HARVEST FESTIVAL in partnership with FOOD ON FILM

Dir. Gabriel Axel
1987 | 103 mins | Denmark
Danish, French, Swedish, Italian, English with English subtitles

Stéphane Audran, Bodil Kjer, Birgitte Federspiel

The Oscar-winning Babette’s Feast is the ultimate film about food and 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 Babette, a French housekeeper with a mysterious past who shows up within a remote Danish community seeking refuge from violence in her native Paris. Offering to work for free Babette stays with a couple of elderly sisters who view pleasures with suspicion, as a distraction from God, and eat only bland food.

When Babette’s fortune changes one day she takes the opportunity to bring quiet revolution in the form of one exquisite meal to a circle of starkly devout villagers offering them sensual pleasures and experiences for one night only.

TALK: ANNIE GRAY; FEAST, FAMINE AND FADS

Dr Annie Gray is one of Britain’s leading food historians, specialising in the history of food and dining from c.1600 to the present day. As part of our Harvest Festival and in partnership with our Food on Film Series and Exeter Food, Annie turns her attention to excess and abstinence. Taking inspiration from BABETTE’S FEAST and harvest time Annie will explore other historical periods where the contradictions of feast and famine have presented themselves and how these moments have inspired some of histories best (and worst) food fads.

View BABETTE’S FEAST before the talk and save money on our ticket when booking together. Studio 74 Members go free.

Book the talk here >>> 

Food on Film is delivered in partnership with the Exeter Food: A University Research Network and the MA Food Studies

FOR OUR FULL FOOD ON FILM PROGRAMME, TAP HERE >>

F-RATED:

F-Rating is a new rating for films directed by women, written by women and/or with significant female characters on screen, in their own right. Find out more here >>

VENUE: EXETER PHOENIX, STUDIO 74

*Subject to a £1.50 ticketing system charge. We don’t charge this to make a profit. Find out more >>