Babet Feast | Stéphane Audran, Birgitte Federspiel | The cooking is fine, but the movie is about...

Babet Feast | Stéphane Audran, Birgitte Federspiel | Philosophical legend

DVDs:

Babet Feast

	Babet Feast Stéphane Audran, Birgitte Federspiel MGM (Video & DVD), 2001 average customer review:based on 144 reviews view larger image
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highly recommended

Artistic, sensual and sacred passions unite in Babette's Feast. Written and directed by Gabriel Axel, from a short story by Out of Africa's Isak Dinesen, this Oscar(r)-winning*film offers "an irresistible mixture of dry wit and robust humanity" (Newsweek). Onthe desolate coast of Denmark live Martina and Philippa, the beautiful daughters of a devout clergyman who preaches salvation through self-denial. Both girls sacrifice youthful passion to faith and duty, and even many years after their father's death, they keep his austere teachings alive among thetownspeople. But with the arrival of Babette, a mysterious refugee from France's civil war, life for the sisters and their tiny hamlet begins to change. Soon, Babette has convinced them to try something truly outrageousa gourmet French meal! Her feast, of course, scandalizes the local elders. Just who is this strangely talented Babette, who has terrified this pious town with the prospect of losing their souls for enjoying too much earthly pleasure? *1987: Foreign Language Film

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The cooking is fine, but the movie is about love, wisdom and friendship...without sentimentality

I don't know whether this film hits my heart the way it does because of the feelings of friendship, love, closeness to others or the warmth of that transformation Babette's cooking creates, but when the feast starts and for the rest of the movie, I choke up often.

Yes, this is a feel-good movie, but without a speck of mawkishness or facile sentimentality. Please note that elements of the plot are discussed. Babette's Feast tells its story with restraint and care, and it lets us discover for ourselves the values of grace and love. All we need to know is that Babette Harsant (Stephane Audran) was a French refugee who was given shelter by two aging sisters in a tiny community on the coast of Jutland. The sisters lead what remains of their father's flock. He was a pastor of conviction who taught that salvation comes through self-denial. The sisters made their sacrifices to duty and faith. Those who still remain honor the now long dead pastor's teachings and his spiritual guidance. Still, as they have grown older the tiny community has become querulous and argumentative. The sisters do what they can. For the pastor's 100th birthday, Babette wishes to cook the dinner for the small group the sisters will invite. The sisters reluctantly agree, but when they see the supplies Babette has ordered, they and their guests become uneasy. They are used to the community's usual fare of dried cod, boiled, and a soup made of bread, water and a little ale. Even though Babette over time has made improvements, what they are seeing now seems close to godlessness. At the dinner also will be a visitor, General Lorens Lowenhielm, who years earlier had chosen ambition over his love for one of the sisters.

What do we experience? There is the austerity of the aging community's faith and the stone, wind-swept cottages they live in. There is the warmth by candlelight of the sisters' small, crowded dining room. And then there is the transforming power of Babette's artistry as we watch her cook, watch Erik, a young boy helping her, serve and pour, and watch the old parishioners, with the help of fine wine and exquisite cooking, gradually rediscover their community and love and friendship. The General serves as our unexpected guide because he is the only one who knows what extraordinary dishes they are eating. The General tells a story to his uncomprehending dinner companions, a story about a famed woman who was the exemplary chef at the famed Café Anglais in Paris. "...this woman, this head chef, had the ability to transform a dinner into a kind of love affair...a love affair that made no distinction between bodily appetite and spiritual appetite." He, too, is being transformed into a man who will accept what he has become and yet will always know the value and the love of what long ago he chose not to accept. An old couple kiss. Two old men remember past friendships. And Babette, who spent all that she had won in a lottery on this dinner, has had an opportunity to be the artist she once was in France, an opportunity she accepted with love and friendship.

Babette, now as poor as she was when she arrived penniless years earlier, will continue with the sisters. The general in a carriage with his aunt returns to her estate. And the elderly guests leave the sisters' home to return to their own cottages. They pause and look at the clear night sky and the stars overhead. They spontaneously hold hands in a circle and dance and sing this hymn...

"The clock strikes and time goes by
Eternity is nigh.
Let us use this time to try
To serve the Lord with heart and mind.
So that our true home we shall find.
So that our true home we shall find."

They smile at each other. All has been reconciled.

Babette's Feast is a wonderful movie, full of restrained emotion, unspoken understandings, wisdom...and, of course, a meal that will leave you with a growling stomach as you exit the theater. If you win a lottery so you could afford what Babette created and have her skill and artistry, here's what she served:

Potage a la Tortue (a rich turtle soup), served with amontillado sherry
Blinis Demidoff au Caviar (small buckwheat pancakes with sour cream and caviar), served with Veuve Clicquot champagne
Cailles en Sarcophage with Sauce Perigourdine (boned quail stuffed with foie gras and truffle in puff pastry with truffle sauce enriched with Madeira), served with Clos de Vougeot, a fine burgundy
Salade
Cheese and fresh fruit
Baba au Rhum with glacee fruit and fresh figs
Coffee and a fine brandy

The DVD is bare bones and looks fine.

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Philosophical legend

As the title says, this legned was put on the background of french revolution, but its philosophical significance reaches far beyond, before and after that specific historic period. Issue has been probably pursued by human being since they became civilized gradually: what is the persistant value of life, relatively unchanged by uncertainty of world. The movie offers some clue for people to follow to practically explore in today's real world.

Quiet, textured and surprising

If you enjoyed Krzysztof Kieslowski's Three Colors trilogy or, the Red Violin, you will enjoy the quiet majesty of this work. Set in a coastal village in Denmark, the story revolves around a lady refugee who fled France during war. Ultimately leading to a moment of profound peace, the characters met along the way are nonetheless very well written and at times, amusing. It is a wonderful piece. Subtitled.

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Review without comment

Lovely, delightful, charming re-telling of one of Karen Blixen's most characteristic stories. Huston's "The Dead" may have preceded and perhaps inspired it, but "Babette's Feast" is actually an even better, sweeter, more brilliantly acted, written and directed film. Personally, I lean more to Scandinavia than Ireland. I won't recount the plot, and I still can't understand why reviewers think that repeating the plot is a review: once is enough, please. Please. I can only make a few comments. First of all, the General's name is Lowenhielm, which means Lion Helmet, and he is not Danish in the slightest, even though he has a Danish aunt, but 100% Swedish. Jarl Kulle was one of Sweden's greatest actors. He died in 1997. Throughout the movie he is speaking in Swedish, which Danes can understand and vice versa. Not that it matters, but I would have thought that even an Amazon reviewer, although an American, would try to get things right. Secondly, this is a lovely and wonderful summing-up of life's traumas and vicissitudes. We have to face the slings and arrows that life hands us, and come out of it with chins up, still able to derive comfort from whatever fate delivers, whether it kills our spouse and child, or whether it suddenly offers us a winning ticket. There is a beauty and an artistry in giving to others, regardless of cost. We are all going to die, in the end. Why not give what we can, while we can?

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Babette's Feast

This is the first time I've seen it without sub-titles....dubbed in English! Marvelous film that can be taken many ways....a nice story about using our gifts and talents to help others, and the love that can arise, all the way to the symbolism of Christ's sacrifices for others (the story's intent).

Very well packaged, and quick shipping.

reviews: page 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10

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