The Criterion Collection

2 comments

• By Jon A.
  November 27, 2012
  05:21 PM

  I saw BABETTE'S FEAST my freshman year at DePaul - I lived on campus, and it was only a short stroll to The Biograph. I must have been plenty naive at 18 (oh, who's kidding who? I was greener than grass), but I possessed boundless curiosity - myself and a coterie of like-minded friends loved to see foreign, indie, and cult films. But my first viewing of Babette left me bored and cold (not unlike the film's landscape). Now, 25 years later, I gave the film a second chance thanks to Hulu Plus. And I found myself genuinely moved at three different moments, even though I had a (hazy) recollection of the story's surprises. What moved me was the intense scrutiny of the PLEASURE the feast brought to the puritanical, stark guests, and the revelation that an excellent, adventurous meal is not only a gift but a gateway to love, friendship, and - in many ways - an epiphany about one's self and one's beliefs. Perhaps over the years I've come to be a little less impatient with the subtle gifts of life and learned to recognize them in myself and others, but BABETTE'S FEAST is a beautiful poem to those gifts.
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• By FelicityKing
  December 07, 2012
  03:47 AM

  Babette's Feast is such a beautiful film! I really enjoyed the fairy tale nature of the story. Even though it's the very last month of the year, the film has taken a place in my top 10 favorite new film discoveries made this year. Also, I do NOT get 'Midnight in Paris' fans who ignore Luis Bunuel and 'The Exterminating Angel.' (Go check the MIP tag on tumblr and bawl your eyes out. He gets NO love. And many die-hards who will go check out the other artists mentioned in the film ignore him.)
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