Babette Hersant .. Stéphane Audran Filippa... Bodil Kjer Martine... Birgitte Federspiel General Lorens Léwenbielm ... Jacl Kulle Achille Papin... Jean-Philippe Lafont Swedish lady-in-coaiting .. Bibi Andersson Young Martine .. Vibeke Hastrup Young Filippa... Hanne Stensgaard Widow ... Lisbeth Movin Clristopher .. Bbbe Rode (Old Nielsen ... Bendlt Rothe Captain... Preben Lerdorff Rye Driver... Axel Strobye Lieutenant Lorens Lowenbielm ... Gudmar Wivesson Narrator... Ghita Norby Pastor... Powel Kern Director... Gabriel Axel Screenplay by ... Gabriel Axel by... Karen Blixen (Isak Dinesen) Director of photography .. Henning Kristiansen, DFF cited by .. Finn Henriksen Production designer... Sven Wichmann Composer... Per Norgaard stronomic consultant... Jan Pedersen Hauberg, Produced by... Just Betzer From ast ie Costumes... AnneliKeen sen Store courtesy of Chrsion Braud Those Producer Isa Ch © Eneetve prodaces Peter Becker, Kim Hendrickson, Fei Taka, Jonathan Trl» Techni drestoe Lee Kine * Director of production: Angie Bucknell» Disctor of engineering or digital medi: Chis “embomer» Sabie apeviso: Bret Sirlow «Sal alin: Jobn Gud Subnet Sabu « Reseach ecto: Alesandre Nain Elzabeh Production soit Puke ART An decor and designer Sash Habibi Are production coordinator: Wiliam Bree + At asistan: Jue Sussman + Vidcogsaphics manager Shayne Christiansen EDITORIAL Evol detor:Elzsbeh Helio * Eioris manage: Brian “McCright «Stal wr: Michal Korsky + Astociste eer Anna Thoengate AUDIO Andi supersior: Ryan Flings * Audio rstorstion: Christopher ‘Ayoub «Supplemental audi: Gabe Likert Gene Park, Michal W. Wise QUALITY CONTROL/DMAGE RESTORATION QC and restoration manage ‘Stéphane Pechaman * QC ad estan: Sor Cammings, Phoebe Harmon, Betsy Jones, re Lave, Cara Shtza, Giles Sherwood, Jordan Sve, Russel Sith Aboat the Transfer Babe's Fo «ed ines orignal appect eto of Lt. On stand 43 age wll appen leseboned. On standard and widescreen teins, Hack bars may abo be visible on the fan gto mann the proper sren rat Thin dg ante was ered in 2K cescluton onan ARRISCAN fl scan fi Copenhagen, Thowsands of nance of di debi sratches, splices w marly emaved using MTT's DRS, wile Dig Visors Phoenix wa ured for srl din gn he 35 mm oil eamer neptve at Nordisk Fim ShorGut in fusion jie and cer The orgs 2. suround soundeac was remastered at 24-bi fo soundiack native. licks, humps, his and ham were manly removed using ProTools HD, Crackle wa tented ing AvioC e's interated works the 35mm opt Tenser ine * Color: Le Kline/Crie msrng Get, Ie, Rochester, NY Special Thanks Michel Ameres; Stéphane Auden Gail Axo Peter Bars Wim Becker New York * DVD Bran Belovaras Surah Finkle Jans Fs yndieyBlsng, Kimberly Witherspoon Tnhell Management Fabien Brae, Vincent Pl-Bonenr/ Caro is: Jes CaponePlna, NYC; Bean Carmody Sumul Cheney; Thomas Cinensen Marne Jes/ Danish Fil Inet Mere Drilings Shere Fell Random House isla Petes Ferguson Rober Facer Jnee Gorm: Steve Geil Lenn Hanpand/Nonds Flin Production A/S Janet Hicks Janet Hika/ ARS; Tine oj Shortt; Mark ldo Jos! Kono Thomas Krinensen; Fon Kubo Mork Le Fann, Catherine Leleboe/ Rare Bien Moseums Csey Moor: Karin Moreh: Anne Mora/MaMA; Ek Nybors; Robert Fern, Jenny Thoe/Gyenal Sande PsA Shillan Clie See, Chiian Bead Thor pay Ralf Lei Singer Ee Whi“Mercy and Truth Have Met Together” “The movie Babette’ Feet (1987) is adapted from ashore story by the famous Danish writer Karen Blxen (1885-1962), who wrote under the pen name of Isak Dinesen, On the whole, stories are easier to adapt for cinema than novels: their quality of suecinetess seems to expand rather naturally into the running time of the average art-house movie. There isn't as much pruning todo as there is with a novel, so that, othe things being equal, there i fairer chance ofthe cinematic outcome being faithful vo the spirit of the original. “The tale takes us into the milie ofa litle Scandinavian fishing village toward the end ofthe nineteenth century, where a widowed pastor, aided by his ewo daughters, Martine and Philippa (christened, we ae piquantly told, “after Martin Luther and his friend Philipp Melanchthon”), has set up an informal religious network devoted to hymn singing and local works of charity. The girls, who are prety and talented as well as pious, would in the natural course of affairs seek husbands—except thatthe pastor, who iin bother ways not a bad man, claims cha he needs them for his ministry, and selfishly drives off cheie suitors. "This registers, unconsciously, as a sin against the