Salmer fra kjøkkenet / Kitchen Stories

This story is based on actual events. More specifically, on diagrams that were created to optimise women's performance in the kitchen. To support this effort, ladies recorded information about their work paths – from the stove to the sink, for example. Bent Hamer discovered these “kitchen routes” in a magazine from the 1950s. With exquisite earnestness, precisely staged tableaux, and absurd slapstick interludes, he expands on the idea: 18 Swedish field researchers drive through a snowy landscape in green Volvos with egg-shaped caravans attached. Their destination is a remote village in Norway, where they will record the behaviour of bachelors in the kitchen. Wearing a suit and grey woollen socks, Folke takes a position on a referee's chair in the kitchen of the somewhat dotty Isak. After their initial mutual dislike of each other, the men develop a friendship that requires few words. Still, they have plenty to talk about: politics, belief in progress, nuclear power, and the big picture.