Babettes gæstebud (1987)

Director:

Gabriel Axel

Writers:

Karen Blixen (novel)
Gabriel Axel (screenplay)

Release Date:

4 March 1988 (USA)

Genre:

Drama | Music | Romance

Plot:

In 19th century Denmark, two adult sisters live in an isolated village with their father, who is the...

Plot Keywords:

Feast | Denmark | Refugee | Cavalry Officer | Rejected Lover

Awards:

Won Oscar. Another 10 wins & 6 nominations

Cast

  (Cast overview, first billed only)

Stéphane Audran	...	Babette Hersant (as Stephane Audran)
Bodil Kjer	...	Filippa
Birgitte Federspiel	...	Martine
Jarl Kulle	...	General Lorens Löwenhielm
Jean-Philippe Lafont	...	Achille Papin (as Jean Philippe Lafont)
Bibi Andersson	...	Svensk hofdame
Ghita Nørby	...	Narrator
Asta Esper Hagen Andersen	...	Anna (as Asta Esper Andersen)
Thomas Antoni	...	Svensk Lieutenant
Gert Bastian	...	Poor Man
Viggo Bentzon	...	Fisherman in Rowboat
Vibeke Hastrup	...	Young Martine
Therese Hojgaard Christensen	...	Martha
Pouel Kern	...	The Minister
Cay Kristiansen	...	Poul

Also Known As:

Babette's Feast (USA)

Runtime:

102 min

Country:

Denmark

Language:

Danish | Swedish | French

Color:

Color (Eastmancolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.66 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby

Certification:

Singapore:PG | South Korea:All | Japan:G (2009) | Argentina:Atp | Australia:G | Chile:TE | Finland:S | Iceland:L | Peru:PT | Sweden:7 | USA:G | West Germany:6

Filming Locations:

Copenhagen, Denmark

Company:

Panorama Film A/S

Quotes:

Achille Papin: The Emperor will come to hear you, and so will the modest seamstress. You have enough talent to distract the rich and to comfort the poor.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in "Nurse Jackie: Pill-O-Matix (#1.11)" (2009)

Soundtrack:

Don Giovanni

A French cook/housekeeper is sent to aid a pair of religious Danish sisters who have devoted their lives to the service of God and their small town.

This delicately told and moving story about the two devout daughters of a Danish Lutheran minister and their French servant is one of the finest European films of the 1980s. Set in a small, remote, austere Danish seaside town in the mid-19th century, the daughters devote their lives to continuing the work of their father in service of God, and in care for their needy townspeople. One of the daughters had turned down a promising opera career -- and the love of her French voice coach (a famous opera singer himself) -- to remain with her father and the town. Many years later the French singer sends a woman (Babette) -- who had lost her family in an outbreak of civil war -- to live with the sisters. She turns out to be an excellent cook, housekeeper and a shrewd shopper. The story culminates in a sumptuous feast prepared by Babette coinciding with a memorial to the reverend minister's 100th birthday. This delicious screenplay was adapted from the Isak Denisson (pen name for Karen Blixen) short story originally published in the Ladies Home Journal.