spirit, and one is not surprised to eat chat, after che pastor's death, the lite circle of believers becomes riven by disputes. Years go by (as they say in stories), and into the neighborhood comes another stringer, the handsome and mysterious Frenchwoman Babette a refugee from the Paris Commune, whois taken on by the sisters, after initial misgivings om their part, as their cook and general servant. The extraordinary meal that she provides forthe believers in due ‘course to celebrate the old pastor's centenary turns into an occasion that will transform ll oftheir ves, i its revelation ofthe benign paths of destin. “Those are the bare bones ofthe narrative. The Danish director Gabriel ‘Axel’ film holds fast co Dinesen’s text, I think, in all important particulars; but of course there ate some changes, and these are interesting to contemplate. Why should the movie be set in Denmark, for example, when the story is located in Norway? In an interview with the film scholar Ib Bondebjerg, Axel sid that this decison was essentially visual it had ro do ‘with matters of color and contrast, Berlevaag, the Norwegian town where Dinesen set the story (its located under the mountains, near Berlevaag Fjord, inthe story's opening paragraph), was simply 100 “pastel-colored”"— {00 tourist-friendly—for the filmmaker's requirements, The production ‘needed, Axel thought, a more somber locality, to bring out the full glory ‘of the transformation that eventually takes plhee, when the gift of the feast converts—if only, perhaps, temporailythe mundane habitation of the villagers into a shining tle corner of paradise. As well as bing logistically _more convenient for what was, afterall, Danish production, the west coast of Denmark's Jutland region, where the story was moved, provides, to perfection, the sort of lonely and unspoiled wildness of landscape that ‘Axel and bis team were aiming for “The change in location also had certain consequences for the nguages iis Danish we hear on the soundtrack rather than Norwegian. Originally ‘published in English (not her native tongue but a language Dinesen had tnastered), the story could, I suppose, have been shot in English too—as an “international coproduction.” That would have been pity though. Now that Scandi-hrillets ike the series The Killing have made such an impact on ‘our television habits, we are alla bit more used to hearing spoken Danish, ‘but back inthe eighties the experience, for foreigners, was rare. Danish speech is sometimes disparaged, even by the Danes themselves, as being, slightly rough on the ea, but in chis film ie is our privilege ro hear che language spoken with outstanding old-fashioned elegance by two of Denmark's greatest classical actresses, Boil Kjer, who plays Filippa (ait is spelled inthe film), and Birgit Federspiel, who plays Martine (viewers may recognize her from Carl Theodor Dreyer’ 1985 masterpiece Ordet, as the young farmer's wife who tragically dies in childbirth. I should also take the opportunity to mention the lovely voice-over that accompanies the movie, spoken by another much-admired Danish actress, Ghita Notbys ‘Axel said that he wanted a hint of the presence of Dinesen herself to be «derectible inthe finshed movie, and this was his way of providing it ‘Besides the Danish side of things, there are also the French and Swedish components of the film to consider, the frst of these present, of couse, inthe original Babette, played by Stéphane Audran, was going tobea Frenchwoman in any adaptation—and the later an addition by the filmmakers. I don’t know whether it was a condition ofthe production ‘contract putin place to raise funds from Swedish sources, but the idea of| ‘making General Lorens Léwenhielm, Martine’ aristocratic former suitor, Swedish rather than Danish army officer and of casting the eminent actor Jarl Kull, from Skine, inthe role, was eleaey an inspiration. One ‘ean never be totally objective about such things, but most people think, ‘would age that Swedish, in contrast ro Danish, is beautiful, and pat of the effect of Lowenbieln’s great speech atthe conclusion of the dinner derives from the fae that i is delivered in what must surely be one of the world’s most mellifluous languages. Film, anyway, has a way of being a more concrete and physical medium than iverature, Certain aspects of Dinesen’s story come to have special salience in the film, Maybe the beauty ofthe language is one of them, because now one can actualy bear the Scandinavian intonation, ‘whereas on the page you ean