Babette’s Feast

electric shadows in the cathedral Spoiler Alert

There is a feast

This is a film that asks us to think about appetite It was a literary work

Babette’s Feast, by Karen Blixen, a short story, 1953

Out of Africa also a book, published 1937

The film was made in 1987 Karen Blixen

Danish, marries Bror Blixen in 1914 and has a farm in British East Africa She contracts syphilis, which most commentators agree is eventually cured

But… she suffers from gastric pain and is anxious about gaining weight, she smokes heavily she eats little Babette’s Feast

We are going to the west coast of Jutland

We are going to meet a Danish pastor, his two daughters and his congregation

You will be treated to a couple of flashbacks that gives a bit of the backstory Babette

Babette arrives as the sisters are growing old, she carries a letter from an old friend that tells us she is a refugee from Paris. And she also has a lottery ticket, that a friend renews for her every year.

She has come out of the Paris Commune of 1871, she has a past.

She offers to work for free The story

The pastor is a Pietist

They are Lutheran, but the emphasis falls on the church within the church meeting for bible study –Phillipa and Martina

A huge emphasis on the way you practice your faith. There is a desired piety. The question might be rather less What do I believe? but What do I do?

And that can breed a kind of anxiety Renouncing love for good works Some questions

What is happening to the two girls?

What has happened to the congregation?

What do you understand by the sin of gluttony?

And look out for Lorens the cavalry officer, the second time you meet him he offers a kind of commentary that you need to notice. The film The menu

Potage à la Tortue" (turtle soup) served with Amontillado "Blinis Demidoff" (blinis, caviar and sour cream) served with Veuve Cliquot "Cailles en Sarcophage" (quail in puff pastry shell with foie gras and truffle sauce) served with Clos de Vougeot an endive salad "Savarin au Rhum avec des Figues et Fruit Glacée" (rum sponge with figs and candied cherries) served with Champagne assorted cheeses and fruits served with Sauternes coffee with vieux marc Grande Champagne cognac.[14] Gluttony

It is not about eating too much

It is the problem of being a slave to appetite

A glutton eats with his eyes not his stomach. What does ‘enough’ look like? Generosity

Never would you give a stone To the child who begs for bread

Our problem is seldom that we ask for too much… Babette’s Feast

The sand in our hourglass will soon run out The day is conquered by the night The glories of the world are ending Babette’s Feast

The power of art