Babette's Feast

Really engaging narrative with some tropes I could do without. Each character is so well defined by their occupation and homeland. The attractive quality of the quaint religious fishing village sets the events in motion for the life-changing Paris feast gifted to the humble residents.

The feast is a sort of framing device for the smaller narratives contained within the film. Each of the lead outsider characters (from the villagers) has their own vignette which introduces their personality and motivations. Later they are revisited and contextualized within the framing of the dinner table.

The visuals throughout the movie are hard and spacious with the exception of the warmth of the sisters' homes and the colorful characters that enter their lives. The shocking shift in visuals as Babette prepares the feast and vile visions dreamt of the feast to come activate a magical realist veil over the remainder of the film. The preparation of the feast is indeed very witch-like, as Babette is accused of being, as well as visceral. Without the general's comments emphasizing the grandeur of the feast the villager's experience would have diminished.