Category: Drama - Foreign - Foreign Film - French - Foreign Film [Dub Or Subtitle] - Movie
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DVD Babette's Feast
Some movies can only be described as delicious. In Babette's Feast, a woman flees the French civil war and lands in a small seacoast village in Denmark, where she comes to work for two spinsters, devout daughters of a puritan minister. After many years, Babette unexpectedly wins a lottery, and decides to create a real French dinner--which leads the sisters to fear for their souls. Joining them for the meal will be a Danish general who, as a young soldier, courted one of the sisters, but she turned him away because of her religion. The village elders all resolve not to enjoy the meal, but can their moral fiber resist the sensual pleasure of Babette's cooking? Babette's Feast deservedly won the 1987 Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film. This lovely movie is impeccably simple, yet its slender narrative contains a wealth of humor, melancholy, and hope. --Bret Fetzer
Beautiful story of Faith. Gives a variety of interpretation to Sacrifice. Some pain/sadness, a lot of humor, and a heart squeezing faith values expressed through a fascinating situation.
I love love love this movie
I owned the video for several years and then I purchased the DVD. This movie is on my top ten favorite movies.
I was surprised when I first purchased the video that the story was by the great Isak Dinsen who wrote Out of Africa. I won't elaborate on the other reviewers who succinctly posted their thoughts, but I agree with most of them that this is one of the most beautiful movies ever made.
From the first moments of the film where we are introduced to the sisters and their minister father who live in a desolate town on the coast of Denmark and then to the "feast" itself, I was totally entranced. The scenery was bleak but beautiful, as was the total dedication of this family to the people in this small community.
The part of Babette was played by the glorious French actress Stephane Audran. You may have seen in her in many French movies, one in particular, Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie, and as the mistress of Lawrence Olivier in Bridehead Revisited. Could anyone be so wonderfully French! And so beautiful!
The scenes in the small kitchen where Babette cooks her "feast" are undeniably the highlight of the film. I felt like I was there in the kitchen with them with the scents and the heat from the oven. The poor turtle (did they really cook it?), the squabs, the delicious wines. The looks on the faces of the religious communants when they sampled all of the wonderful dishes along with the wonderful wines.
And the ending, which I won't give away here. But it was very heartwarming and funny! Needless to say, this is a movie that should be in everyone's collection who love classic movies. And this is, in my estimation, a real classic.
transcends time and place
I first saw this film about 10 years ago, and, no matter how many times I watch it, I am still amazed. It handles art, religion, love, lust, ambition, and yes, food. It skewers it's own characters as well as small town life for frequent giggles, but then stumbles unexpectedly into moments of extremely lonely, soul-searching seriousness. It is both harsh and tender. It is about religion and art, but never preaches either. It simply tries to answer the question all of its characters ask themselves at one point or another: Why am I here? What is my purpose in life?
This sort of weighty dialectic gives it it's scope, and the film answers this question with grace, humility and a sense of humor. The food doesn't come until late in the film (about 40 years into the onscreen story), and seems to posit an answer having something to do with humans needing to acknoledge that they are of the flesh in order to find spiritual grace.
Expect to be very hungry (and perhaps amorous) after watching this contemporary classic in the small genre of food movies that includes Babette's Feast and Big Night. Director Alfonso Arau (A Walk in the Clouds), adapting a novel by his former wife, Laura Esquivel, tells the story of a young woman (Lumi Cavazos) who learns to suppress her passions under the eye of a stern mother, but channels them into her cooking. The result is a steady stream of cuisine so delicious as to be an almost erotic experience for those lucky enough to have a bite. The film's quotient of magic realism feels a little stock, but the story line is good and Arau's affinity for the sensuality of food (and of nature) is sublime. You might want to rush off to a good Mexican restaurant afterward,... More Info about this DVD Director(s): Alfonso Arau DVD Release Date: Released the 14 March 2000 Usually ships in 24 hours
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This is not a movie to see on an empty stomach. Writer-director Ang Lee's 1994 Oscar nominee tells a family story about a chef and his three daughters through the meals the chef prepares and serves his family. This touching, dryly funny story of a family coping with personal lives and the way those lives intersect with the family relationships captures a shift in generations in Taipei. The father, a famous chef who has lost his taste buds, still cooks, though he draws no pleasure from eating. His daughters, meanwhile, deal with both the disappointments and surprises of daily living and the way their adult lives compare to the expectations the widowed father had for them. A subtle, amusing--and mouth-watering--comedy of impeccable manners. --Marshall FineMore Info about this DVD Actor(s): Sihung Lung - Kuei-Mei Yang Director(s): Ang Lee DVD Release Date: Released the 05 March 2002 Usually ships in 24 hours
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Critics tripped all over their big feet to praise Big Night, and in doing so performed a grave disservice to this fine little film. They fooled audiences into believing it was a "super movie" instead of a home movie buoyed by friends and family. Consequently, many viewers were disappointed. Big Night is an intimate look at the immigrant struggle to attain the American Dream, set in New Jersey in the 1950s. Its disproportionate success gave co-directors Stanley Tucci and Campbell Scott, who also star in the picture, the green light to follow up with a smug, unsuccessful second venture called The Imposters. Tucci wrote Big Night with his cousin Joseph Tropiano, and they based the story on the experience of growing up in a large, proud Italian family. The brothers... More Info about this DVD Actor(s): Tony Shalhoub Director(s): Campbell Scott DVD Release Date: Released the 07 April 1998 Usually ships in 24 hours
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Mostly Martha is a rich addition to the recent banquet of movies about food. Martha (Martina Gedeck), the domineering chef at a fancy restaurant, has her rigid routine broken when her sister dies in a car wreck, leaving behind her 9-year-old daughter Lina (Maxime Foerste). Martha takes the girl in, but has no gift for maternal expression; she offers Lina food, but Lina refuses to eat. Meanwhile, her control over her kitchen is threatened when her boss hires a buoyant Italian named Mario (Sergio Castellitto) to assist, and Martha finds herself flailing in an effort to reestablish control of her life. While Mostly Martha may not hold many surprises, the writing, direction, and particularly the acting are as sumptuous and sensual as the cooking and eating. The... More Info about this DVD Actor(s): Martina Gedeck - Maxime Foerste - Sergio Castellitto Director(s): Sandra Nettelbeck DVD Release Date: Released the 18 February 2003 Usually ships in 24 hours
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