The Symbolism of Babette's Feast

[@kimmysophiabrown4807]

I loved this movie in 1988 when I was 38, and watched it again this evening, 30 years later, aging as the sisters themselves did in the film. Ironically funny to me. And what a dream of a movie it is, not losing a bit of its beauty and depth. I really appreciate this take on the whole thing, and now want to read the short story.

[@sandip.7968]

What a marvelous, gorgeous summary of the movie! I am mesmerized, captivated, fascinated and now yearn to see the entire film.

[@videogreats4442]

There can be no.better summation of arguably one of the best movies ever.produced. You bring together the physical and the metaphysical worlds in a most profoundly insightful and articulate way. Thank you.

[@itsmeGeorgina]

Thanks for this wonderful review !! I have watched this movie every christmas for 10 years, and in that time it has become one of my favourite movies of all time ❤😂❤😊

[@NicoJvanZyl]

Wonderful, insightful and touching in its clear, reverant analysis...illuminating to revisit this great film in this revealing way.

[@johnbarnes5845]

Splendid! I now have a better understanding of why I was so moved by this film.

[@nikolaacimovic8854]

This is one of the best films ever ever ever!!!Thank you so much....

[@ShamirChannel777]

Beauty, beautiful. This explanation made me love more this unforgettable film. Thanks.

[@cynthiasargent]

I love it so much, I'll be sharing to my close friends, thank you for this video it's so beautiful!

[@demetriuswilliams2865]

Dude your critique of the movie was just as beautiful as the movie itself.Thanks.That was a gifted critique.

[@robertlonghi7949]

Thank you very much. The commentary was beautiful.

[@natalinaconidi6313]

That's why it was then and still remains my numero 1❤Film, next being Antonia's Tree❤

[@kevindahlenburg2528]

Wonderful analysis! I watch this movie at least once a year and have read the actual story once. After watching the video, I want to reread it. Thanks so much.

[@msamsonrn1]

This is my favorite movie and I appreciate this so much.

[@emilyeyringrobertson]

This was the discussion I was needing after listening to the story again. I got a lot from it and felt a lot but I knew there was a lot more there that I wasn’t grasping. Thanks for unfolding it so beautifully. I’m excited to check out your other videos.

[@nyckolaus]

Absolutely lovely. Thank you.

[@mehranfayaaz6974]

Vowwwww. It was fantastic decryption. I have to read it again👏🏼👍🏼

[@ProdigalCatholic]

Great summary! Thanks for putting so much effort into this

[@cynthiasargent]

I love it, thank you so much for this.

[@phsasser]

This was great. I'm a committed devotee of Dinesen and I learned a lot, here. Another example supporting your thesis: General Loewenhielm is riding in the carriage with his aunt to attend the feast; he's thinking back over his life and comes to the conclusion that "the world was not a moral, but a mystic, concern." That moral/mystic dichotomy fits very well, it seems, in your "two mountains", "spiritual/sensual" scheme, with the mystical represented by Babette and the moral being represented by the sisters.

[@Magnulus76]

I think the moral/mystical is the correct dichotomy. "Spiritual/sensual"... not so much. This is a film about Lutherans, not Puritans. Lutherans, even Pietists, appreciate beauty, in a sacred context. The problem with the Pietists is they have lost a mystical vision of their community, and their religious lives have just become formulaic piety or works-righteousness. They even begin to doubt God's grace and mercy, which is why they quarrel and cannot forgive old wounds.

