Babette's Feast
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Babette's Feast | |
|---|---|
 1987 Movie Poster by Rolf Konow |
|
| Directed by | Gabriel Axel |
| Produced by | Just Betzer Bo Christensen Benni Korzen Pernille Siesbye |
| Written by | Gabriel Axel Karen Blixen |
| Starring | Stéphane Audran Birgitte Federspiel Bodil Kjer |
| Music by | Per Nørgård |
| Cinematography | Henning Kristiansen |
| Editing by | Finn Henriksen |
| Release date(s) |  August 28, 1987 March 4, 1988 |
| Running time | 102 min. |
| Country | Denmark |
| Language | Danish Swedish French |
| IMDb profile | |
Babette's Feast (Danish: Babettes gæstebud) is an award-winning 1987 Danish movie written and directed by Gabriel Axel. The film is based on a story by Isak Dinesen (Karen Blixen), who also wrote the story which inspired the 1985 Academy Award winning film Out of Africa. Produced by Just Betzer, Bo Christensen, and Benni Korzen with funding from the Danish Film Institute, Babette's Feast was the first Danish production of a Blixen story. It was also the first Danish film to win the Academy Award for Best Foreign Film.[1]
Contents |
[edit] Plot
Babette's Feast tells the story of Babette Hersant (Stéphane Audran), a 19th century Parisian political refugee who flees on a boat to Frederikshavn in Denmark with the help of her nephew, and forms a relationship with two elderly and pious Christian sisters. The sisters, Martina (named for Martin Luther) and Philippa (named for Luther's friend and biographer Philip Melanchthon), are the daughters of a pastor who has founded his own religious sect.
Babette, whose background as a great chef is unknown to the villagers, works as a cook and housekeeper for Philippa (Bodil Kjer) and Martina (Birgitte Federspiel) in their house in a small village on the remote and beautiful western coast of Jutland. After introducing this setup, the film relates the story of two suitors of these once young, ravishing beauties (played by Hanne Stensgaard and Vibeke Hastrup). Each suitor has ambitious plans both for himself and the "angel" he imagines by his side on the road to worldly renown. Each daughter deflects her pursuer, choosing, instead, a life of quiet piety. Babette shows up at the sisters' door many years hence with a letter from Philippa's former suitor, explaining her status as a refugee and recommending her as a housekeeper. Babette spends fourteen years as the sisters' cook. Her only link to her former life is a lottery ticket that a friend in Paris renews for her every year. One day, she wins the lottery and decides to use the money to prepare a delicious dinner for the sisters and their small congregation. More than just an epicurean delight, the feast is an outpouring of Babette's gratitude, with eucharistic echoes and is an act of self-sacrifice.
The crux of the story (and of the humor) turns on the sisters' dismay and confusion at the arrival of Babette's "ingredients" (including live sea turtle, quail, and numerous wines). They confess to their late father's disciples that they suspect they have invited practices of witchcraft into their home. The congregation agree to make no mention of the food during the entire dinner. Another implied conflict is between the congregation's austere religion with its denial of earthly enjoyments (but its requirement of charitable gratitude), and the sumptuousness of the meal Babette prepares, as well as on the assumption by those feasting that this meal is a going-away present from Babette. The eucharistic celebration around the table shadows the "infinite grace… [that] had been alloted to them, and they did not even wonder at the fact, for it had been but the fulfillment of an ever-present hope."[2]
[edit] Cast
- Ghita Nørby as Narrator
- Stéphane Audran as Babette Hersant
- Bodil Kjer as Filippa
- Hanne Stensgaard as Filippa (as girl)
- Birgitte Federspiel as Martine
- Vibeke Hastrup as Martine (as girl)
- Jean-Philippe Lafont as Achille Papin
- Jarl Kulle as General Lorens Löwenhielm
- Gudmar Wivesson as Lorens Löwenhielm (as young man)
- Bibi Andersson as Swedish Court Lady
- Bendt Rothe as Old Nielsen
- Lisbeth Movinas The Widow
- Preben Lerdorff Rye as The Captain
- Cay Kristiansen as Poul
- Axel Strøbye as The Driver
- Erik Petersen as Erik, the boy
- Ebbe Rode as Christopher
- Ebba With as General's aunt
- Pouel Kern as The Sister's father
- Else Petersen as Solveig
- Finn Nielsen as The Store manager
- Holger Perfort as Karlsen
- Asta Esper Andersen as Anna
- Therese Højgaard Christensen as Martha, young girl
- Lars Lohmann as Fisherman
- Tine Miehe-Renard as The General's wife
- Thomas Antoni as Swedish Lieutenant
- Gert Bastian as Poor Man
- Viggo Bentzon as Boatman
- Tina Kiberg as Filippa's song voice
[edit] Awards
Babette's Feast won the 1988 Best Foreign Language Film at the Academy Awards; the other nominees were Asignatura aprobada of Spain, Au revoir, les enfants of France, La Famiglia of Italy and Ofelas of Norway. It also won a BAFTA Film Award for Best Film Not in the English Language and was nominated for a Golden Globe award for Best Foreign Language Film. It won both the Bodil and Robert awards for Best Danish Film of the Year.
[edit] Popular culture
- One of Gary Larson's Far Side cartoons showed a group of grimacing people in beds in a hospital ward. It was titled: Babette's Botulism: The Sequel.
[edit] References
- ^ Babette's Gæstebud. Danish Film Institute.
- ^ "Babette's Feast", in Anecdotes of Destiny and Ehrengard, c. 1993, Vintage International Paperbacks.
[edit] External links
- Babette's Feast at the Arts & Faith Top100 Spiritually Significant Films list
- An extensive collection of links about Babette's Feast at KarenBlixen.com
- Babette's Gæstebud at the Danish Film Institute website
| Preceded by The Assault |
Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film 1987 |
Succeeded by Pelle the Conqueror |
| Preceded by The Sacrifice |
BAFTA Award for Best Film Not in the English Language 1988 |
Succeeded by Life and Nothing But |
|
|||||||
