Deborah Lipp

Kitchen Stories (2003) 8/10
In post-War Scandanavia, a group of researchers, determined to make kitchens more ergonomic, goes to Norway to observe the behavior of bachelor farmers in their kitchens. Folke Nilsson (Tomas Norström) is at first completely shut out by his “host” Isak (Joachim Calmeyer), but gradually things change. (In Swedish and Norwegian, with subtitles)

The first half of Kitchen Stories is filled with a slow, gentle visual comedy. The researchers are meant to be completely unobtrusive, never interacting or speaking with their hosts, and so Isak’s hostility towards Folke is played out in tiny gestures that make me giggle.

Part of it is funny because of the Swedish Design Science nonsense. Mapping the way women (and now men) walk in the kitchen in order to scientifically save them steps. Test kitchens. White-coated observers with stoical faces. The contrast between the scientists, perched on their ridiculous observation stools, and the farmers, eccentric, isolated, scraggly, is funny. Then there is the silent, humorous war between two men, who battle using light switches and the position of laundry.

But there is also a subtext; the film is about the relationship between Norway and Sweden. As an American, I felt I was missing a lot. At one point Folke says that he’s just meant to be an observer, and Isak responds, “You were observers in the War, too.” Later, we learn that Isak’s good friend was in a concentration camp, and no more is said about it, but Folke looks sad and guilty.

So, that’s the part I got. There’s certainly more I didn’t get. A Swedish commenter on IMDb had this to say:

The summary of Salmer fra kjokkenet in imdb places the movie in the “feel good” genre. This may be true for UK citizens, however a swede really gets the shivers alongside with incontrollable laughs while watching this movie.

The horror derives from the fact that since the thirties the Swedish politicians seriously have believed that they were able to shape society with reason and logic. Thus in the movie, there is the “Institute of private homes research”, the object being to develop the most logically structured kitchen, adapted to the average movements of the “normal” house wife.

This excellent movie made in Norway, the neighbouring country of Sweden – which up to 1905 was submitted in a state union with Sweden – makes a very convincing statement about the “swedish mentality”, that is how our welfare state has developed during the past 70 years.

But the fact that there is more content than may be immediately accessible shouldn’t be off-putting. There’s a lot here; about friendship, loneliness, and kindness, that is universal. And there’s the humor. And these charming and reserved characters. I was touched by the film and I definitely enjoyed it.