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poster of Babette's Feast
Rating: 7.2/10 by 397 users

Babette's Feast (1987)

A French housekeeper with a mysterious past brings quiet revolution in the form of one exquisite meal to a circle of starkly pious villagers in late 19th century Denmark.

Directing:
  • Gabriel Axel
Writing:
  • Gabriel Axel
  • Karen Blixen
Stars:
Release Date: Tue, Aug 11, 1987

Rating: 7.2/10 by 397 users

Alternative Title:
芭比的盛宴 - CN
芭贝特的盛宴 - CN
バべットの晚餐会 - JP
Babette's Feast - DK
바베트의 만찬 - KR
Babettes gjestebud - NO

Country:
Denmark
Language:
Dansk
Français
Magyar
svenska
Runtime: 01 hour 44 minutes
Budget: $0
Revenue: $4,398,938

Plot Keyword: servant, charity, community service, feast, reconciliation, sect, frenchwoman, coastal village, master servant relationship, gourmet, french cuisine, fine dining, generosity, gourmet cook, sister sister relationship, selflessness, gastronomia, piety

Stéphane Audran
Babette Hersant
Jarl Kulle
Gen. Lorens Löwenhielm
Bibi Andersson
Swedish Lady-in-Waiting
Ghita Nørby
Narrator (voice)
Thomas Antoni
Swedish Lieutenant
Hanne Stensgaard
Young Filippa
Vibeke Hastrup
Young Martine
Gudmar Wivesson
Young Lorens Löwenhielm
Bendt Rothe
Old Nielsen
Viggo Bentzon
Fisherman in Rowboat
Ebbe Rode
Christopher
Ebba With
Löwenhielm's Aunt
Pouel Kern
The Minister
Finn Nielsen
Larsen the Grocer
Tine Miehe-Renard
Löwenhielm's Wife
Tina Kiberg
Filippa (singing voice)

CRCulver

Based on a Karen Blixen story, Babette's Feast is a heartwarming tale of generosity in 19th century Denmark. As the film opens, we are introduced to Martine and Philippa, daughters of a charismatic preacher in a tiny Jutland village. Dedicated to their father's work, they turn down the courtship of a Danish officer and a French musician. Decades later, the musician sends them Babette, a refugee from the destruction of the Paris Commune, in the hope that the sisters can shelter her and employ her as a maid. When she wins an annual lottery, Babette decides to put on a feast for her employers, but no one expects the depths of selflessness she goes to. Babette's Feast is entertaining enough, and it gives an idea of just how dull and messy life in Jutland was at this time. The details of the feast will make you salivate and dust off the French cookbook, and certainly the ending will make you say "Aww" in spite of how clumsily it's put on film. Otherwise the acting isn't too revelatory, and the humour is pretty basic (the same joke is even used twice). One professional reviewer said this doesn't aim much higher than a television movie, and I'd have to agree.

r96sk

Well, 'Babette’s Feast' is exactly what it says on the tin, that's for sure. It is a film that I'd personally refer to as 'good', though my interest did ascend and descend interchangeably throughout. The religiously and sing-y scenes were the parts that kinda lost me if I'm honest, but there is still enough there that I had a fine time seeing unfold - the characters for one, and then the final feast itself is decent viewing. Stéphane Audran is the best performer onscreen, I enjoyed her showing. The actresses that play Filippa and Martine, both younger and older, are solid. Beyond them, the rest of the cast all kinda merge into one in my memory as being alright. It's very much all about Audran, I'd say. I do like how the film unfolds and what it has to end up saying, there is charm in there. I just personally would've had it move along at a slightly quicker pace because this does drag a tiny bit in parts; and that's despite it only being practically a 90 minute movie. Overall, though, it's a pass from me.

Wuchak

**_The moment when “Mercy and truth… have kissed each other”_** In a northern Jutland village, two daughters of a pietistic Lutheran pastor are dutiful spinsters by 1871 (Bodil Kjer and Birgitte Federspiel) when they take-in a Parisian refugee who “can cook” (Stéphane Audran). Fourteen years later, the latter insists on banquet for the dwindling congregation and a Hussar general, a former suiter of one of the sisters from decades earlier (Jarl Kulle). A Danish production, “Babette’s Feast” (1987) was based on the short story by Isak Dinesen, aka Karen Blixen, who’s also known as the author of “Out of Africa.” I point that out because this has the same quietly dramatic tone, just transplanted to a family of ascetic rural Protestants in 1800’s Denmark. To enjoy this, you have to be in the mood for period drama along the lines of “Mysteries” (1978) or “Mayflower: The Pilgrims' Adventure” (1979). This is even more mundane and subtle than those, but it’s rich with underlying meaning, such as two opposing things meeting at the table of the true artist for respite, e.g. worldly disillusionment and stiff pietism, Protestant and Catholic, upper-class and lower-class, the experienced and the naïve, bickering congregant and fellow congregant, older self and younger self, etc. I said the movie was subtle, and it is, that is until the third act when a couple of bits are laid on too thick. But, man, I loved the part about loving someone every day, decade after decade, even though you can’t physically be together for one reason or another. It's at least 20 minutes overlong at 1 hour, 42 minutes. And was shot in Denmark with the village located at Vigsø, Thisted Kommune. GRADE: B-


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