MovieChat Forums > Babettes gæstebud (1988) Discussion > Am I the only one who wonders...

Am I the only one who wonders...

posted 15 years ago by frankiefiveangels
9 replies | jump to latest

why none of the guests bothered to thank Babette for the incredible meal? A religous thing? Part of the original pact not to acknowledge or enjoy the meal? Or were 19th century Danes just plain rude?

[–] Birugirl 15 years ago

Maybe the sisters thanked her on their behalf.

[–] red_pages 12 years ago

The sisters did compliment her on the meal afterwards. To me they were showing gratitude. As far as the villagers themselves, it simply may not have been customary for a guest to talk to the cook, who is a servant. I don't think you can hold 19th century secluded villagers to modern day sensibilities.

[–] rob-949 12 years ago

Yes, you're the only one.

[–] PsychoDingo 11 years ago

they only held a meeting about it and mentioned it two or three times after that, so yeah, it was easy to miss

I'm proud to say my poetry is only understood by that minority which is aware.

[–] cookiela2001 9 years ago

why none of the guests bothered to thank Babette for the incredible meal?...were 19th century Danes just plain rude?

Yes...I thought they would be lulled into being so gregarious and pleased they would toast Babette....but, no such luck.

It does seem somewhat graceless to our eyes, under these circumstances...but, they had no idea what effort and expense went into the preparation; they just saw a bunch of plates before them.

.

[–] OldSamVimes 9 years ago

They didn't need to say anything.

Their enjoyment of the meal was apparent without them saying anything, the dishes kept coming back to the kitchen empty.

[–] Fleurus 9 years ago

Well put.

[–] Stratego (29272) 2 years ago

A chef normally doesn't leave the kitchen to go to the guests. And it would be inappropriate for a whole group of guests to go to the kitchen to thank the chef. The practice would be to thank the host. Most likely they thanked her the next day.

[–] Otter (24464) 2 years ago

I bet they didn't. They were people to who regarded luxury, vanity, and anything enjoyable as sinful, and while they enjoyed the feast, I bet they felt guilty afterwards and had no idea what to say to Babette after the fact, if they ever spoke to other people's servants at all.

But the whole point of the feast was that Babette was casting her pearls before swine, because she had no other place to put them.

That's what I hate about the movie, it totally left out Babette's backstory and her reasons for cooking this amazing and expensive feast for people who didn't appreciate it, and I'm still thoroughly pissed at the writer and director for leaving all that out! She'd been a master chef for wealthy people in France, and had joined in the "Commune" revolutionary movement in the hopes of bringing down the oligarchs... who were the only people on Earth who really, truly, appreciated her artistry as a chef. Which meant that she'd come to a point where she'd had to choose between the fullest expression of her art and doing what was right for her country, and she'd chosen to do what she thought was right. Which left her with no audience for her culinary artistry, except these people who'd taken her in as a refugee and given her an austere home... even if they did believe that anything tasty was sinful.