Potluck Dinner & a Movie (Babette's Feast)

Join us for a fun evening of friendship and film. We'll begin with a potluck dinner where we each bring a favorite summertime dish to share, then settle in for a great movie, facilitated by OLLI instructor Butch Epps. Butch has selected Babette's Feast (1987), which won Best Foreign Language Film at the 1988 Oscars. The film (Danish with English subtitles) is ultimately about a magical meal, so perfect for our event. Stephane Audran plays Babette, a 19th century Parisian political refugee who seeks shelter in a rough Danish coastal town. Philippa (Bodil Kjer) and Martina (Birgitte Federspiel), the elderly daughters of the town's long-dead minister, take Babette in. As revealed in flashback, Philippa and Martina were once beautiful young women (played by Hanne Stensgaard and Vibeke Hastrup), who'd forsaken their chances at romance and fame, taking hollow refuge in religion. Babette holds a secret that may very well allow the older ladies to have a second chance at life. This is one of the great movies about food, but there are numerous surprises that will delight throughout.