Film: Babette’s Feast

The ultimate Hyggefest film, Babette’s Feast, fulfills all the right cozy notes: the dreary, cold, bleak Scandinavian landscape contrasted with warm candles, roaring fireplace, and enjoying the finer delights of wine and exquisite gourmet food. Get it on DVD and watch it!

About Babette’s Feast

Babette’s Feast (Danish: Babettes gæstebud) is a 1987 Danish drama film directed by Gabriel Axel. The film’s screenplay was written by Axel based on the story by Isak Dinesen (Karen Blixen). Produced by Just Betzer, Bo Christensen, and Benni Korzen with funding from the Danish Film Institute, Babette’s Feast was the first Danish cinema film of a Blixen story. It was also the first Danish film to win the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film. The film premiered in the Un Certain Regard section of the 1987 Cannes Film Festival.

Menu

The seven-course menu in the film consisted of:

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

Reception

Upon its release in 1987, Babette’s Feast received overwhelmingly positive reviews. The film won the 1987 Best Foreign Language Film at the Academy Awards. It also received the BAFTAFilm Award for Best Film Not in the English Language. In Denmark, it won both the Bodil and Robert awards for Best Danish Film of the Year. The film was nominated and/or won several other awards including a Golden Globe nomination, the Grand Prix (Belgian Film Critics Association) award and a Cannes Film Festival special prize.

It is a favourite film of Pope Francis.

As of March 2016, the film maintained a 96% approval rating on the Rotten Tomatoes aggregate review website. After the film’s release, several restaurants offered recreations of the film’s menu.