Babette's Feast (1987)
"I cannot even tell you what you will be served to eat or drink"
(Martine)
Set in 19th century Denmark, Babette’s Feast centres on Babette, a French housekeeper who escaped from Paris during the counter-revolution repressions, because of which she has lost her husband and son. Babette finds refuge in Denmark, in the house of two elderly unmarried women - Martine and Filippa -, daughters of a protestant pastor now dead, who live their lives in simplicity and austerity, helping out the other people that live in their village and presiding over the religious congregation founded by their father. |
Filippa: "But dear Babette, you should not have given all you owned for us" Director: Gabriel Axel
Country: Denmark |
After winning 10,000 francs in a lottery, which would have enabled her to return to her beloved Paris, Babette decides to spend the entire sum in organising a true French dinner for the congregation, in honour of the pastor’s hundredth birthday. At first, Martine and Filippa willingly accept Babette’s wish, thinking it is the least they can do for her after all the help she has given them in her fourteen years of service. However, when they discover the types of food Babette will be serving to their guests, they are shocked and upset, as they believe that eating refined and sophisticated food will weaken them and expose them to the devil.
Being used to coarse and flavourless food – in agreement with their sober way of life –, the congregation decide that during the meal they will politely eat what they are served, but they will not allow themselves to express nor to feel any pleasure towards the food and drinks of the French banquet. However, Babette’s food is so tasty and delicious that no one can refrain from enjoying it and, even if not expressively, they demonstrate their appreciation for the meal. Moreover, thanks to this divine food, they find a new trust and hope in their lives. In this case, the food is not only what identifies Babette as a true French cook and artist. It is the means through which she is able to indent the strict, puritan culture of the host community.
At the end of the dinner we find out that, back in Paris, Babette used to be the chef of a famous and very elegant restaurant, the Cafè Anglais. Her ability to cook is what makes her into an artist to all effects, in the same way as a painter, a writer or a musician can be artists.
In Willi Bode’s words, “gastronomy, which was always based on need, has become an art which requires both skilled practitioners as well as skilled appreciators” (2000:242).
At the end of the film, Filippa herself tells Babette – quoting her former admirer – : “In paradise you will be the great artist that God meant you to be”.
Being used to coarse and flavourless food – in agreement with their sober way of life –, the congregation decide that during the meal they will politely eat what they are served, but they will not allow themselves to express nor to feel any pleasure towards the food and drinks of the French banquet. However, Babette’s food is so tasty and delicious that no one can refrain from enjoying it and, even if not expressively, they demonstrate their appreciation for the meal. Moreover, thanks to this divine food, they find a new trust and hope in their lives. In this case, the food is not only what identifies Babette as a true French cook and artist. It is the means through which she is able to indent the strict, puritan culture of the host community.
At the end of the dinner we find out that, back in Paris, Babette used to be the chef of a famous and very elegant restaurant, the Cafè Anglais. Her ability to cook is what makes her into an artist to all effects, in the same way as a painter, a writer or a musician can be artists.
In Willi Bode’s words, “gastronomy, which was always based on need, has become an art which requires both skilled practitioners as well as skilled appreciators” (2000:242).
At the end of the film, Filippa herself tells Babette – quoting her former admirer – : “In paradise you will be the great artist that God meant you to be”.