Babette’s feast: the masterpiece that teaches thanks with wine

Any movie buff who enjoys the exuberance of good gastronomy has to see babette’s feast. This Danish film is an adaptation of the homonymous book by the writer Isak Dinesen, pseudonym of Karen Blixen, the baroness known worldwide for the incarnation of her character that Mery Streep played in Memories of Africa. Its fable airs, spirituality and the importance of wine and food in history are some of the keys why you should not miss this film.

why you should see babette’s feast

babette’s feast It is a gem of cinema, which has aged like fine wine. This film tries to make the viewer discover the importance of gratitudethe beauty of the everyday and the importance of endowing the spiritual part of the human being with joy.

Let’s review the reasons why the film babette’s feast it’s so special.

a kind fable

The movie works like a precious story and with teachings without having a moralizing sense. The story of how a young woman transforms and brightens a small society through gastronomy works perfectly thanks to a good script, the staging and the exquisite interpretation of her acting cast.

oscar movie

The film was made with the Oscar for Best Foreign Language Film in 1987. He was competing against the Spanish José Luis Garci and his film Approved subject. He also unseated very powerful films by great directors like Bye guys by Louis Malle, The family by Ettore Scola and Pathfinder by Nils Gaup.

improve the book

The cliché says that books are always better than movies. But in this case, the film turns a correct story into an excellent film. The great success of Gabriel Axel’s script is to give it a leading role to food and drink as a symbol of exaltation of the joy of living and gratitude.

its good taste

The movie babette’s feast has a simple, but careful staging that helps the viewer to submerge yourself among the delicacies prepared by the protagonist. But in addition to the gastronomic explosion that transcends the viewer from the screen, this film also exudes hope, gratitude and spirituality.

In fact, Pope Francis I has stated on several occasions that babette’s feast it’s his favorite movie. And it is that, in its message that does not moralize, the film speaks of love that is expressed and manifested by making others happy. Regardless of religious beliefs, his thesis is profoundly humanist and ecumenical.

synopsis of babette’s feast and the importance of wine

What is the film about babette’s feast?

The plot proceeds to late nineteenth century and revolves around Babette. She is a woman who flees from the riots in Paris and the Franco-Prussian war and falls back in a small Danish village. There, she is welcomed by two sisters Martine and Philippathe daughters of a Lutheran pastor who have been raised in the most absolute austerity and deprived of the enjoyment of the senses and the expression of their emotions.

Babette arrives in the village like a breath of fresh air that contrasts with the strict moral discipline that prevents the sisters from being happy. Everything changes when the girl wins the lottery and she decides to entertain the sisters and the rest of the neighborhood with a sophisticated and luxurious feast to thank you for your welcome.

At first, and accustomed to the puritanical morality, the guests reject that sensory explosion that the banquet offers. The arc of the characters will evolve until they find delight in the small pleasures of life.

The importance of wine and gastronomy

Everything in the second part of the film revolves around food and its pairing with wine. Babette prepares a banquet following all the trends of the high kitchen of the time, personalized in the figure of the chef and gastronomic writer auguste escoffier.

The feast begins with one of the main characters surprised by the quality of the amontillado that is served in the evening in the company of a Turtle soup.

Caviar and Demidoff blinis are accompanied by a champagne of the magnitude of Veuve Clicquot vintage of 1860. This cava, made with a double fermentation process and with a blend of chardonnay Y pinot noir It was a luxury at the time. Now it is within reach of your palate, since this brand continues to produce its sparkling wines.

The menu continues with some stuffed quails on a vol-au-vent and with a Madeira bottom called “quail in sarcophagus”. This dish is a creation of the cook of the Cafe Anglais in Pariswhich is another nod from the script to its protagonist, of which we discover that he held that position.

This dish was paired with a Burgundy produced in the chateau of the castle Clos de Vougeot. It is a monovarietal of pinot noir vintage of 1845. This architectural complex, belonging to the Cistercian order, can be visited in part today.

The banquet continues with a selection of French cheeses accompanied by Port and culminates with freshly ground coffee, a luxury for the time and a distillate, Marc Vieux Fine Champagne.

babette’s feast It is a hymn to the love of gastronomy, to the taste for quality and well done, and to how cooking and wine help connect people. It is undoubtedly an essential title for lovers of good food.

Babette’s feast: the masterpiece that teaches thanks with wine