only imagine it. (Perhaps i is worth saying in passing chat Swedish and Danish are not so far apart linguistically as to be ‘mutually incomprehensible, so that it works on the level of simple realism that Lowenhielm’s listeners need no interpretation.) Music provides a similar case in points the opera singer Achille Papin's “seduction” of Filippa while teaching her the famous duet from Don Gioosfsithfully transcribes an episode from the original (Dinesen goes s0 far as to remind har readers of the melody by printing a couple of bars of it on the page). Yet in the movi, the sequence springs to life with double foree—the vivid, theatrical ardor of Jean-Philippe Lafont (playing Papin) serving to reinforce, through his gestures and humor and physicality, the spiritual and emotional impact ofthe singin. (Other details from the story, once translated onto the sereen, ‘emerge with what one can ony cll a surrealistic particularity. am thinking ofthe image that all viewers remember, of the enormous, sad turtle stranded on the sideboard, awaiting its transformation inco soup; ‘or that ofthe chiruping flock of caged qual that Babette cates in front cof her through the village street, oblivious as yet (poor creatures) of the role they are to play inthe creation ofa culinary masterpiece. About their fate cher is no sentimentality though: the film shows (something rot described in che story) ther bald litle heads being propped up in coffins of pastry before they are placed in the oven. The reason for this ‘ornamental flourish by Axl is equally unsentimental: thie brains area delicacy that Lowenhielm, with his customary urbanity, knows how to sccess with etiquette, (le cracks the litle skull with his eth and sucks ‘out the contents ina single draft.) “Film language is ll about reference,” ‘Axel told Bondebjerg, “We ordered everything from Paris, soll the porcelain and silver were completely authentic. The food included real caviar, real ales en sarcophage, with tutes and authentic sauces. We did absolutely everything to ensure thatthe feast was trly ‘grandiose’ That ‘was the point of toning everything else dawn, because you have to begin modestly if you wane to conclude with én.” “The French word élor isan appropriate one for Axel to use; he lived for many years in France as a young man and shares something of Dinesen’s cosmopolitanism, Having trained as an actor in Paris under the legendary Louis Jouvet, he came to prominence back in Denmark in the early fifties as a master of the new genre of television drama, before moving over to cinema, where he directed an assortment of popular comedies. Before Babette’s Feast his main moment of ingerational recognition had been for an austere medieval epic set in Teland, The Red Mande (1967), widely released in America though hae was probably better known domestically during tha period asthe documentary investigator of Denmark's liberal sexual motes (1968's Sex and the Lao is a characteristic vtle—and was instrumental in the following year's abolition of film censorship). His essential eclecticism ‘of outlook, combined with a fluency of composition that makes no great chims to distinguish between popular and high art, has meant that, the pantheon of Danish filmmaking, Axel has missed out on the prestige thae comes from being thought of as an “autews:” But perfection in film artis not exclusively the province of auteurs. In Babete's Fess, one sces all the signs ofa director who, ehrough long and classical eaining, has litle left to learn about the craft of flmmaking—and relly, when it comes tit, lite left to lean about life. Axel waited nil his sixty- ninth year to direct the flm—one of the reasons, surely why the end result isso mellow "The movie came out at a serendipitous moment. Sydney Pollack’s (Oscar-winning Out of Aftice (1985) had put Dinesen’s name on the map for international cinemagoers 3 year or two earlier, so the producers of Babete’s Feast (the veteran company Nordisk) were able to raise decent money against it. Ar che same time, there were other filmic strings in the vicinity. Palle the Conpeero,dtected by Bille August—with a majorperformance by Max von Sydow—would be released in the US. in 1988 and, like Babe's Feast, won an Oscar for best foreign-language film, ‘Von Sydow, atthe height of his powers, had just reeenly begun to turn his talents to directing; hs movie version of Herman Bang’s period tale Ved Vejen, entitled Katine (1988), remains, I think, along with Babete's Feast, one of the finest art-house