Babettes gæstebud (1987)

Babettes gaestebud is a slightly overlooked Danish movie about faith ... and food. It's one of those movie I've watched several times over the years and every time I watch it I notice some new detail. I don't really know anything about the director, Gabriel Axel, except that he made this film and it's fabulous. Babettes gaestebud is one of those rare films in which every scene is flawless, ripe with comedy and beauty, small details and great acting that suits the mood of the film. Two sisters live in a small community of religious people in the coast of Jutland. We're talking 1800's. Their father was a priest. When they were young, suitors swarmed around them. Now, they live on their own. They do charity work and go to church. A woman from France, Babette, suddenly arrives at their doorstep. One of the suitors sends her there. She has fled France and, supposedly, the Parisian Commune of 1871. She works for them - for free - as maid and cook. Babette receives a letter. It turns out she has won at the lottery. She decides to spend all the money on a French dinner in honor of the sisters' later father, the priest. But neither the sisters, nor the villagers, are crazy about the idea. They find it sacriligeous. Food and wine! Earthly pleasures represent Satan's temptations. The villagers, who spend their days slandering one another, decide to resist the sensations of the food and drink by prending that they feel no taste. Do they succeed? No.

Why is this film so good? One: it is one of the very few movies that takes depiction of faith seriously. Faith, in this movie, is understood as our relations to one another. The change that the characters go through are depicted without any big gestures, clearly, but not in a sentimental way. Two: the images of the raw nature of Jutland are stunning. Three: There is a quiet sort of humor in this movie that I really appreciate. A Swedish cavalry officers, one of the suitors, is told by his mates to get his shit together. This guy is the sort who stands on a mountain, brooding. He simply responds, "ääh" and for some reason the entire character comes to life during the course of a few seconds. This goes for almost all characters in the film. A glance, a sardonic remark, a smirk reveals who they are. Gabriel Axel needs no lenghty dialogues or scenes in which the characters are thoroughly PRESENTED to the viewer.

(There are still many questions one could pursue in relation to this film if one wants to. Does it glorify sacrifice? Or is it about sacrifice at all? Sacrifice and art?)

I watched this on yet another crappy VHS and after Babette's gästabud some has had the poor taste to record Torsk på Tallinn. Which I watched, afterwards.