Lent Reviews Week 3: Babette's Feast (1987)

     Babette's Feast is a Danish film released in 1987. It is written and directed by Gabriel Axel and based on a story by Karen Blixen. It takes place in a small 19th century Danish village where two pious puritan sister's take on a French refugee named Babette as a servant. Fourteen years later, when Babette wins the lottery, for which she yearly buys a ticket as a link to her former life, she decides to use her winnings to cook a "real French meal" for the poor villagers, much to their consternation.

     Babette's Feast plays out, at times, more like a novel then a traditional film. The first half deals with the sisters' courtship by two men. Martina (Vibeke Hastrup)is pursued by Lorens Löwenhielm (Gudmar Wivesson), a young Swedish cavalry officer while Phillipa (Hanne Stensgaard) is courted by Achille Papin (Jean-Philippe Lafont), a star baritone for the Paris opera. Both men are heartbroken when the sisters ultimately turn them down. The second half of the film chronicles the sisters' (now played by Birgitte Federspiel and Bodil Kjer) later life, when they take on Babette (Stéphane Audran), a refuge from the 1871 Paris revolt sent to them by Monsiuer Papin. Babette proves a diligent worker and grateful companion to the two sisters. When she wins the lottery they are saddened, assuming that she intends to leave them and return to Paris. They think the feast she proposes to prepare for them is a going away present.

     Life in the village is incredibly simple. They eat, dress and live modestly in accordance with their faith. By the time that Babette has proposed her meal to the two sisters, however, many of the villagers have become bitter, engaging in petty quarrels with one another. Nevertheless, Babette's feast scandalizes them, as they see it as a sin of sensual pleasure if not as some sort of satanic Witch's Sabbath. They agree to take no pleasure in the meal and to make no comment on it. This feast ends up coinciding with a visit from Löwenhielm, now a general and a member of the royal court, who is returning to the village to prove to himself whether or not the life he could have had with Martine would have been better then the one he pursued. He is delighted by the meal and, eventually, the villagers are won over as well. The sisters prepare to say goodbye to Babette but she tells them that she spent her lottery winnings on the feast and will not be returning to Paris.

     Pope Francis has called Babette's Feast his favorite film. It's not hard to see why. It's a simply wonderful film, commenting on the role of sacrifice and of joy in life. The people of the village take their austerity to an extreme. Because of this many of them end up bitter and full of regret. The feast brings them back together, initially uniting them against it but eventually bringing them together in the joy they take from Babette's freely given gift of love. Babette herself feels no sense of loss for the austere life she has spent with the two sisters. Rather, she is compelled to forsake her old life once and for all and uses all the money she won to cook this meal in gratitude for their charity to her. The sisters, who gave up a life of marriage to remain in the village and serve as religious leaders to its people, both find that Babette has rekindled something in themselves they thought long lost. General Löwenhielm, the only one able to appreciate the feast from a sophisticated culinary palate, finds that his own regretfulness about losing Martine has disappeared. "Everything we have chose has been granted to us" he says, "And everything we rejected has also been granted." The real message of the film is that there's room in life for great joy and great austerity, and the mistakes of the past matter little when measured against the potential bliss offered in the everlasting here-and-now of eternity.

     Gabriel Axel directs the film with a graceful hand. Its measured pacing invites reflection and contributes to the film's wonderfully subtle sense of humor. Often a scene will linger a little longer so that a joke or a humorous moment can make an impression. Henning Kristiansen's elegant cinematography contrasts the pomp of Lorens' military life and extravagance of Papin's life as an opera star to the stark simplicity of life in the village. The actors all do an excellent job, speaking volumes through their facial expressions, which is vital in a film with so little dialogue. Per Nørgård's score, which is sparingly used, is beautifully elegant, imbuing the film with a peaceful, pastoral flavor and, at times, a sense of whimsy. 

     Babette's Feast is a transcendent film. Evoking the desire in every man both to give from the heart and to receive gratefully, it is abundantly appropriate viewing for Lent and Easter season. 

Score: 10/10