Movie Review

Directed by Gabriel Axel, starring: Stephane Audron (Babette), Birgitte Fiederspiel (Martine), Bodil Kjer (Filippa), Jarl Kulle, (General Laurens Loewenheilm), Jean Philippe Lafont (Achille Papin), Danish and French with English subtitles, 1hr. 45 mins, 1988.

This film was adapted from a short story by Isak Dinesen and won the Oscar for best foreign film in 1987. It is a gem of a story with rich religious symbolism on many levels.

On the first level it is about an austere Protestant sect clinging to the windswept shores of Jutland in the late 19th century. Two sisters, Martine and Filippa are devoted followers of their father, the prophetic founder of the sect. They devote themselves to pious good works in the tiny community. There is a romantic interest for each of them but it is discouraged by their father and indeed by their own piety. Loewenheilm is a young cadet who visits his aunt in the village but realizes after attending some meetings of the sect that his interest lies more in being a big success in the world than in winning Martine's heart. Achille Papin, a famous opera singer, notes Filippa's great voice but she turns down fame (and him!) in order to stay and continue her works of mercy.

Into this stable and isolated community washes Babette who works as their servant for 15 years. She has fled the French civil war and sought refuge with the sisters on the basis of a letter of recommendation from Papin. Babette has been a famous chef at the Café Anglais in Paris and rolls her eyes at the prospect of preparing the staple food of the community, ale bread, a mush at which even the village poor turn up their noses.

Babette comes into a sum of money because she wins a lottery with a ticket bought by a friend. When the community decides to celebrate the centenary of their founder, Babette proposes that she will prepare the feast. Soon, all manner of delicacy begins to arrive by boat: quail, turtle, fine wines, cheese and fruit. The community is thrown for a loop and all resolve to attend out of courtesy but to keep their minds on higher things and not to enjoy! Also attending is Loewenheilm, now a general, visiting his aunt. Unaware of the pact, he enthusiastically enjoys the sumptuous feast and warmed by the wine, the other guests begin to enjoy it as well. The wine loosens tongues and spirits and soon truths are told, old quarrels revisited, past transgressions regretted. The meal is a last supper in which participants are led to reconciliation and healing. New life springs up in the old congregation.

Babette is clearly a Christ Figure who transfigures the world of the main characters through a loving act of self-giving. In the end she does not go away to "the city of light", Paris (Heaven?) but stays with the community. The story is a parable that juxtaposes two visions of reality, two visions of a religious tradition and its foundational myth. Does the hope of the Christian faith mean that one is to endure the present world as a place of testing where the forces of evil tempt one to turn one's eyes from a truer, not yet realized fulfillment? Is discipleship a matter of moral rectitude, avoiding sin and doing good works? Is discipleship a matter of realizing fulfillment here and now? Is it about celebration? Are its values embodied in a banquet? Are they embodied in restraint of 'worldly desires'? Is the world an utterly fallen place or does it, while clearly marred by sin, still clearly reveals God? Is the world itself a sacrament, a visible means of access to what is yet invisible?

Enjoy all these questions as you feast on Babette's Feast.