Watch Babette's Feast

Babette’s Feast is a foreign film that was released in 1987. Babette’s Feast tells the story of two sisters, Martine and Phillippa. The two girls are devout Christians and they are very religious and pious. They live in a small coastal village in Denmark. The girls are trying to maintain their own Christian sect that was started by their father. Their father passed away several years ago and the sisters are finding that they are losing members of their church.

The film tells the story of the sisters from when they were very young to where they are now. The sisters were very beautiful growing up and many of the men in their village wanted to marry them. Their father would not allow any marriage and he turned all the suitors away. Their father does not believe in marriage. However, two suitors do their best to get the girls to notice them. Martine is courted by Lorens, a bad boy who is in the Swedish army while Phillippa meets Achille Papin who is an opera singer in Paris. Lorens tries desperately to get Martine to pay attention to him but she is not interested. He even attends the family’s church on repeated occasions, trying to reform his bad boy self into someone that Martine will love but it does not work. Eventually, he gives up and ends up spending his life as a gambler. Achille Papin also strikes out when he tries to romance the conservative Phillippa. The couple are rehearsing lines for the opera and Papin impulsively kisses her. Phillippa is furious and she spurns his advances.

Many years pass and a woman named Babette comes to the sisters’ house and asks to be employed as a housekeeper. She carries a letter of recommendation from Achille Papin. The sisters hire Babette and she spends a lot of time cooking for sisters and the congregation of the church. One day, Babette wins the French lottery and she decides to spend all her winnings on cooking a massive feast for the village. Babette cooks an amazing meal with ingredients shipped in from France. The villagers are worried that eating such an amazing meal will be a sinful indulgence so they decide they will not say anything about the food. Gradually, while they are eating, they are overcome with praise for Babette’s cooking and her food has brought new life to the village. The film ends with the sisters praising Babette.

Babette's Feast is a 1987 drama with a runtime of 1 hour and 42 minutes. It has received mostly positive reviews from critics and viewers, who have given it an IMDb score of 7.8 and a MetaScore of 78.