Yar, you be here: Babette's Feast > Customer Reviews

Babette's Feast Customer Reviews (28 - 30 of 40 Reviews)

Do yourself a favor and watch this movie - then share it.
I don't know about you, but I LOVE to have experiences that just fill me with joy. Even better, if it's an experience that is easily shared, I like sharing it with my friends and loved ones. This film is one of those experiences. This DVD is an excellent transfer and you can just SMELL the feast that Babette is cooking up in the centerpiece of the story. But the story isn't about the feast any more than "Casablanca" is about a city in Morocco. The story is about sacrifice and friendship and honor. Many characters in this film make difficult choices during their lives, and although you don't necessarily see regret over and over, you can plainly see silent reflective thoughts about "what might have been".

If movies are shown in heaven, I would guess that the group of angels gathered in front of the current showing of "Babette's Feast" is a large one.

My favorite movie
This movie is my favorite ever. The scenery is beautiful, the acting is extraordinary, the narration is poetic. Babette's feast is not some "movie with a message" otherwise it wouldn't be any good. But it's so real and poignant that much truth can be seen in it, spiritual truth and insights which shed light onto human nature. The relationships are very natural and believable, but the style of narration keeps the story from any kind of overly-subjective viewpoint which infects many movies which delve into human relationships. The actions and conversations arise very naturally and advance the plot superbly.

Another thing which I love about the movie is that it reveals something about the nature of good, evil, grace and redemption. None of the acting characters in the movie are "evil"; however many are infected with smaller sins of pettiness, lack of generosity, glorying in the defeat of others, scrupulosity, jealousy, etc. This movie shows how these defects - small but many - have taken all the joy and pleasure out of life for those suffering under them and that to forgive and be forgiven is necessary to restore the joy of life. Grace, in this case the gift of Babette, is necessary to occasion the redemptive action.

But this really *is* Caille en Sarcophage!
For years I had heard that this was a good movie, but I resisted seeing it. How could a Danish movie about a dinner be all that compelling? I finally broke down and rented it - and watched it, stunned. This is truly a great film.

The story is simple. Two pious Danish sisters hire a French maid, Babette, out of a sense of charity. Fourteen years later, Babette wins the lottery. Out of her winnings, she proposes to serve the sisters and their fellow religionists a meal.

The film is simple. And like all things that are truly simple, it is a very, very rich feast.

The film can be enjoyed on many levels, but it is an overtly Christian film; and the feast is the Lord's Supper. Babette's gift to the sisters and their community is the gift of grace. Unasked for, unearned, and of inestimable value.

The sisters were daughters of a stern Protestant who had formed a devout community. When the sisters were young and beautiful, they were each tempted by the chance to have great love and success outside their community. But they remained loyal to their father and their faith. After their father died, they carried on with their faith community. But as the years passed by, bickering and dissension set in.

One rainy day, there is a knock on the door and Babette appears in their doorway. She has a letter of introduction from one of the sister's old love, and they decide to take her in. Babette quietly makes herself indispensable to the sisters and the entire village. One day, she wins the lottery, and the sisters assume that she will now leave them. Before leaving them, however, she insists on serving them a proper French meal.

The meal itself is the center of the film, and during that meal all the threads of the film are richly woven together. The pious sisters and their community finally learn the true depths of faith - something which is more than just what we believe, but rather also reflects what we do and the love with which we do it. They are twelve to supper, and that number is no accident. Nor is the grace that flows through that meal. Any Christian can appreciate its significance. And anyone who loves the Eucharist can only smile in joy, when one of the guests identifies the main dish as "Caille en Sarcophage" (Quail in a sarcophagus.) He retails a story of the time he ate this extraordinary meal in a fine Parisian restaurant. The other guests smile, but miss his drift. And he exclaims, "But this really *is* Caille en Sarcophage!" They still do not understand, but the meal works its magic nonetheless.

This is a film of the sacramental vision - God's rich love reaching out to us body and soul.

Previous Page

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14

Next Page