Porthole

Babette's Feast

30DBC: "Today, let’s talk movies. What was the most recent movie you watched? Have you been to the theater recently? What movie are you looking forward to? What is your favorite movie of all time?

Since I was talking to someone about this just this afternoon. :

Babette's Feast

Not all foodie films are equal. Yes, there is a luscious meal which allows the 12 guests to heal. Because... this movie is all about being wounded like the elderly spinsters, Phillipa and Martine, like the white-haired congregation of pious believers, like Babette who fled traumatized from France. It's a movie that wounds at the beginning and then — slowly but like a force of nature — heals.

If you have doubts about the goodness of humanity this film is for you!

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.

I found Karen Blixen's book that includes this story at a mini-library in Ringebu last year. My copy is a translation from the original Danish into Norwegian "Babettes gjestebud". It's a long short story, pages 96-130 or 35 pages. The original setting in the book is the small village of Berlevåg in Northern Norway (Finnmark)! But in the movie it's a lonely stretch of Danish Jutland (the emptiness is part of the story).

By-the-way, I'm not the only admirer of the film. It's the favorite film of Pope Francis.



From the toast:

Mercy and truth have met together .
Righteousness and bliss shall kiss one another.

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