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PRODUCTION / FUNDING Sweden

HBO Max greenlights new Swedish comedy series Lust

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- The 8x30-minute series is billed as an outrageous and painfully honest comedy about four middle-aged (or thereabouts) women in Stockholm and stars The Bridge's Sofia Helin

HBO Max greenlights new Swedish comedy series Lust
(l-r) Actresses Anja Lundqvist, Elin Klinga, Sofia Helin and Julia Dufvenius (© Pär Bäckstrand/HBO Nordic AB)

HBO Max has announced that it has greenlit Lust, a Swedish comedy series about four middle-aged (or thereabouts) women in Stockholm struggling to keep their libidos alive in a sexually frustrating world. It is directed by Ella Lemhagen (I Come Home Again for Christmas [+see also:
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The cast of the 8x30-minute series features The Bridge star Sofia Helin, Anja Lundqvist, Julia Dufvenius and Elin Klinga, playing four women who 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 a lack thereof – having an impact on the health of Swedish women over 40?

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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 – have these life choices forced that scandalous Swedish sin, that lustful, physical carnal desire, to the side lines?

Helin says: “In my childhood home, there was a book on the bookshelf that was completely torn apart by all the girls and women in 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 my friends and I, as adults, mentioned that we actually talk to each other about everything but our sex lives, we recalled 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, who is producing the show for HBO Max through Miso Film Sweden, says: “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 a completely obvious one to do from the day the idea was presented. A real dream project.”

Karl Fredrik Ulfung is also on board as producer for the series, which was written by Frans Milisic Wiklund, based on an idea by and in close collaboration with Åsa Kalmér, Dufvenius, Helin and Lundqvist. The executive producers for HBO Max are Christian Wikander and Camilla Curtis.

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