Babette's Feast

Director: Gabriel Axel

Overview

"Babette's Feast, the much-loved 1987 Academy Award winner for Best Foreign Language Film, is available on DVD through MGM Home Entertainment. The DVD boasts colorful scene-selection menus and can be heard in English, French, Danish, or Spanish, with English, French, and Spanish subtitles. It is presented in 1:66:1 widescreen format with Dolby Digital Stereo Sound. The colors resonate well, resulting in a crisp, atmospheric presentation that had been somewhat lost on VHS. Also included is the theatrical trailer, which consists of celebratory quotes played over still images from the film. No other special features come with this DVD. It would have been nice to have included production notes, actor filmographies, or some sort of information on this award-winning film's history. Interestingly, the box states the film is from 1989, then states it won the 1987 Oscar, hinting at a bit of confusion on the part of the DVD manufacturers."

Product Details

Release Date:	01/23/2001
UPC:	0027616857958
Original Release:	1987
Rating:	G
Source:	Mgm (Video & Dvd)
Region Code:	1
Presentation:	[Wide Screen]
Sound:	[monaural]
Language:	English
Time:	1:43:00
Sales rank:	3,602

Special Features

Original theatrical trailer; English: mono; Danish and French: Stereo Surround; Spanish: stereo Surround; English, French, Spanish subtitles

Cast & Crew

Performance Credits

Stéphane Audran	Babette Hersant
Birgitte Federspiel	Martine
Ghita Nørby	Narrator,Narrator,la narratrice
Bodil Kjer	Filippa
Jarl Kulle	Lorens
Jean-Philippe Lafont	Achille,Actor
Vibeke Hastrup	Young Martine
Gudmar Wivesson	Lorenz Lowenhielm as a Young Man
Bibi Andersson	Swedish Court Lady-in-Waiting
Hanne Stensgaard	Young Philippa
Bendt Rothe	Old Nielsen
Ebbe Rode	Christopher
Lisbeth Movin	The Widow
Michel Bouquet	Narrator
Preben Rye	The Captain
Pouel Kern	The Vicar
Axel Strøbye	Driver
Tina Kiberg	Philippa [singing]
Ebba With	Lorens' Aunt
Else Peterson	Solveig
Therese Hojgaard Christensen	Martha
Asta Esper Andersen	Anna
Finn Nielsen	Grocer
Erik Petersen	Young Erik,Solveig
Lars Lohmann	Fisherman
Holger Perfort	Karlsen
Tine Miehe-Renard	Lorens' Wife
Thomas Antoni	Swedish Lieutenant
Gert Bastian	Poor Man
Viggo Bentzon	Fisherman in Rowboat
Cay Kristiansen	Poul
Jean-Phillippe La Font	Actor
Per Norgaard	Composer

Technical Credits

Gabriel Axel

Karen Blixen

Gabriel Axel	Director,Screenwriter
Henning Bahs	Special Effects
Just Betzer	Producer,Executive Producer
Bo Christensen	Producer
Karen Blixen	Screenwriter
Benni Korzen	Producer
Pernille Siesbye	Producer
Karen Bentzon	Sound Effects
Michael Dela	Sound Effects

Editorial Reviews

The sophisticated and subtle screenplay for Babette's Feast, adapted by director Gabriel Axel, is based on a story written by Isak Dinesen, the writer memorably played by Meryl Streep in the biopic Out of Africa. In the film's first half, the emotional detachment of the pious characters is mirrored in the directorial approach, which allows the narrator to explain the matters before us, keeping us at a distance. When the feast begins, the narrator steps aside, Axel's direction becomes more evocative, and our participation becomes more active. Axel plays things low-key: his camera doesn't swoop or dance, but lingers lovingly over every aspect of the meal. The soundtrack includes some beautiful period music, but Axel mostly allows the sounds of the meal to become the symphony of the feast. Made out of humility and love, the feast is Babette's supreme artistic expression, and her hedonistic present encourages the feasters to look a little more closely at their own lives, as the magical and voluptuous feast dramatically counterpoints their puritanical existence. 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. The film also contains a cultural context, as the political revolutions in 19th century Europe lead to Babette's displacement and the resultant cultural blending of Babette's southern European Catholic sensuality with sober northern European Protestantism. Their pact, to say nothing about the magnificence of the feast, ironically reveals the ineffable truth that Babette's artistic expression of love cannot be properly praised with words. Like the guests' spiritual values, it exists on a higher plane, where simple acts of generosity can erase personal prejudices. The film leaves us with a haunting echo of the roads not taken, as the characters must ponder the paths they have chosen and ask themselves: have they made the most of their gifts? Babette's Feast won several major awards, including the Academy Award for Best Foreign Film and the British BAFTA Award for Best Film of 1987.