Cinema
Babette's Feast
Babettes gæstebud
Gabriel Axel · 1987
Synopsis
In a village on the Jutland coast, in the nineteenth century, two daughters of a strict pastor, Martine and Philippa, keep going the small community that their father had gathered. When young, one had been courted by an officer passing through, the other by a French opera singer; they had said no. Years later, Babette, a refugee from the Commune, arrives with a letter from the singer and asks to serve without wages. She stays for many years; the day she wins the lottery, she asks to prepare a real French dinner for the pastor's anniversary.
Context
The director had carried this project for more than fifteen years. Drawn from Karen Blixen's story, the film moves the action from Norway to the west coast of Jutland; the director wanted Danish, Swedish and French actors for the sake of plausibility, and the role of Babette, first offered to Catherine Deneuve, went to Stéphane Audran, whose cape was designed by Karl Lagerfeld. Presented at Cannes in 1987 in the Un certain regard section, it received a mention from the ecumenical jury there, then was released in Denmark on 28 August.
Who it is for
One hour forty-two minutes, in Danish, Swedish and French. Know before seeing it that the meal occupies the last third and that everything that precedes it prepares for it.
Prizes and reception
The first Danish film to receive the Oscar for Best Foreign Language Film, in 1988; part of the Danish cultural canon.
Sources for this page 9
The pages consulted to check this page.