Tom Fitzgerald and Lorenzo Marquez Tom & Lorenzo Jul 21, 2026

Disappointment, the film seems to be saying, comes for us all in the end, like death. It’s up to us how we’re going to weather it. At the same time, however, it’s a film practically dense with kindness.

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Rene Jordan El Nuevo Herald (Miami) Jun 15, 2022

Never has cinema presented such a chaste and tasty orgy. Director Gabriel Axel suggests something heterodox but logical: you can reach the soul through the palette. [Full review in Spanish]

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Dan DiNicola The Daily Gazette (Schenectady, NY) Apr 19, 2022

Babette's Feast makes us relax and feel good. We leave it happy.

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Ángel Fernández-Santos El Pais (Spain) Mar 31, 2020

There's love and elegance, delicacy even, in the way Axel narrates this story about friendship and gratitude. [Full Review in Spanish]

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Molly Haskell Vogue Feb 27, 2020

A movie whose special quality lies in the play of irony beneath its somber surface.

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Michael J. Casey Boulder Weekly May 31, 2019

All is grace.

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Rachel Wagner Rachel's Reviews (YouTube) May 15, 2019 A+

It is so lovely.

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Antonio Sison National Catholic Reporter Apr 30, 2019

Nourishing both the senses and the religious imagination with its profound representation of food and eating, the Oscar winner for Best Foreign Language Film remains the gold standard for food films.

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Gene Siskel Chicago Tribune Dec 6, 2018 3/4

It's a strangely moving film about talents and passions used and not used.

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John A. Nesbit Old School Reviews Aug 14, 2013 A

essentially a fable ... stands the test of time

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James Kendrick Q Network Film Desk Aug 11, 2013 3.5/4

a simple film of great feeling and generosity

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Tasha Robinson The Dissolve Jul 23, 2013 3.5/5

While Babette's Feast is bleak, and often ponderous and stony, it eventually resolves as a moving hymn to art.

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Philip French Observer (UK) Dec 16, 2012

It's a flawless adaptation of the story Isak Dinesen (pseudonym of Karen Blixen) wrote for a bet that she could be published in the popular middlebrow Saturday Evening Post.

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Robyn Karney Radio Times Dec 14, 2012 5/5

The film began something of a vogue for food as an emblem of love in the cinema, but nothing has equalled it. Resist it if you can.

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David Jenkins Little White Lies Dec 13, 2012 3/5

Light, frothy and sweet on the tongue, but lacking nutrition.

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Peter Bradshaw Guardian Dec 13, 2012 4/5

Twenty-five years on, the story is still charming and beguiling.

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Tim Robey Daily Telegraph (UK) Dec 13, 2012 4/5

Melancholy bliss.

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David Parkinson Empire Magazine Dec 10, 2012 5/5

Still good enough to eat.

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Philip Kemp Total Film Nov 27, 2012 4/5

Audran is luminous as the centre of a gentle, generous film about grace. Oh, and grub.

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Tim Brayton Antagony & Ecstasy Dec 6, 2010 8/10

Undoubtedly the warmest of all Scandinavian films about religion.

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