Babette's Feast (Babettes Gæstebud) (1987)
Babette's Feast (Babettes Gæstebud) (1987)
Babette's Feast (Babettes Gæstebud) Photos
Movie Info
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Cast
as Babette Hersant
as Martine
as Filippa
as Lorens
as Achille
as Young Martine
as Lorenz Lowenhielm as a Young Man
as Swedish Court Lady-in-waiting
as Young Philippa
as Old Nielsen
as Christopher
as The Widow
as Narrator
as The Captain
as Narrator
as The Vicar
as Driver
as Philippa [singing]
as Lorens' Aunt
as Solveig
as Martha
as Solveig
as Anna
as Grocer
as Young Erik
as Fisherman
as Karlsen
as Lorens' wife
as Swedish Lieutenant
as Poor Man
as Fisherman in Rowboat
as Poul
News & Interviews for Babette's Feast (Babettes Gæstebud)
Critic Reviews for Babette's Feast (Babettes Gæstebud)
All Critics (26) | Top Critics (1) | Fresh (25) | Rotten (1) | DVD (2)
The acting is impeccable and the ambience suffused with delicate charm, but overall this doesn't aim at anything higher than Masterpiece Theatre or a Merchant-Ivory film.
essentially a fable ... stands the test of time
a simple film of great feeling and generosity
Babette's offering is a ritual sacrifice, intended to encourage the austere characters with the possibility that their material nourishment may provide spiritual sustenance as well.
While Babette's Feast is bleak, and often ponderous and stony, it eventually resolves as a moving hymn to art.
It's a flawless adaptation of the story Isak Dinesen (pseudonym of Karen Blixen) wrote for a bet that she could be published in the popular middlebrow Saturday Evening Post.
Audience Reviews for Babette's Feast (Babettes Gæstebud)
This sublime ode to art, gift, love and grace should be remembered for its wonderful direction and a magnificent narrative that never ceases to surprise us with what it has to offer and the unbelievable amount of depth that it holds in every detail of its apparently simple story.
Super Reviewer
This film really moved me when I first saw it many years ago. I just rewatched it and I think that I enjoyed it even more this time around. On the surface it is a very simple film, but the currents that run below the surface are very deep and complex. The film is beautiful, sad, depressing, inspiring and heartwarming all at once. It is made all the more powerful by the wonderfull acting and beautifull cinematography. A true classic in every sense of the word.
Super Reviewer
Set in a rugged fishing village in 1871 Denmark, shows the impact of a French housekeeper (Stephane Audran) on two pious sisters who carry on their late father's work as pastor of a dwindling religious flock. Danish director Gabriel Axel's understated but finely detailed work centers on the preparation and consumption of an exquisite Gallic meal, a sensuous labor of love which has a healing effect on the austere sect and the Frenchwoman who prepared it. This film has so much power and warmth.
Super Reviewer
Babette's Feast (Babettes Gæstebud) Quotes
| Babette Hersant: | "An artist is never poor" |
| Babette Hersant: | An artist is never poor. |
| Lorenz Lowenhielm as an old man: | Mercy and truth have met together. Righteousness and bliss shall kiss one another. Man in his weakness and short-sightedness believes he must make choices in this life. He trembles at the risks he takes. We do know fear. But no, our choice is of no importance. There comes a time when your eyes are opened and we come to realize that mercy is infinite. We need only await it with confidence and receive it with gratitude. Mercy imposes no conditions. And lo! Everything we have chosen has been granted to us and everything we have rejected has also been granted. Yes, we get back even what we have rejected. For mercy and truth have met together and righteousness and bliss shall kiss one another. |
| Lorenz Lowenhielm as an old man: | Mercy and truth have met together. Righteousness and bliss shall kiss one another. Man in his weakness and short-sightedness believes he must make choices in this life. He trembles at the risks he takes. We do know fear. But no, our choice is of no importance. There comes a time when your eyes are opened and we come to realize that mercy is infinite. We need only await it with confidence and receive it with gratitude. Mercy imposes no conditions. And lo! Everything we have chosen has been granted to us and everything we have rejected has also been granted. Yes, we get back even what we have rejected. For mercy and truth have met together and righteousness and bliss shall kiss one another. |
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