Will McCabe on Babett's Feast

I enjoyed Babett’s Feast, not only because of the culinary aspect but also it tells a normal love story. Not the kind of sappy love story that we are saturated with today but a genuine non sexual friendship kind of love that many of us experience everyday.
This film is also filed with powerful emotions, feeling, images, and dialogue. These people try so hard to seclude their selves from modern life, they start to ignore and trample over their personal relations with one another. Prior to the feast, when the town is together, Babett comes in to check up on their drinks, she finds them bickering and she quickly orders them to stop it. However that did not solve the issue, and we don’t see the full effect of Babett until she cooks the feast. When the General is leaving his house to come to the feast, the audience sees a cold and windy, almost bitter evening. This is relevant to the feelings in the town. However after the feast the night is calm and the stars are out. We see the towns people gather together to sing and say goodnight to each other. It is like the love from Babett’s dinner has touched the entire town and environment around them.