films of te eighties. So one ‘ould definitely say that Scandinavian film was “inthe az” Surfacing, asit did, abouta decade ahead ofthe Dogena boom, Babete's Feast is a timely reminder, if reminder is needed, thatthe native film industry of ‘Denmark didn't come to hak with the passing of Dreyer, ‘The quality ofthe film is, inthe end, a spiritual one (which is why ‘mention of Dreyer is merited). Since its release cities have pointed ‘out thatthe story is open to religious interpretation, which ifr, and fine, as long as one understands what is meant by cis. Certainly, story and film are studded with religious references—to the Last Supper, to sacramental grace, to the importance of charity, and so on —but given ‘thatthe milieu being depicted i religious, this should contain nothing 10 suprise us. Plainly, as viewers, we need 10 acknowledge a certain irony and genial good humor being dtected agsnst the narrowness of the village sectarian, while also taking the trouble to observe tha the critique provided (suchas i is) is congruene with broadly Christian sentiment. Asin Order, there is puritanical Christianity and a more enlightened Christianity “ofthe body.” The feast given by Baberce to the pious townspeople opens their minds tothe notion tha the pleasures of the senses aren't necessarily sinful, but the satire involved hare is very gentle, and it would be false to interpret the great sequence ‘we are talking about as some simple endorsement of epicureanism, Actually, you could argue chat the il itself resists interpretation, because, as with the story, everyone already understands its essence. ‘We take from it the sentiments and epigrams that appeal to us: "A great, artist is never poor” or "That which we have chosen is given us and that which we have refused is also granted us." Or the poignant lst line of the general's speech: “For mercy and truth have met together Righteousness and bliss have kissed one anothet!” These are delicate and beautiful sencentiae, and may be most of what we remember when, having seen the film, we come to ask ourselves where its wisdom lies ‘Obviously, however, there should be room to go further: Yet deeper meditation on the issue of interpretation serves only to conficm the truth that absolute lucidity—which is what we get here and what every viewer senses—ean coexist with naratve strategies that are really rather complex. Thus there are two stores, at last, going on in the closing stages of the film. Babecte is busy showing us that, the arts is abl ro respond to adversity with self-denying style and generosity, while Lowenhielm, in his after-dinner specch to the guests, is demonstrating that our choices in life—even the bad ones—are all ultimately redeemable and beneficent. Somehow, these two positions meet; ata certain level, they are identical postulates, For if Lowenhielm never sees Babete (she remains in the kitchen, outside his range of vision), he guesses she's chere—invisile ike grace—for the simple reason tat, ears ago in Paris, he attended a similar feast, and there is only one person in the world who could have authored this one. “Under her eyes, things moved into theie proper places.” Admirable Babette! Admirable heroine: at once grande dame and ‘democratic freedom fighter, secure in her pride and humilcy and undaunted by life's various batterings. Her independence appeals to the modern viewer, I think. One could even eal this a feminist movie. We can agre, at any rate, chat Audran’s performance is serene and authoritative. Could the woman she is playing have been based ‘on a once living person? At bottom, one never really knows where stories come from, especially the good ones, Dinesen's sty has an absolute “rightness” about it that we recognize from classical fairy tales. Its tone, is humor, its kindness, its flishes of sardonic wit, the ‘ease and confidence of its storytelling all these atributes seem, at times, self-perpetuating, and independent of mere human agency. It isasif che bes stories, miraculously, write themselves, Axel’ film manages to capture this anonymous and folklorish quality: Faithful to the story he has made grace visible, and given us, in addition, ‘wonderful lesson in courtesy Mar: Le Fan, soho currently hold post at University College Landon, lived for many year ix Denmark, were be taught atthe European Film College. He publishes on world cinema in Sight 8 Sound and Post, and isthe author ofewo studies of clase lmmakers: The Cinema of Andrei Tarkovsky (1987) and Mizoguchi and Japan (2005).