Babette's Feast

Dir: Gabriel Axel

1987

*****

Babette's Feast is known these days as one of the greatest films about food ever made, even though the food aspect is a metaphor.  It was the first Danish film to win the Oscar for Best Foreign Language Film and it is the favorite of Pope Francis, indeed, it was selected by the Vatican in the ‘religion’ category of its list of 45 ‘great films.’ I’m not sure what other categories the Vatican have lists on but needless to say, Babette's Feast is okay with them. It is essentially a film about religion and how to appreciate all aspects of God's gifts in creation but I wouldn’t say you had to be religious to either understand or enjoy the film. I think the take home message is universal. The film is both bleak and full of colour. It reminds me of a candlelit painting, like the works of Joseph Wright of Derby. The story begins in a puritanical community in a small village on the remote western coast of Jutland in 19th-century Denmark where the villagers have taken the dualism of St. Paul to an extreme, and stress the life of the "spirit," not the life of the "flesh." Their lives are orthodox to the full. The elderly and pious Protestant sisters Martine (Birgitte Federspiel) and Philippa (Bodil Kjer) live there together. Their father was a pastor who founded his own Pietistic conventicle. With their father now dead and the austere sect drawing no new converts, the aging sisters preside over a dwindling congregation of white-haired believers. The story flashes back 49 years, showing the sisters in their youth. The beautiful girls have many suitors, but their father rejects them all, and indeed derides marriage. Each daughter is courted by an impassioned suitor visiting Jutland – Martine by a charming young Swedish cavalry officer, Lorens Löwenhielm (Jarl Kulle), and Philippa by a star baritone, Achille Papin (Jean-Philippe Lafont), from the Paris opera, on hiatus to the silence of the coast. Both sisters decide to stay with their father and spurn any life away from Jutland. Thirty-five years later, Babette Hersant (Stéphane Audran) appears at their door. She carries only a letter from Papin, explaining that she is a refugee from counter-revolutionary bloodshed in Paris and recommending her as a housekeeper. The sisters cannot afford to take Babette in, but she offers to work for free. Babette serves as their cook for the next 14 years, producing an improved version of the bland meals typical of the abstemious nature of the congregation and slowly gaining their respect. Her only link to her former life is a lottery ticket that a friend in Paris renews for her every year. One day, she wins the lottery of 10,000 francs. Instead of using the money to return to Paris and her lost lifestyle, she decides to spend it preparing a delicious dinner for the sisters and their small congregation on the occasion of the founding pastor's hundredth birthday. More than just a feast, the meal is an outpouring of Babette's appreciation, an act of self-sacrifice. Babette tells no one that she is spending her entire winnings on the meal. The sisters accept both Babette's meal and her offer to pay for the creation of a "real French dinner". Babette arranges for her nephew to go to Paris and gather the supplies for the feast. The ingredients are plentiful, sumptuous, and exotic, and their arrival causes much discussion among the villagers. As the various never-before-seen ingredients arrive and preparations commence, the sisters begin to worry that the meal will become a sin of sensual luxury, if not some form of devilry. In a hasty conference, the sisters and the congregation agree to eat the meal, but to forgo speaking of any pleasure in it and to make no mention of the food during the dinner. Martine's former suitor, Lorens, now a famous general married to a member of the Queen's court, comes as the guest of his aunt, the local lady of the manor and a member of the old pastor's congregation. He is unaware of the other guests' austere plans and as a man of the world and former attaché in Paris, he is the only person at the table qualified to comment on the meal. He regales the guests with abundant information about the extraordinary food and drink, comparing it to a meal he enjoyed years earlier at the famous Café Anglais in Paris. The seven-course meal consisted of Potage à la Tortue (turtle soup) served with Amontillado sherry, Blinis Demidoff (buckwheat pancakes with caviar and sour cream) served with Veuve Cliquot Champagne, Cailles en Sarcophage" (quail in puff pastry shell with foie gras and truffle sauce) served with Clos de Vougeot Pinot Noir, an endive salad Savarin au Rhum avec des Figues et Fruit Glacée (rum sponge cake with figs and candied cherries)  served with Champagne, assorted cheeses and fruits served with Sauternes and coffee with vieux marc Grande Champagne cognac. Although the other celebrants refuse to comment on the earthly pleasures of their meal, Babette's gifts break down their distrust and superstitions, elevating them physically and spiritually. Old wrongs are forgotten, ancient loves are rekindled and a mystical redemption of the human spirit settles over the table. The sisters assume that Babette will now return to Paris. However, when she tells them that all of her money is gone and that she is not going anywhere, the sisters are aghast. Babette then reveals that she was formerly the head chef of the Café Anglais and tells them that dinner for 12 there has a price of 10,000 francs. Martine tearfully says, "Now you will be poor the rest of your life", to which Babette replies, "An artist is never poor." Philippa then says: "But this is not the end, Babette. In paradise you will be the great artist God meant you to be" and then embraces her with tears in her eyes saying: "Oh, how you will enchant the angels!". The screenplay was written by director Gabriel Axel, based on the short story by Karen Blixen. It’s a rather faithful adaptation and it manages to capture its somethings wry twinkle of humour. That said, Axel did make the location more remote but in his own words “There is a lot that works in writing, but when translated to pictures, it doesn't give at all the same impression or feeling. All the changes I undertook, I did to actually be faithful to Karen Blixen”. The Nordisk Film production company suggested the cast of Babette's Feast should include only Danish actors to reduce production costs. However, Axel wanted Danish, Swedish and French actors to play the roles for the sake of authenticity. Axel was supported by the Danish Film Institute's consultant, Claes Kastholm Hansen, who also agreed the cast should include international stars. The title character of Babette was initially offered to Catherine Deneuve. Deneuve was interested in the part but was concerned because she had been criticized in her past attempts to depart from her usual sophisticated woman roles. While Deneuve deliberated for a day, Axel met with French actress Stéphane Audran. Axel remembered Audran from her roles in Claude Chabrol's films Violette Nozière and Poulet au vinaigre. When Axel asked Chabrol (her former husband) about Audran's suitability, Chabrol said Audran was the archetype of Babette. Axel gave the script to Audran, told her that Deneuve was contemplating the role, and asked her if she might be able to respond before the next day. Audran called two hours later and said she wanted the role. The following day, Deneuve declined and Audran was officially cast. Two other major parts were the characters of the elderly maiden sisters, Phillipa and Martine. Phillipa, the once-promising singer, was portrayed by Bodil Kjer, considered the first lady of Danish theater and namesake of the Bodil Award. Birgitte Federspiel, best known for Carl Dreyer's 1955 classic film Ordet, was cast as the staid, love forlorn, Martine. The role of the Swedish General Lorens Löwenhielm, the former suitor of Martine, was accepted by Jarl Kulle and the Swedish Court Lady by Bibi Andersson. Both had achieved international recognition as two of Ingmar Bergman's favourite actors, appearing in many of his films. The popular Danish actress Ghita Nørby was cast as the film's narrator. Although production consultants complained to Axel that the use of a narrator was too old-fashioned, Axel was adamant about using one. He said it was not about being old-fashioned but only about the need: "If there is need for a narrator, then one uses one" and he was absolutely right. It really isn’t a film only for the religious as it goes far beyond faith in God. I think there are many messages the viewer can take home from the story and you don’t have to believe in God to believe in love or art, indeed, as the great Douglas Adams once said, “Isn't it enough to see that a garden is beautiful without having to believe that there are fairies at the bottom of it too?”