Production is underway for new Max Original, Lust, launching later this year in Sweden. The 8 x 30” Swedish comedy series is produced for HBO Max by Miso Film Sweden – a Fremantle company.
Starring Sofia Helin (The Bridge), Anja Lundqvist, Julia Dufvenius and Elin Klinga, Lust is an outrageous and painfully honest comedy about four middle(ish) aged women in Stockholm struggling to keep their libidos alive in a sexually frustrating world.
Anette (Sofia Helin), Nadia (Anja Lundqvist), Ellen (Julia Dufvenius) and Martina (Elin Klinga) have all been friends since school. When they find out that Anette is conducting a government survey dubiously dubbed ‘Make Sweden Sexy Again’, they are intrigued. Is good sex – or the lack thereof – impacting the health of Swedish women over 40?
When did passion and spontaneity get replaced by sensibly scheduled Thursday sex? Since when was waiting half an hour for your ex-husband’s Viagra to kick in a key part of your sex life? No-strings-attached sex is much more rewarding than sex in a committed relationship, right? Careers, kids, marriages, divorces, independence, staying healthy, staying fit, did we mention careers – have these life choices forced that scandalous Swedish sin, that lustful, physical carnal desire to the side lines?
The series is directed by Ella Lemhagen, produced by Sandra Harms and Karl Fredrik Ulfung and written by Frans Milisic Wiklund, based on an idea and in close collaboration with Åsa Kalmér, Julia Dufvenius, Sofia Helin and Anja Lundqvist. Executive producers for HBO Max are Christian Wikander, and Camilla Curtis.
Sofia Helin, said, “In my childhood home, there was a book on the bookshelf that was completely torn apart by all the girls and women of the family; the sex survey ‘The Hite Report’, the 1976 bestseller by American feminist Shere Hite. Getting an insight into the adults’ most intimate rooms and understanding how different everyone is when it comes to sex was astounding. When me and my friends as adults mentioned that we actually talk to each other about everything but our sex lives, we recalled Shere Hite’s groundbreaking sex survey. It turned into long conversations with a lot of laughter. It is such a vulnerable subject and therefore so liberating to be able to laugh together. Pairing a sex study with a comedy series created a fantastic creative space and it became our series: Lust.”
Sandra Harms, producer Miso Film, said, “Lust is a series about female sexuality that makes you laugh, touches you, entertains you but also shines a light on the times we live in. This project has been completely obvious to do from the day the idea was presented. A real dream project.”
Christian Wikander, executive producer, HBO Max said, “Lust represents our ambition with HBO Max to bring together brilliant creators and talent, on and off screen, to craft truly special series that offer our audiences something different. Firmly rooted in Sweden but centred around universal themes like sex, relationships and getting older, there is great potential for it to resonate globally too.”
