Because of that we are transformed, just as the old men and women who ate Babette’s feast were transformed, but in an even more radical way.”Ĭhapman’s book also includes many of her own recipes, not as lavish as the food prepared by Babette, but sounding delicious all the same. We don’t appreciate it even remotely sufficiently. He pours out His life unceasingly and without limits for us and then gives us that life through the Eucharist. He became man, gave his life on Calvary, and by some miracle of grace, re-presents that sacrifice in every Mass, in every parish, in every corner of the world. She continues: “That’s what God has done for us in the Eucharist. But out of that wild generosity and the magnificent meal it creates, friendships are restored, wounds healed and joy returns to a joyless community.” She spends everything she has to give two unappreciative old ladies and their equally unappreciative (save for one) friends a feast worthy of a king. Babette is a former chef living as a humble servant, who wins the lottery and spends it all on a lavish meal for her employers. It bears all the hallmarks of Blixen’s eccentric, thought-provoking view of life: it is theatrical, ironic, insightful and otherworldly.Ĭhapman writes about the film: “It is a beautiful tribute to the generosity of God. This wonderful film (which is, incidentally, on the Vatican’s list of recommended films) was inspired by a short story of Karen Blixen, the Danish author of Seven Gothic Tales. One of these, naturally enough, is Babette’s Feast. She is said to have remarked that she was not that good of an actress.In The Catholic Table by Emily Stimpson Chapman, which I blogged about last week, the author lists a few films which, in her words, “sense the sacramentality of supper and its power to bring grace into people’s homes and lives.” In the scenes where she is enjoying sips of wine while preparing the dinner, it had to be real wine, not the usual fruit juice on film sets. She comfortably and gracefully commands the kitchen in every frame. In ‘real life’ Audran loved cooking and it shows. Watching the wonderful actress, the late Stéphane Audran as she works in the kitchen is a joy. The film builds slowly and richly to the evening of feast. She plans a spectacular French dinner for them and for the small congregation to celebrate what would have been their father’s 100th birthday. The years go by and Babette, who has come into some good luck, wishes to repay the generosity of the sisters.
Published in 1958 as part of Dinesen’s short story collection Anecdotes of Destiny, Babette’s Feast is the story of two gentle and pious sisters who give Babette, a French refugee, shelter in a tiny Scandinavian village.
0 kommentar(er)
