Movie · 1987 · Drama, History, Comedy · 1h 44m · G · DA
Curator score: 8.5/10 (59.2K ratings)
Artistic, sensual and sacred passions unite in Babette's Feast.
Overview
A French housekeeper with a mysterious past brings quiet revolution in the form of one exquisite meal to a circle of starkly pious villagers in late 19th century Denmark.
Ratings
Curator score: 8.5/10
IMDb: 7.8/10
Letterboxd: 4.05/5
Rotten Tomatoes: 97%
Metacritic: 78
TMDB: 7.2/10
Director
Gabriel Axel
Production
Rungstedlundfonden, Det Danske Filminstitut, Nordisk Film Denmark, Panorama-Film
A quietly radiant film about grace, sacrifice, and the transformative power of hospitality. It moves with patience, but the payoff is deeply moving and sensuous, especially if you appreciate films that find spiritual weight in everyday ritual.
Best for
Viewers who like contemplative, character-driven dramas
Fans of food-centered cinema and elegant period pieces
People interested in faith, community, and moral transformation
Anyone who enjoys restrained films that build to an emotional crescendo
Skip if
You want fast pacing or a plot-heavy story
You dislike religious themes or philosophical symbolism
You prefer irony-heavy comedy over sincere, reverent storytelling
You need constant conflict or dramatic twists
Overview
Babette’s Feast is one of those rare films that turns a single meal into an act of revelation. What begins as a modest portrait of a strict Danish village slowly opens into a meditation on generosity, art, and the ways beauty can soften a hardened life without defeating it. The film’s calm surface is part of its power: it trusts gestures, glances, and ritual to carry the emotional weight.
Worth noting
Gabriel Axel stages the feast with exquisite control, letting the preparation and serving feel almost sacramental. The result is both intimate and expansive, a story about food, yes, but also about memory, gratitude, and the dignity of creation. It’s gentle, funny in small ways, and deeply humane.
Bottom line
For viewers willing to settle into its unhurried rhythm, the film delivers a rare kind of satisfaction: not just a moving ending, but the sense that every detail has been nourished into place. It lingers like the aftertaste of a remarkable dinner.
Top Letterboxd reviews
Colin Burgess (5★) · 1392 likes
Like a revenge movie except instead Babette trying to murder the people that wronged her, she cooks a really nice meal for people that have been nice to her
Jonathan White (5★) · 615 likes
This is my third or fourth time sitting down to the table with Babette, and each tasting is more sumptuous and rewarding. After this screening, I realized that Babette deserves a perfect score.
The story is simple, lovely, and gentle. It takes it’s time. It’s this unhurriedness that makes you fall in love, gradually and naturally. The first act is solely dedicated to back story, where we are introduced to the inhabitants of a tiny, picturesque, Danish hamlet. The close… more
Jeffrey Overstreet (5★) · 446 likes
Three weeks ago, I introduced this film for 35 freshmen at Seattle Pacific, and tonight I introduce it for a gathering at Saint Ambrose Anglican Church in Seattle.
You know, I often hear this movie summed up as a story about a "worldly" Frenchwoman who becomes a part of a bone-headedly strict religious community, and how she enlightens them.
She does enlighten them, to some extent.
But let's not overlook that Babette fled from a civil war in Paris in… more
travis (4★) · 300 likes
A sumptuous spread of grace and mercy. Lavish blessing does not reduce faith, but magnifies it. A feast for the senses and the soul.
2013 · Drama · 1h 22m · PG-13 · Curator 9.0/10 (154.6K ratings) · Where to watch: Amazon Prime Video, fuboTV, Philo, MUBI, OVID, Chai Flicks, Klassiki, Amazon Prime Video with Ads
For its austere visual style, religious atmosphere, and quiet examination of faith, memory, and selfhood.