Gabriel Axel's 'Babette's Feast' (1987)
Her Head in FilmsApril 07, 202601:19:21

Gabriel Axel's 'Babette's Feast' (1987)

In this episode, I talk about Gabriel Axel's 1987 film, "Babette's Feast." The film follows Martine and Filippa—two sisters devoted to a small religious community in Denmark—and Babette, a French refugee and former chef who comes to live with them. When Babette prepares a feast to honor the centenary of their father’s birth, the meal becomes an act of artistic and emotional offering.



I talk about what it means to offer something from the heart, how the film portrays art as a form of generosity, and how the experience of the meal brings the community back to life and to each other.



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My Sources:




• Babette's Feast: "Mercy and Truth Have Met Together" by Mark Le Fanu (https://www.criterion.com/current/posts/2842-babette-s-feast-mercy-and-truth-have-met-together)


• Babette's Feast: A Fable for Culinary France by Priscilla Parkhurst Ferguson (https://press.uchicago.edu/Misc/Chicago/243230.h)