Kitchen Stories

Objective Sixties science meets fabulously flawed humans in this sly slice of Scandanevian humour

Plotty bit:
A set of Swedish scientists have been examining the movements of housewives going through their average routines, with the aim of organising kitchens more efficiently. All has gone smoothly with the first stage of their clinical plans, but things are about to go awry.

A small entourage of objective observors pack up their clipboards and sliderules and observational high-chairs (which allow them to watch the kitchen scurryings of their subjects from a God-like distance), and head off to Norway to monitor some willing male kitchen-users.

The investigations are immediately left in the hands of a dour deputy when the project's leaders disappears to lead the academic high-life (which involves a private plane and some non-kitchen-bound female groupies). Isolated by a desolate and wintery Norweigan landscape, the project grumbles into life. An observor named Folke is given a difficult charge named Isak, and it takes him a long time to even gain admission to the house. By the time he has established himself he finds the wayward old man so exasperating that he's constantly longing to head out to his one-man caravan and disappear into his own world of music, food and solitude. The old man is equally affected, changing his routine because of this peculiar presence in his house. It's not long, however, before constant contact between the gruff resident and the distracted observor leads to them interacting. As the flustered project-deputy struggles to stop other observors engaging in human contact with their hosts, Folke and Isak strike up a shy friendship which brings their apparently disparate lives into line.

Review-ish bit:
This movie is beautifully poised, maintaining a gentle but quirky feel throughout. The slow strikes of the directors brush paint with such an aptly-judged rhythm that it's a joy to watch the resulting picture form. You shouldn't have any trouble watching this particular canvas dry.

There's a slightly ambiguous homoerotic undertone to it (or at least i thought there was. But then again, i thought Isak might've been romantically involved with his horse before Folke came along). It would've been nice to see the same themes explored (isolation, companionship, inter-connectedness, the impossibility of true objectivity, modern-vs-rustic, crossing boundaries etc), but with a strong female presence too. But that's the only criticism i could level at this clockwork fruitcake of a film (if criticism it be).

I give it: A caravan's worth of Sixties silliness, four golden silences, and a big jar of ice-melting roll-mop herrings

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