What better way to get ready for Thanksgiving than to see (or see again) the delectable Babette’s Feast. A surprise winner of the Best Foreign Film Oscar, this movie has since made fans of all who see it. The Scent of Green Papaya, Chef, Big Night, Tampopo, Ratatouille, and Like Water for Chocolate are all top foodie movies — and we’ve got another contender coming on December 1: Frederick Wiseman’s Menus-Plaisier: Les Troisgros — but the champion is Babette’s Feast.
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At once a rousing paean to artistic creation, a delicate evocation of divine grace, and the ultimate film about food, Babette’s Feast is a deeply beloved treasure of cinema. Directed by Gabriel Axel and adapted from a story by Isak Dinesen, it is the lovingly layered tale of a French housekeeper with a mysterious past who brings quiet revolution in the form of one exquisite meal to a circle of starkly pious villagers in late nineteenth-century Denmark. Babette’s Feast combines earthiness and reverence in an indescribably moving depiction of sensual pleasure that goes to your head like fine champagne.
We’ll be serving Babette’s Feast on November 21 in four far-flung corners of the county: Claremont, Glendale, Newhall and Royal. Bon appétit and Happy Thanksgiving!