occasionally grating (stop with the rock music, already), the performances are top notch and the physical production quite opulent. Technical merits are generally very strong and despite some stumbles (not necessarily involving sex), Maison Close comes Recommended.