Stephane Audran, Jean-Philippe Lafont,
Gudmar Wivesson, Jarl Kulle, Bibi Andersson, Bodil Kjer,
Birgitte Federspiel, Ebbe Rode, Hanne Stensgaard, Bendt Rothe. The
Danish/French Babette's Feast is based on a story by Isak Dinesen,
also the source of the very different Out of Africa (1985). Stephane
Audran plays Babette, a 19th century Parisian political refugee
who seeks shelter in a rough Danish coastal town. Philippa (Bodil
Kjer) and Martina (Birgitte Federspiel), the elderly daughters of
the town's long-dead minister, take Babette in. As revealed in flashback,
Philippa and Martina were once beautiful young women (played by
Hanne Stensgaard and Vibeke Hastrup), who'd forsaken their chances
at romance and fame, taking hollow refuge in religion. Babette holds
a secret that may very well allow the older ladies to have a second
chance at life. This is one of the great movies about food, but
there are way too many surprises in Babette's Feast to allow us
to reveal anything else at this point (except that Ingmar Bergman
"regulars" Bibi Andersson and Jarl Kulle have significant
cameo roles). |