Babette's Feast (Criterion Collection) [Blu-ray]

A Feast for Movie Lovers!
I have been waiting for a quality release of Babette's Feast for several years, and now my wish has been wonderfully granted! With newly restored video and audio, along with a new English subtitle translation, Babette's Feast has finally gotten the attention this wonderful film deserves!

For those who do not know, this is the story of a French housekeeper in a remote Danish village. She works for two sisters who live together, the daughters of the founder of a fundamentalist religious sect. When Babette learns she has won a great deal of money she decides to celebrate with a feast for the members of the sect. This feast provides the setting for the great contrasts the movie explores: asceticism versus indulgence, grace versus law, friendship versus suspicion, mercy versus righteousness. At the wonderful hospitality of Babette's table we experience not only great food but also the way that these contrasts might live in harmony. We experience, in other words, the...

The Tortoise Wins The Race / But Also Gets Eaten
In the old story "The Tortoise And The Hare" you probably remember that the tortoise, despite all odds and all expectations, wins the race. "Babette's Feast" is like that story. It's slow (but never boring), it's plodding (but never tedious), it's intentional (but never obvious). Filming a classic Danish short-story about a religious order whose piety stops just short of becoming a cult, centering on the two unmarried daughters of the group's long-deceased founder, whose decades-long compassion is only outdone by their ability to turn bread and fish into an edible stew, and including a mysterious houseguest and then friend, whose secret when revealed will not only stun, but bless, is no doubt easier said than done. But it's all magically pulled off in this beautiful film.

When I first read this short-story by author Karen Blixen-Isak Dinesen in the 1970s I loved it. When I first heard the short-story read aloud on cassette tape by Colleen Dewhurst in the 1980s I loved...

Thank you, Criterion!
. What a great movie! Actually nothing happens but much happens. If you describe it you would say a maid cooks a great meal for
two women who were good to her. But it is so much more as we delve into the back stories of the two sisters and some of the dinner guests.

The blu ray edition is beautifully done and there are fine bonus features including a new interview with Stephane Audran. The pieces on Karen Blixen are also worth watching.

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