Gabriel Axel’s Danish film – and 1987’s Oscar winner for Best Foreign Film – is an Isak Dinesen tale about a 19th-century French servant and refugee (beautifully, stoically played by Stephane Audran) who seeks shelter in a strict Lutheran household in a rough Danish coastal town.
To repay her hard, deprived hosts for their kindness, she spends her entire lottery winnings doing the one thing she knows how to do best – she cooks an elaborate, exotic, eponymous meal for the entire village, filled with game and liquors and desserts they’ve never experienced before.
The meticulous preparation, serving, and devouring of this feast changes the lives of everyone involved, enhancing the true meaning of friendship.
Impeccably acted, and suffused with charm and delicacy, this is one film that’s a meal in itself.
Babette Hersant
Stephane Audran
Filippa
Bodil Kjer
Martine
Brigitte Federspiel
Achille Papin
Jean-Phillipe Lafont
General Lorens Löwenhielm/Löwenhielm’s Father
Jarl Kulle
Swedish Lady-in-Waiting
Bibi Andersson
Narrator
Ghita Nørby
Anna
Asta Esper Andersen
Swedish Lieutenant
Thomas Antoni
Poor Man
Gert Bastian
Fisherman in Rowboat
Viggo Bentzon
Young Martine
Vibeke Hastrup
Martha
Therese Højgaard Christensen
Pastor
Pouel Kern
Poul
Cay Kristiansen
Löwenhielm’s Wife
Tine Miehe-Renard
Larsen
Finn Nielsen
Karlsen
Holger Perfort
Solveig
Else Petersen
Erik
Erik Petersén
Christopher
Ebbe Rode
Old Nielsen
Bendt Rothe
Captain
Preben Lerdorff Rye
Young Filippa
Hanne Stensgaard
Director
Gabriel Axel