[@Magnulus76]

This film has alot of deeply Christian themes and symbols, not surprising given it's context in a Lutheran Pietist community. It deals with spiritual themes like grace, free will, human finitude, hospitality, apokatastasis (the reconciliation of all things in the world to come). I don't necessarily see the contrast between spiritual and physical, that isn't as much a part of Lutheran Pietism as it is in Anglo-American Evangelicalism (notice the large crucifix in the church, or the statue of Jesus in the sister's house- Lutherans don't pit the material against the spiritual, but believe the two can be reconciled, that the spiritual perfects the physical or sensuous and can participate in it). There's more of a contrast between the worldly and the sacred. Babette represents the worldly outsider who challenges the "sacred" order (in a much needed way), the worldly is transfigured into something spiritual, which produces healing (a very Lutheran theme). What I do see is in the finitude of human striving and human freedom (this is rather akin to Kiekegaard's observation of the "sickness unto death", in fact, that humans cannot find the lasting fulfillment that bourgeois society promises), and how this is overcome or reconciled by God's grace. Lutheranism, which is the cultural background for this film, like Calvinists, believed in the futility or inability of the human will, but interpret this in a confident light- since God's will is unwavering and eternal, God's grace is guaranteed (see the General's toast for an example of how this plays out). The Pietists have lost sight of all this, focusing on the mere externalities of their religion, their human works of piety, and losing the mystical core, the theoria or vision, contributing to their unforgiveness and quarrels, and it takes the face of a stranger who is also a victim to step in and rescue them from their loss (another Christian theme, finding grace in welcoming the stranger). So now they can earnestly again believe in the New Jerusalem because they have gotten a taste of it for themselves through partaking of a sacred meal, one that costs the victim everything (another Christ allusion).

[@barrykurth2789]

I watched it years ago, and did not understand then, but do now, that the General's speech is a commentary on Universal Salvation.

[@janicecagan-teuber5485]

Now I want to read the story. I saw the film many moons ago and loved it. My husband and I talk about it to this day (2022).

[@annamariadelgado856]

A beautiful reflection on one of my favorite films Thank you. 🙏🏼

[@rubylancelin3639]

The story was told beautifully.

[@doreenodonnell9116]

Wonderful analysis! I have watched this lovely film more than ten times. The next time I watch it, I will have your comments in mind. One correction. The young Lorens Lowenhielm married a lady in waiting.

[@giuseppelogiurato5718]

Very insightful. I already loved this film, and now I love it even more! I did not perceive the analogy of "liturgy" before, but I admit that it's spot-on... For sure, the feast was a holy liturgy... What a great film! Great analysis! ❤

[@thearchive9376]

Purely Sublime ! I cried watching this...

[@carambaricuti]

Great Summary....I also found some relation between the characters stories and the seven sins...they arrived to the house with different "not resolved issues" - infidelity (lust), jealousy between sisters (envy), two brothers fighting for and old money problem (greed),....there's another brother not very brilliant (sloth)... the general is Pride, the wrath is present in each old person from the town before the dinner (except Martina and Fillipa) and the gluttony same case...in each person during the dinner. After the dinner....all the sins dissappear . And extra thing....this town acts like an island...foreign people arrive and leave...but the citizens stay forever...Fillipa and Martina were both tempted to depart....but they choose stay ...The twist in the story is Babette, who arrives but even when she has the chances to return to paris..she decides to stay. Looks like this village represents some nirvana,a metaphor for some elevated place of moral...you can go there...take a look...but if your pride is too high...you return to your old life. Babette was the best in Paris...but once she arrives to Jutland she evolved to some superior human being and she prefer to be stay...poor but feel fullfilled something you can see this at the end of the dinner when she "lost" all her money...but she drinks the little cup of wine with a tremendous peace....no regrets. I hope my post can be clear...my english is not so good...but I love films and this movie can be analized in depth for hours...and more fun with a nice dinner with friends :) Thanks for your video.

[@TheBibleisArt]

Oh interesting

[@pninnabokov3734]

Diego, thank you for a fascinating and spot-on interpretation of this majestic work of cinema! Being open to analyses for hours is precisely what makes any work of Art a masterpiece. I, too, very much enjoy superlative Cinema and Literature for their ability to elevate the human spirit and challenge the intellect. Your English is excellent! GB and Bon Appétit!

