Babette's Feast(Babettes gæstebud)

Slant Magazine by Bill Weber

This impeccably plated set is as savory as the brains sucked out of a quail’s head by Jarl Kulle’s General Löwenhielm.

Empire by David Parkinson

Impeccably mounted and played, this is gastro-cinema at its most sensual and intoxicating.

Washington Post by Desson Thomson

This banquet is the glorious finale of Gabriel Axel's Babette's Feast, his handsome, understated adaptation of the Isak Dinesen short story.

Chicago Tribune by Gene Siskel

A strangely powerful yet meandering film that takes a long time to make its point.

The A.V. Club by Mike D'Angelo

The story’s poignant theme—that love and art retain their beauty even if they can only be indulged once in a lifetime—registers more as an afterthought than as the soul-stirring revelation clearly intended.

The Guardian by Peter Bradshaw

Twenty-five years on, the story is still charming and beguiling.

Los Angeles Times by Sheila Benson

The delectable Babette’s Feast is a fable told with passion, intelligence and sumptuousness. Although it certainly has a feast at its center, it would be a mistake to think that its tribute is intended only for great cooks. No, it’s a deep reverence to all great artists--whether they make books, bowls or ballets, baskets, quilts, songs, poems, paintings . . . or films.

The Dissolve by Tasha Robinson

While Babette’s Feast is bleak, and often ponderous and stony, it eventually resolves as a moving hymn to art.

The Telegraph by Tim Robey

The whole climax is a delight

The New York Times by Vincent Canby

All of this is by way of being the prelude to the film's extended, funny and moving final sequence, a spectacular feast, the preparation and execution of which reveal Babette's secret and the nature of her sustaining glory.