Foreign Films, Danish, Tear Jerker, Recommended, Character Study, Bucolic, Heartwarming, Theatrical Release, France, Essential Cinema
Description
This Academy Award-winner for Best Foreign Language Film was a big art house hit, spawning a whole international subgenre, "foodie" (films about the liberating effects of good food). It's adapted from a story by Isak Dinesen about two sisters in a 19th century Calvinist settlement in Denmark who, under their late father's rigorous spiritual dictates, pass up their chances for romance and worldly success. Years pass; they grow into charitable old spinsters and one day a French war refugee, Babette (Stéphane Audran), comes to work for them. Life goes quietly one for years until one day Babette decides to prepare a lavish gourmet dinner for the elders of the town, even though the thought of such decadence makes the sisters fear for their Christian souls. This all may sound rather dull to some viewers, but rest assured, no one who has seen this film has ever regretted it. Even with its measured pacing and austere emotional palette this remains a riveting experience from the first frame to the last. The acting is marvelously naturalistic, and the cinematography evokes the dark beauty of 19th century Scandinavian paintings, rendering the ancient, white-whiskered faces of the villagers, the windswept coastline, the wood-hewn interiors, and of course the incredible food, with a vital, deeply felt reverence that lingers in the mind long after the film is over.
DVD Features
Region 1 Keep Case Single Side - Single Layer Letterbox - 1.85 Widescreen - 1.85 Audio: Dolby Digital - Danish Dolby Digital - English Dolby Digital - French Dolby Digital - Spanish Additional Release Material: Trailers: Theatrical Trailer
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I just watched this film this morning and I found it to be a great showing of the richness of faith. Babette gave them another way to look at life; not a replacement, but an enhancement. She shared... Read the whole review at MatchFlick
Posted on June 13, 2006
Reviewed by: AJ
Okay, so here's the basic gist of Babette's Feast: A small community of uptight Danish religious folk condemn a French woman for her magnificent French feast before being transformed spiritually and... Read the whole review at MatchFlick
Posted on March 4, 2007
Posted on June 13, 2006
