Babette's Feast

By Hayley Turner

In class we have been made to watch another movie about a repressed Protestant town. This movie Babette's Feast, unlike The White Ribbon, included characters that were not directly related to the town and characters that were not even Protestant. This variation in movies, gives Babette’s Feast an interesting comparison between the Protestant life style and those outside the Protestant ethic.

The first comparison that can be made is between the military officer and the sisters from the Protestant town. The house that the officers is from is huge and nice, the life style shown is excess, extravagance and includes showing wealth. This house is drastically different than the house in which the girls’ live. The girls’ house is small, and grey. There life has no color, is dull and they live a simpleton life.

The next major comparison can be made between the singer and one of the sisters. The singer attempts to persuade the sister to leave and start a singing career. The singer believes that everyone wants fame and money and uses this, as well as love, to try and get the sister to leave the town. However, the sister is devote in her teaching and in the Protestant ethic that she refuses to leave and remains in the town.

The last and most important comparison can be the feast sequence at the end of the movie. At the feast there are several Protestant individuals and the Officer and his aunt. The meal is being prepared by Babette a French women and is not Protestant. The Protestant guest at the feast have agreed to eat the food with out comment, or show of pleasure or enjoyment. This is not the case for the officer who shows his pleasure with each of the different courses that are presented. The interesting aspect to this sequence is how the film is able to portray the inner conflict between the Protestant guest and there ability to enjoy the food.