Babette's Feast

Photo courtesy of blogs.villagevoice.com

Imagine living in a repressed Protestant town in the late 1800s. Babette’s Feast takes place in a Danish town and the first thing that the audience sees in the film is some dried fish. The people in this town ate a modest diet that included dried fish and the ever so tantalizing, beer soup.

The main characters are two sisters that are extremely pious. The film focuses on repressing one’s desires. In the early parts of the film, the older sister meets a man who plans to serve in the army. The two young adults are obviously interested in each other, but it appears that the older sister is afraid to act on her feelings. Later in the film, the younger sister meets a French singer. The man falls in love with the young woman’s voice, and shows in interest in her as well. She immediately decides she can no longer continue voice lessons in the man, and it appears that she too repressed her feelings because she believes they are impious.

When the French woman Babette decides to work for the old women, the sisters teach her how to make beer soup. As Babette eats the tasteless soup, she makes a face and continues to eat and watch the sisters from a distance. When Babette offers to make a feast for the celebration, the sisters cannot refuse.

It is interesting to see the reactions of the two sisters when they see all of the exotic animals and ingredients Babette plans to use in the food. She is planning to cook quails and turtles, and the town people are not used to such a different cuisine. For the townspeople, food was more of a necessity and not something that should provide a pleasurable experience. The older sister has a dream that Babette’s food is sinful and compares their servant to be devilish.

When Babette gets ready for the feast, the audience can compare and contrast the way the Protestants and the French eat their meals. Babette lays out a nice, white tablecloth and even makes the effort to iron it out. Contrastingly, the sisters used to eat on the wood table with no tablecloth or decent lighting. Babette lavishly sets the table with fine glassware and dishes, and enough plates for more than one course. Prior to this meal, the sisters ate with only a soup bowl and a spoon and relied on a limited menu. The guests agreed to never say a word about the meal and prepared to expect the absolute worst from the meal. However, the guests begin to realize that eating can be a pleasurable experience and indulgence can be satisfying rather than sinful. After Babette’s nephew serves the guests water, one woman drinks the water in disgust and shoves her glass to the side. She gulps the wine done rather quickly, and licks her lips.

Not only did the guests realize that food can be pleasurable, but it can bring people together. Prior to the feast, the guests were bickering with each other for days. When everyone sat down to eat together, they forgot all of their troubles as they relished the exquisite meal.

-Nidhi