7 Comments
Aug 9, 2022Liked by Ty Burr

I haven't seen "Babette's Feast" nor read Dinesen's short story, but will repair those deficiencies soon enough.

I'm reminded of "The Last Meal," Michael Paterniti's story about Francois Mitterand's final meal before his death. (If you've never read the story, Ty, perhaps now isn't the time to read it.) It's a gorgeously written story, also framed by religion/ritual.

https://www.esquire.com/news-politics/a4642/the-last-meal-0598/

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I could watch Babette's Feast over and over again. It on my list of what I refer to as "meat loaf" movies (my mother was not a cook but her meat loaf was very good, welcomed by me and my siblings on a cold winter night) that I keep for times that need comfort, especially in this era of illness, political turmoil and climate change. What will the next comfort movie be to add to the list?

Thanks, Mr. Burr

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Whatever are we to do if HBOMax really does go the way of the dodo (and movies like this)?

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Aug 9, 2022Liked by Ty Burr

Ty:

I agree about Babette's Feast.  I first saw this film when it first was released.  I was bored with it.  Since retiring in 2016, I started taking a real interest in film, taking a number of online classes to learn more about film and movie making.  What a rich experience.  Last year I was talking with the director of the Osher LifeLong Learning Institute at Brandeis, asking him why there aren't more classes on film being offered in his program.  I have taken film classes through other Osher programs, but not Brandeis.  His response was why don't "you" organize a class.  I did.  The topic was food in narrative film, and I selected five films where food plays a major part of the story.  I chose five foreign films from five different foreign countries, which offered an insight into historical, cultural and sociological aspects of characters and their lives in the film.  Obviously one of the films I chose was Babette's Feast.  You're right.  With each viewing I saw more complexity and learned more about the time and place. As Axel said when accepting the academy award (quoting from the film,) : "In this beautiful world of ours, everything is possible."  A Danish film won the academy award for the first time (and as far as I know the only time). But I came to learn the brilliance of the film.  I was asked to run the class two more times.  

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Thank you so much for reminding me of this great film. I had not read Isak Dinesen's story and look forward to that after seeing the movie again. The interpretation of the symbolism was especially insightful.

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I am certainly directed to the Feast...Your words are like the list of ingredients in a recipe...My imagination waters in anticipation...Thanks for sharing this...

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