Babette’s Feast, by Isak Dinesen / Karen Blixen – DVD

• Actors: Stéphane Audran, Bodil Kjer, Birgitte Federspiel, Jarl Kulle, Jean-Philippe Lafont
• Director: Gabriel Axel
• Writers: Gabriel Axel, Karen Blixen
• Producers: Benni Korzen, Bo Christensen, Just Betzer, Pernille Siesbye
• Format: Closed-captioned, Color, DVD, Letterboxed, Subtitled, Widescreen, NTSC
• Language: French (Dolby Digital 2.0), English (Dolby Digital 1.0), Spanish (Dolby Digital 2.0 Surround), Danish (Dolby Digital 2.0 Surround)
• Subtitles: English, Spanish, French
• Region: Region 1 U.S. and Canada only.
• Aspect Ratio: 1.66:1
• Number of discs: 1
• Rating: G (General Audience)
• DVD Release Date: January 23, 2001
• Run Time: 102 minutes
• 4.7 out of 5 stars at Amazon.com

Babette's Feast - Description

Babette’s Feast is just a marvelous, fantastic and delicious story: Artistic, sensual and full of sacred passions. In Babette's Feast, a woman flees the French civil war and lands in a small seacoast village in Denmark, where she comes to work for two spinsters, Martina and Philippa, devout daughters of a puritan minister. Both girls sacrifice youthful passion to faith and duty, and even many years after their father's death; they keep his austere teachings alive among the townspeople.

After many years, Babette unexpectedly wins a lottery, and decides to create a real French dinner--which leads the sisters to fear for their souls. Joining them for the meal will be a Danish general who, as a young soldier, courted one of the sisters, but she turned him away because of her religion. The village elders all resolve not to enjoy the meal, but can their moral fiber resist the sensual pleasure of Babette's cooking? A truly outrageous French gourmet meal?

Babette's Feast deservedly won the 1987 Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film. This lovely movie is impeccably simple, yet its slender narrative contains a wealth of humor, melancholy, and hope.

The film is written and directed by Gabriel Axel, from a short story by Out of Africa's Isak Dinesen. This Oscar-winning film offers "an irresistible mixture of dry wit and robust humanity" (Newsweek).

Links to Karen Blixen movies at Amazon US, Amazon UK, and Babette's Feast (Amazon CAN)

Out of Africa - Karen Blixen / Isak Dinesen, DVD

• Actors: Meryl Streep, Robert Redford, Klaus Maria Brandauer, Michael Kitchen, Malick Bowens
• Directors: Sydney Pollack
• Writers: Judith Thurman, Errol Trzebinski, Karen Blixen, Kurt Luedtke
• Producers: Anna Cataldi, Judith Thurman, Kim Jorgensen
• Format: Anamorphic, Closed-captioned, Collector's Edition, Color, DVD, Widescreen, NTSC
• Language: French (Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo), English (Dolby Digital 4.1)
• Region: Region 1 - U.S. and Canada only.
• Aspect Ratio: 1.85:1
• Number of discs: 1
• Rating: PG (Parental Guidance Suggested)
• Studio: Universal Studios
• DVD Release Date: February 29, 2000
• Run Time: 160 minutes

Review, Out of Africa, DVD

Sydney Pollack's 1985 multiple-Oscar winner movie is a sumptuous and emotionally satisfying film about the fascinating and somewhat tragic life of Danish writer Karen Blixen (Meryl Streep), better known as Isak Dinesen, who travels to Kenya to be with her German husband (Klaus Maria Brandauer) but falls in love with an English adventurer (Robert Redford). The film is slow in developing the relationship, but it is rich in beautiful images of Africa - some of the most breathtaking scenes I have ever seen - and in the romantic tone surrounding Blixen's gradual discovery of her life and voice.

The acting is superb. This is one of the best movies by Meryl Streep. And Brandauer is always good. So is, of course, Robert Redford. It was the most acclaimed motion picture of 1985! A golden classic.

"Out of Africa" really stands out. It must be one of the most spectacular movies ever made. At the 1985 Academy Awards this movie won seven Oscars including Best Director, Best Cinematography and Best Picture. It deserved all seven!

It is filled with romance, scenery, real-life struggles and the inevitability of fate. It is a journey into Africa and into love. The escape is in the hand of fate. This movie presents Africa as a paradise. The natural environment is harsh, yet unspoiled in this movie.

This is a movie to love!