Babette's Feast Essay

Film Analysis: “Babette’s Feast”

Summary

The film takes place in the late nineteenth century, in a small town in Denmark. It’s a story about two sisters, Martine and Philippa, that have taken their late father’s place leading his church followers and their housekeeper Babette, a French chef, and refugee. After over a decade of being with the sisters, Babette receives news that she has won the French lottery. Later, Babette announces to the sisters that she would like to cook a French dinner for the upcoming celebration of their late father birthday. Babette requests that she pay for the feast with her lottery winnings, which the sister reluctantly agree to.

Role of Family

The family unit in the movie consists of the sisters, Martine and Philippa, their father the pastor, Babette and the church members. In the first part of the movie, the role of “father” is filled by the sister’s father, the Pastor, and the sisters and church members are his “children”, literally and metaphorically. The Pastor fills this role by obviously being the father and head of the church. I placed the church members under the

Neither sister out-ranks the other, even though Martine is older than Philippa. Babette enters the story and begins filling the “mother” role. She begins cooking, and improving, the food the sisters deliver to the followers. In one scene, the church members congregate at the sister’s house and they start bickering among themselves. The sisters sit there, not sure about what to do, and finally Babette comes out of the kitchen and tells them to stop. If that doesn’t paint a picture of a family, I don’t know what does! I don’t recall it being mentioned in the movie, however, in the original short story, it was stated that Babette had a son, supporting her status of