[@gabygruntz8349]

Soo cool....beautiful ..... thankyou sooooo much...god Bless you

[@mariafaustfotografia8884]

Fantastic! Thanks from Brazil, where we do love Karen Blixen ❣️👏🏻

[@Wotan123456789]

Thanks for this. I really appreciated watching it.

[@zz3873]

Thank you for helping understand the beauty of this story

[@marcielleb]

How beautiful. I saw this film in the seventies and now, thanks to your explanations, I will be able to really dig deep into it. I have thought over the years about the mixture of sensuality and spirituality. See the songs of Leonard Cohen and Cat Stevens.

[@janicecagan-teuber5485]

Wonderful explication of a most wonderful film.

[@annmariemichaels2]

Absolutely wonderful. Thank you.

[@Hollis_has_questions]

Wow, did we see the same film? I think that Pope Francis, whose favorite film is Babette’s Feast, sees the film that you describe. But I don’t see it that way. As Babette says at the end: An artist is never poor. All the artist asks is to be allowed the freedom to create their art, to do what they do best and present that art to the people so that they can partake of it, experience the joy of it, and find it transformative in their perhaps mundane lives. Babette is able, due to winning 10,000 ₣ in the lottery, to present her great gift to the sisters and their sect. You see her joy in her shining eyes, it is that obvious. In fact, most of the acting in Babette’s Feast is silent in dialogue, with everything expressed in the faces of the actors. General Lorens Löwenhielm begins and ends his toast by quoting the sect leader - Martine’s and Philippa’s father - on the confluence of righteousness and bliss. He is conveniently present at the meal because as a young officer he was taken to Café Anglais, where he had that very meal. He was thus able to comment on every dish - even as the villagers have sworn to remain silent about what they consume, lest they sin - and to remark that he once experienced such a meal, in Paris, at the Café Anglais, whose renowned chef was a woman. Babette, as it turns out, is that woman, that supreme artist who works magic with the Earth’s bounty and, through those material substances, works magic on the souls of those worshipers. It is, to me, a film about the importance of art in our lives, in the power of the artist to transcend, and in the joy of the here-and-now in the face of death.

[@TheBibleisArt]

Thanks for sharing, Hollis. What do you think I’m wrong about?

[@Hollis_has_questions]

@@TheBibleisArt An Atheist’s Guide to Babette’s Feast: (1) The name is Martine, not Martina. Perhaps it’s Martina in the written tale, but it’s Martine-with-an-E in the film. If you’ve ever had your name consistently mispronounced or misspelled, you’d understand how annoying it is, as though you weren’t seen for who you really are. (2) Babette, in the film, is a chef extraordinaire and a political refugee, not a communist revolutionary. It’s not clear in the film whether she joined with her husband in revolting or in communism. (3) The general doesn’t marry Queen Sofia, he marries one of the ladies of her Court. BIG difference! (4) The sisters didn’t understand what the ingredients signified, how they would be transformed by Babette just as Babette had transformed their lives and the lives of all the townsfolk. In their religiously-fueled ignorance they could only see witchcraft as the explanation for the science that they couldn’t otherwise explain. Their kitchen had become - as it had been ever since Babette had come to them - Babette’s laboratory. (5) The “feast had opened the general’s soul to the squalor of man and the splendor of God” - really? I didn’t get that in the film. Perhaps it’s written that way in the Blixen story and in the Pope’s heart, but the film IMO showcases the splendor of Man in Babette’s transformation of ordinary animals and plants into a glorious, sensuous feast: the turtle, the truffle, the caviar, the foie gras (be still, my heart!), the grapes of joyousness, et cetera. All at table are seduced by this hitherto-disguised French chef into enjoying themselves despite their vows of gustatory celibacy. If this is witchcraft, then it’s white witchcraft. (6) The irreconcilable differences between and among the townsfolk began AFTER their Founder’s death. In fact, it was his (His?) absence that allowed them to slip into sins of infidelity: lying and cheating. Sins that were confessed and forgiven through Babette’s manna from the heaven/haven of the kitchen, formerly so ill-used and ill-considered by Martine and Philippa. (7) Babette asserts that an artist is never poor. The sisters, otoh, see life as poverty. They believe that Babette’s talents will only be fully appreciated AFTER HER DEATH! OMFG! Says Philippa to Babette: “In Paradise you will be the great artist that God meant you to be.” Philippa’s eyes glisten with tears. But Babette’s eyes are dry, she who had never attended the organized worship of the town - Lorens and Achille had attended, in both cases for ulterior motives, but Babette wasn’t a hypocrite. Her great art has been served up to Philippa, whose misinterpretation doesn’t bother Babette because Babette knows that she is that great artist in the here-and-now, she doesn’t have to be dead to be fully appreciated. She can, she MUST, fully exercise her abilities and express her talents while she lives; this centenary celebration may be her last chance. It may also be, because of the setting and the reluctance of the participants, her greatest gift to HERSELF.

