Babbette's Feast Reflection paper
Sharmane Salve T. Lim
Com 115.5 A
Babette’s Feast: Cuisine and Film as Art European cinema was a relatively unknown field to me. Aside from a couple of films I was required to watch for my Literature class, I have not seen any European and Latin American films before entering this class. This was something new for me to explore and hopefully take an interest in, and I did not have any particular expectations in mind during the first meeting (although I did anticipate that I will be reading subtitles). After watching Babette’s Feast, I instantly thought this was the most appropriate film to present what European cinema is and how it is different from the usual motion pictures being shown in the movie houses. I realized that the beauty of European cinema lies in the fact that these films leave a mark, despite its slow pace and quiet setting. With its scenes somehow fragmented in a way that it only makes sense in the end, it will make you wonder and get curious as to what each of the scenes mean. It not only presented cuisine as art, but with its beautiful simplicity, shows that the film itself was an art as well. Similar to how Babette’s feast transformed her audience, the film had ignited in me an appreciation not only for this film, but for all simple yet remarkable films like this. I believe that art can transform and communicate with you in a very personal level. I once had a dinner and felt the same moving power that Babette’s audience felt, so the emotions they felt were very real and definitely not exaggerated to me.
Like many other European films, many seemingly insignificant objects shown in Babette’s feast have symbolic meanings. In the beginning of the film is the dried fish which, in my opinion, symbolizes the blandness of the life the two sisters and the rest of the neighborhood lived. Martina and Philippa had grown into this lifestyle because of their father’s beliefs of attaining salvation thru spiritual poverty, that is, by focusing on the
Com 115.5 A
Babette’s Feast: Cuisine and Film as Art European cinema was a relatively unknown field to me. Aside from a couple of films I was required to watch for my Literature class, I have not seen any European and Latin American films before entering this class. This was something new for me to explore and hopefully take an interest in, and I did not have any particular expectations in mind during the first meeting (although I did anticipate that I will be reading subtitles). After watching Babette’s Feast, I instantly thought this was the most appropriate film to present what European cinema is and how it is different from the usual motion pictures being shown in the movie houses. I realized that the beauty of European cinema lies in the fact that these films leave a mark, despite its slow pace and quiet setting. With its scenes somehow fragmented in a way that it only makes sense in the end, it will make you wonder and get curious as to what each of the scenes mean. It not only presented cuisine as art, but with its beautiful simplicity, shows that the film itself was an art as well. Similar to how Babette’s feast transformed her audience, the film had ignited in me an appreciation not only for this film, but for all simple yet remarkable films like this. I believe that art can transform and communicate with you in a very personal level. I once had a dinner and felt the same moving power that Babette’s audience felt, so the emotions they felt were very real and definitely not exaggerated to me.
Like many other European films, many seemingly insignificant objects shown in Babette’s feast have symbolic meanings. In the beginning of the film is the dried fish which, in my opinion, symbolizes the blandness of the life the two sisters and the rest of the neighborhood lived. Martina and Philippa had grown into this lifestyle because of their father’s beliefs of attaining salvation thru spiritual poverty, that is, by focusing on the