Homage au Pair

Their homes ooze of money, culture and ‘good taste’. But the presence of Maria – the Asian Au pair – is somehow always disturbing the atmosphere. It is at once both beautiful and unpleasant. A fundamental duality bordering on ethical crisis lies just below the surface. 

Homage Au Pair is a remarkably clever filmic, VR and musical live performance, revealing the lives of three distinct couples, each bumbling along with ‘their’ Au pair, each couple differently challenged by the inevitable chaos that ‘new wealth’ has brought them, and the problem of boundaries in behaviour around modern-day ‘servants’. Whilst the rehearsal of live jazz improvisation reverberates through the house, the sounds of the washing up will inevitably clash with the mood. 

De Utvalgte are celebrated for their playfully absurdist and edgy observations of a society in moral meltdown, holding up a gentle mirror that includes our shadow. 

De Utvalgte is a performing arts company founded in Oslo in 1994, working cross-aesthetically with experimental contemporary theater. Their performances move between theater, visual arts, performance, and between fiction and verbatim theater. In their artistic investigation of the tragic and comic aspects of the human condition, De Utvalgte work with a critical and curious approach to the social and political reality. 

The ensemble work is their foundation, and each production is a result of collaboration between De Utvalgte, other artists, professionals and life experts. Homage Au Pair is created together with actress Durga Bishwokarma, singer/composer and actress Juliana Venter, saxophonist and composer Rolf Erik Nystrøm and cinematographer Marius Mathisrud.  

De Utvalgte have received many awards for their work, including the Golden Chair at The Norwegian Short Film Festival 2024 for one of the films from Homage Au Pair.