Four-Star Films : ‘Babette’s Feast’
In Gabriel Axel’s exquisite adaptation of the Isak Dinesen story of two elderly Danish sisters who have sacrificed their chances at love and fame for a life of abstinence and good deeds; of their deviously devout father; of their French cook, Babette (Stephane Audran, pictured with Lars Lohmann), who has sacrificed culinary glory for faithful service in their penurious kitchen. The film revolves around one night, when the feast of human pleasure, the banquet of human art and artifice, is suddenly spread before a dazzled assemblage--only to bloom and die, only to vanish, like all vanity, all beauty. With Bibi Andersson and Jarl Kulle (great as the feast’s only epicure). A chaste, heartbreaking film that doesn’t make a false move (TMC Monday at 8:55 a.m.).
Other four-star films airing this week:
Holiday / Cinemax, Sunday, noon
On the Waterfront / TNT, Sunday, 11 p.m.
In Cold Blood / TMC, early Monday, 3:35 a.m.
GoodFellas / Cinemax, Monday, 9:30 p.m.
Sullivan’s Travels / AMC, early Thursday, 3:15 a.m.
Love Me Tonight / AMC, Thursday, 1 p.m.
Only good movies
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