Twenty-sixth International Conference on Learning

Abstract

“Babette’s Feast” is about food, the senses, and transformative learning. Moreover, Gabriel Axel’s 1987 masterpiece is an invitation to engage in the world with wonder, with mindfulness, with a discerning heart, and with an open mind. Through the lens of mindfulness, a broader understanding of the film “Babette’s Feast” emerges as we explore its narrative and its characters from the perspective of nonjudgmental, intentional attentiveness to the moment, namely that of the eucharistic meal with which the film culminates. For the protagonist, a French refugee and former chef, food and its creation are symbols of life, love, gift, and hospitality. The film, and the celebratory meal she concocts, are an invitation to personal transformation for the benefit of the common good. In a close reading and critical analysis of the film, and specifically of two of the outsider characters, we suggest that the film, through its depiction and celebration of food, is a meditation on self-gift and loving kindness, in the acknowledgement that self-gift, as capacity to love, is the ultimate human vocation and true form of art.

Presenters

Ana Conboy
Associate Professor, French/Chair of Languages and Cultures, Languages and Cultures, College of Saint Benedict and Saint John's University, Minnesota, United States