Sunday 26 May 2013

A MOST SPECIAL MOVIE

Long ago when New Zealand television was worth watching, when our two public channels were not overflowing with horrid commercials, when both were free of them on Sundays and when Channel 2 was also free of them on Saturdays, the latter had a slot on Saturday evenings called Foreign Cinema, which often had fine movies. One miraculous Saturday there was a one that was specially wonderful, a movie memorable in the extreme. It has often came to mind since, and I wished I could see it again, but I could not even remember its title. Then when browsing yesterday I happened upon a thumbnail of a poster of a Danish movie made in 1987, set in the 19th century, whose title brought back the memory of that most special one. The synopsis seemed to agree with my distant recollection, and when it began to play I saw within seconds that it was indeed the one. Hallelujah!

It is called Babette's Feast. And it is a feast, a rich, astonishing feast. A good movie in every sense of the word.