At your service
When Iceland closes its nursing homes, a dying artist discovers a deadly opportunity.
When Iceland's government shuts down every nursing home, terminally ill artist Einar discovers a horrifying business opportunity: providing illegal euthanasia for families desperate to rid themselves of elderly relatives. As his underground enterprise grows, he transforms each killing into a work of art, believing he is creating a lasting legacy before his own death. But when he falls in love with Sigrún, a single mother haunted by secrets of her own, and her violent ex returns, Einar's carefully constructed world begins to unravel. Blending suspense and biting satire, At Your Service asks what happens when compassion is replaced by convenience.
Producers' note
When we first began developing At Your Service, its premise felt provocative, surreal and deliberately exaggerated. A few years later, the world around it has changed enough that the story feels considerably less impossible and much more urgent.
At its centre is an irresistible "what if?": a struggling young artist, convinced he is dying, begins helping elderly people die for money and turns those experiences into inspiration for his art. What begins as a twisted act of purpose becomes increasingly successful both as a business and an artistic career.
What attracted us as producers was what lies beneath this bold premise. Through dark comedy, satire and suspense, At Your Service explores our fear of ageing, our obsession with productivity, pressure on families and public systems, and what happens when human value begins to be measured by usefulness.
These questions reach far beyond Iceland. Ageing populations and overstretched care systems are realities across Europe and beyond, giving the film international relevance while its humour, characters and Icelandic setting give it a distinctive voice.
Above all, we see *At Your Service *as an audience film: entertaining, cinematic and provocative, with the tension of a genre story and the unpredictability of a dark comedy. We want audiences to laugh and then question exactly what they are laughing at.
The international response so far has reinforced our belief in its potential: the premise is immediately understood, but people also want to debate it. That combination of a clear hook, distinctive voice and timely subject is what we believe can allow At Your Service to travel.
Director's note
The idea for At Your Service was born during visits to my grandmother at a retirement home, where she lived for several years. I would often leave with a feeling of sorrow and helplessness. It made me confront an uncomfortable question: how far are we from wanting to remove our elderly relatives from our lives simply because caring for them has become too difficult, expensive or inconvenient?
From that question came Einar, a newly graduated, heavy-drinking artist who is told he is dying from a hereditary disease. Self-absorbed and ambitious, he begins offering a disturbing service: helping elderly people die for money, while turning the experience into material for his increasingly successful art.
The premise is outrageous, but I want to treat it with complete sincerity. The performances should remain grounded and emotionally truthful as the situations become increasingly absurd. I want audiences to laugh, feel uncomfortable, sympathise with these characters – and then question that sympathy.
The questions at the heart of the film reach far beyond Iceland. As people live longer and pressure on families and public systems grows, we are increasingly forced to confront how we value old age, care and individual responsibility. The film offers no easy answers; satire allows us to enter morally uncomfortable territory and recognise something of ourselves there.
Visually, I want a world that feels contemporary yet strangely timeless, drawing on 1960s and 1970s cinema through strong compositions, architecture, colour, light and shadow. Music will work against the darkness: stylish, energetic and mischievous rather than sombre.
At Your Service deals with death, but ultimately it is about the absurdity of being alive: our selfishness, fear of mortality and the extraordinary ways we justify our choices.
Screenwriter's note
At Your Service is a dark comedy and suspense film built around an uncomfortable question: what happens when a society begins to see its elderly not as people to care for, but as a problem to solve?
At the centre of the story is Einar, a struggling young artist who believes he is dying from a hereditary disease. When society’s treatment of the elderly takes an increasingly extreme turn, he sees an opportunity: helping families get rid of elderly relatives for money. At the same time, these encounters begin feeding the art that has so far failed to bring him the recognition he desperately wants.
That contradiction became one of the most interesting parts of the screenplay for me. Einar is narcissistic, ambitious and deeply insecure, yet the darker his actions become, the more his encounters begin to change him. He starts to rediscover empathy and, paradoxically, a desire to live. He begins as a strange man in a recognisable world; as that world becomes stranger, he almost becomes the normal one.
The film also asks questions about artistic ambition. How much are we willing to sacrifice to create something meaningful? Is the desire to leave behind a great work an act of creativity, ego, fear of mortality or all three?
I wanted to approach these ideas through satire, suspense and dark humour rather than moral instruction. The characters are flawed, contradictory and often selfish, and the screenplay deliberately leaves space for the audience to decide how they feel about them.
At Your Service is ultimately about mortality, family, ambition and our need to matter, and about the extraordinary things we can convince ourselves are justified when we are afraid of disappearing.
Biography
Magnús Jónsson is an Icelandic director, writer, actor, musician and visual artist. A graduate of the Icelandic School of Drama, he has worked extensively in film, television and theatre, including roles in Réttur and Case. A founding member of the internationally acclaimed electronic group GusGus, he also established the acting school Leiktækniskólinn. He wrote, directed and produced his debut feature Take 5 (2019), which premiered at the Stockfish Film Festival in Reykjavík.
Biography
Guðný Guðjónsdóttir is an Icelandic producer and CEO of Projects ehf., with extensive experience in film, television and international co-productions. Former CEO and CFO of Sagafilm, she has produced and executive produced numerous projects, including Case, Descendants, Ormildur the Brave, Twenty Something and FJORD, a Nordic crime series distributed internationally by Reinvent. Her expertise spans creative development, financing, production management and international partnerships.
Profile
Projects, led by producers Guðný Guðjónsdóttir and Sara Djeddou Baldursdóttir, is an Icelandic production company creating film and TV for local and international audiences. Credits include Ormildur the Brave, Descendants and Fjord, with a focus on distinctive, character-driven stories.