[@Hollis_has_questions]

@@TheBibleisArt I didn’t say that you were wrong. I said that we see it differently, as I explain in An Atheist’s Guide to Babette’s Feast.

[@TheBibleisArt]

@@Hollis_has_questions where can I read/see that?

[@Hollis_has_questions]

@@TheBibleisArt It’s my first reply to your reply to my comment. Don’t you see it? It’s right here!

[@4sekawan777]

This was beautiful! Thanks for making it :)

[@TheBibleisArt]

You’re welcome.

[@daisymayqueen5818]

Beautiful

[@TC-mf1cq]

A wonderful analysis. Thank you so much.

[@TheBibleisArt]

You’re welcome

[@TheBibleisArt]

Have ya'll seen or read it? What do ya'll think?

[@toriwright8306]

I have seen it, probably a year or two after its release. It was profound. I should watch it again and read it!

[@jacaldwell71]

Saw the film. Never read the story. Among fictional films, my favorite of all time. One of rather few I've seen at least three times and would see again. I suppose what appeals to me is a talent getting a chance and making a difference. Babette, especially, making a difference all along, even before she won the lottery.

[@sophieclinnick95]

Had no idea it was a book! LOVE the movie

[@TheLingnerFamily]

Well done, thank you

[@susannahwhite7561]

Wunderbar!

[@elijahgrajkowski2505]

Just recently ordered the Criterion Collection edition of this movie and viewed it for the first time.

[@TheBibleisArt]

What did you think?

[@elijahgrajkowski2505]

@@TheBibleisArt I thought it was great. Your analysis here explains much of what I was thinking but didn't have the words for. Thanks!

[@profspillner639]

A great movie.

[@Joel-bg3cf]

Wow!

[@angelabonita595]

Lovet it❤

[@sambeard5208]

nice video my guy! would love other looks at other good Christian films

[@fatherjim4446]

Who wrote the song "Jerusalem" sung in the movie?

[@TheBibleisArt]

I’m not sure

[@billionllc]

Best movie ever

[@cristianacaprioli3993]

When does the older sister ever kisses her soldier suitor? 🤔

[@whitewolf9243]

It's a good analysis of the short story, but I'm not sure why you at one point call Babette a "Communist Revolutionary", she was part of the Paris Commune which while being influenced by some Marxist thought was very far removed from the Communist revolutionaries and states that came after.

[@MariettaZsakai]

-:)

[@klaarnou]

Jesus H Christ if there is a hell i will have to watch this shit there.

[@TheBibleisArt]

Do you ever find it strange that there’s only one God whose name you use as a curse word?

[@thecook8964]

Why do you react so strongly,? One would think if you are indifferent, the video would not register on your radar lol

[@damianop100]

@@thecook8964 I could be wrong but I suspect he was using crude, sarcastic humor to say in effect, Wow, I must watch this film!

[@gartnafuaran1655]

@@damianop100 No, I think he means he hates this video.