Babette’s Feast

Reviewed by Luanne Paul King

July 1, 2010 — This charming film won an Academy Award for best foreign language film in 1987. The film is based on a story by Karen Blixen, who wrote under the name Isak Dinesen. Gabriel Axel wrote the screenplay and also directed the film.

The story begins in a tiny village in Jutland, Denmark in 1871. Two elderly sisters, Philippa (Bodil Kjer) and Martine (Birgitte Federspiel), are the daughters of a deceased Christian pastor.

The film transports us to when the sisters were young and ravishing. Martine is courted by Lorens (Jarl Kulle), a young Swedish cavalry officer visiting his aunt. Philippa is wooed by Achile Papin (Jean-Philippe Lafont), a baritone recuperating from performing opera in Paris. Papin likes Philippa’s voice and teaches her arias.

Now the film flashes to the sisters’ home when they are much older. One night, Babette Hersant (Stéphane Audan) knocks on their door. She has a letter of recommendation from Papin, Philippa’s former opera teacher. The letter explains Babette is a refugee from a bloody revolution in Paris and Papin recommends her as a housekeeper. Martine and Philippa welcome her. Babette learns Danish, and she shops and cooks for them for 14 years! Her only tie to France is a lottery ticket a friend renews for her annually. One day she wins 10,000 francs — quite a windfall! Instead of using the money to return to France, she plans a “real French dinner” for the sisters and their friends to celebrate the pastor’s 100th birthday. Lorens, now a general, plans a visit to his aunt, who lives nearby, and he is also invited to the dinner.

Babette goes to Paris to shop for exotic and sumptuous ingredients. When they are delivered, friends worry that the meal will be a sinful sensual luxury. Babette artistically arranges the table with new china, exquisite glassware and silverware on lovely linen. She selects rare wines and spirits and makes delectable desserts. Town friends come to the anniversary meal but pledge not to talk about the food.

During the dinner, only the general outwardly enjoys the meal, telling stories and speaking about a talented woman chef de cuisine at the Café Anglais in Paris who disappeared years ago. He declares the delicious food before them to be as wonderful as the cuisine created by her. At first, the other guests conceal their own dining pleasure but then warm up as one extraordinary dish follows another. They also begin to see each other in a different light, forgetting previous animosities. Even the film produces more vibrant colors. An ancient woman lauds the champagne, comparing it to lemonade!

After the party, Babette tell the sisters she spent all of the 10,000 francs on the meal as a gesture of gratitude for their helping her. They are shocked, and express fear about her future. Babette reassures them that “An artist is never poor.” What do you think Babette will do next?

Available on DVD. 82 minutes. In Danish with subtitles in English, French and Swedish.