FILMMAKERS BLOG: FOOD
20080705
There was nothing fake about this film. It is exquisite filmmaking.
When films are made very thoughtfully, I absorb every scene like a sponge; it’s like my Soul is watching it through my eyes—every bit of it fills me with great joy. Films that are well made reveal every touch that the filmmaker makes…you can see every single decision. Everything has an intention—there are not accidents in life. Everything is a choice. There are some great lines in the movie:
“An Artist is never poor.” “What is Fame? But a grave that awaits us all.” “Throughout the world: sounds one cry from the heart of an artist: Give me the chance to do my best”
Seeing this film nearly 20 years later is very interesting. Firstly, when you’re 17, you never believe you would ever turn 30. But that’s beside the point. It is amazing to me when a film can live inside you for that long: it means it’s done it’s job…that someone did something right. In the film the main character goes on a Sea Journey as she is running for her life—escaping a War. She ends up living as a servant for two religious sisters in a remote town without pay. The film is actually very spiritual: not because of the religious themes—yet because of the religious themes. It is and it isn’t. I’ll explain it this way:
Spirituality is Food…and Food symbolizes Experience.
In the film, the little town was filled with Religious people—but none of them had a truly religious or spiritual Experience. So that when Babette decides to spend all her money (that she won from a lottery ticket on a dinner for them): they saw the exotic ingredients she imported from France, they got freaked out and determined that she was a Witch that was trying to poison them. The “taste of something different” frightens people. And Babette was an Artist. She was a well-known head Chef in Paris—only no one knew her history. The beauty of the story is this: When people aren’t spiritually fed they bicker, they have low tolerance, self-hatred and become cruel. When people are spiritually fed: they relate to one another, they enjoy life, they feel compassion, bonding, relatedness and openness. It was Babette’s food that transformed the souls of her guest…it create Love Affairs, Rekindled fond memories and evoked Forgivenness. So the food symbolizes Experience: which is the true meaning of Spirituality. I had forgotten that BABETTE’S FEAST is based on a short story by Karen Blixon. While I was watching the movie—I had this feeling that it is impossible for a modern day screenwriter to take you back to the 1800s with such exquisite detail. But after reviewing the DVD cover, I realized that of course only Blixon could have achieved such rich details in her story. Most of her (writing) work is based on Experience; although fiction—she herself was very much exposed to a lifestyle of having servants, entertaining top generals and her cooks knew how to prepare fine French cuisine. The way food is captured in BABETTE’S FEAST is extremely sensitive. You won’t see anything like it in any TV cooking show—and very rarely has any movie captured the spirituality of cooking with such a strong sense of “Presence”; you feel like you’re in her head when you watch her cook—and you can see how well-directed her acting is. Without any mentioning that she was a Chef in the film (until the end), you could see her sense of organization and “space” in the kitchen—she knew how to move in the kitchen the way a chef does—and the instructions she gave to the local boy, when training him how to serve the guest was very fascinating. It was fascinating because all great masters teach with subtlety and humility: they don’t bark orders, their Egos aren’t in the way. The way she trained the boy to serve food and wine was purely by giving him Experience: buy giving him instructions in which he was capable of following. Bad teachers usually do the following: they brag about their status, their name, who they have served (celebrities, ambassadors etc), where they’ve been and what they’ve done. They think that based on that premise they automatically deserve respect as well as acquire a sense of position and authority. But often, people don’t learn from teachers like that—because it’s based on Fear, Ego or some superficial motives. So I really enjoyed the way she was teaching this country boy how to serve food—fine dining style—in a modest peasant home. For that to come across on film involves good acting—but most of it is good directing really. If you look at all the characters and how they acted—you could see great detail carried out from the director’s point of view. By the end of the movie, I felt so refreshed to see a good movie today. If this were a Hollywood film—they would absolutely destroy it. They would put some fool like Judd Law or Cameron Diaz in it probably; and they would fuck up the ending by giving you the “money shot”: The money shot would be that the General would screw the puritan girl he was after. The money shot is that after eating a fine exquisite meal—the General would probably meet the Chef: Hollywood films would love to stroke Babette’s Ego—so that she would feel “rewarded” directly on the spot. They would rape her of her Humility. Why? Because a Hollywood film is worst than Porn: they want the Consumer (the buyer) to be Satisfied; they have to cum on your face. But the movie did not end that way thank god. No one got laid, and the person who enjoyed the meal most of all: never even crossed paths with the Chef. It is so beautiful: that’s how life really is…that is reality. So thank god for “foreign” films! Seeing this film today comes at strange time in my life. I suppose it was based on my intuition. Yesterday I had written about Sea Journeys and taking risks in life. I was also writing about Survival, Cooking and preparing my next journey in life.
So at the end of the film when the General says to his beloved (whom he never hooked up with): “I have been with you all my life.” It was really beautiful…tears were streaming down my face. It was so inspiring to see a film about all those things actual spiritual and human subjects: Changes, Risks, Truth, the Unknown, Sacrifice, Service and the Grace that comes from Humility…. But the most inspiring moment of all is when the two sisters asked Babette why she spent 10,000 francs (all her money) on a dinner for them—and told her she would live poor all her life: Babette replied, “An Artist is never Poor.” This gives testament to Blixen complete understanding of her own Genius.
(I splashed some scenes together):
