Following on the heels of Maison Close, a period costume drama set in a brothel in late 19th century Paris, Sky Arts' latest foreign acquisition is 'romantic' drama Hard, a comedy written and directed by actress Cathy Verney. The Canal+ programme, which originally aired in France as six eisodes in 2008 before returning with a futher dozen in 2011, is centred on an uptight housewife who discovers her recently departed husband was secretly a porn baron and is forced to take over his film business to protect her family. Cue a hasty introduction to the ins-and-outs of the nefarious industry - think a Breaking Bad-style family drama with a 50 Shades dress code.
Natacha Lindinger plays Sophie, who in the wake of losing her partner, discovers that he had been lying to her about his job for 16 years. Instead of working in computing as she had believed, he had remortgaged their house against his own X-rated film company and had been financing their affluent lifestyle with the profit from his porn movies. Desperate to keep up with the mortgage repayments, prudish Sophie finds she has no choice but to take over as producer and throws herself into a macho universe that simultaneously intrigues and repulses her. Humour arises as she battles to balance the bright lights and brazen characters of the studio with the quiet comfort of her home life, teenage children and well-to-do friends.
Against the unlikely backdrop of the studio, she meets leading porn actor Roy (François Vincentelli). Torn between her attraction to him and her duty to mourn her husband, she forms an ambivalent relationship with the aspiring comedian, soon learning that he is as pigeonholed by his choice of profession as she is by her class. A clever and witty manipulation of stereotypes, Hard is essentially the story of a woman hurled out of her comfort zone. "Maison Close and Hard don’t shy away from taboo, but the exemplary writing, direction and performances put them at the vanguard of creative storytelling," says James Hunt, director of Sky Arts. The shows expand the channel's slate of foreign-language drama. Sky Arts recently aired Italy’s Romanzo Criminale and two Israeli series: In Treatment (BeTipul) and the series that inspired Homeland, Prisoners of War (Hatufim).
Hard starts tonight at 10pm on Sky Arts 1
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