Babette's Feast is a film I had often heard of but never seen. It is a simple and spare film but with the sumptuousness of the climactic feast. Based on a story by Karen Blixen ('Out of Africa' author), it is the story of unregretted choices seen in old age. Stephane Audran plays the eponymous heroine who escapes from Paris in the 1870s during a time of turmoil and lives for many years in a hamlet on the coast of Jutland in Denmark as a cook and servant for a pair of spinsters who made their own choices in their youth to stay with their father, the pastor of the community.
Like many European films, nothing much happens but the atmosphere, acting, and production are superb and the film leaves you at the end just as satisfied as if you had partaken of the feast yourself.
Like many European films, nothing much happens but the atmosphere, acting, and production are superb and the film leaves you at the end just as satisfied as if you had partaken of the feast yourself.