Key Lines from Babette’s Feast
Transcribed by David Schimpf

First hymn in film:
Jerusalem, my heart’s true home
Your name is forever dear to me.
Your kindness is second to none
You keep us clothed and fed
Never would you give a stone
To the child who begs for bread

Narr: Babette’s presence in the house of the two sisters can only be explained through the hidden regions of the heart.

Hymn sung during beginning of first flashback:
Oh, Lord allow thy kingdom
To descend upon us here
So that the spirit of mercy
May wipe out all trace of sin
Then we shall know in our hearts
That God lives here with us
And that Thou art dwelling
With those that trust in Thee

Pastor (end of sermon after which Lorens Lowenhielm leaves): Mercy and truth are met together, my dear brothers and sisters. Righteousness and peace shall kiss one another.... God’s paths run beyond the seas and the snowy mountain peaks where the human eye sees no tracks.

Lorens Lowenhielm (parting words to Martina): I am going away forever, and I shall never, never see you again. For I have learned here that life is hard and cruel, and that in this world there are things that are impossible.

Hymn (sung when Achille Papin first hears Philippa’s voice)
Lord, our God,
Thy name and glory
Should be sung throughout the world
And every soul Thy humble subjects
And every wayfarer shall sing along Thy praise

God is God even if all land be deserts
God is God even if all life were ended
If the people should vanish and, divine heavens,
Will reign over the countless and play the harp so beautifully.

Highest mount and deepest vale shall vanish
Heaven and earth as well will perish
Each height and peak shall be no longer
But the Lord’s glory shall rise again in a thousand hearts

Papin’s prayer:
Almighty God, Thy mercy ascends to the heavens, and Thy righteousness reaches to the ocean depths. Here is a diva. She will have Paris at her feet.

Scene from Don Giovanni:
Papin: A voice within me calls you, it calls you from my heart
Come now, don’t fight against it;
It is the voice of joy

Philippa: I tremble, yet I listen
I’m fearful of my joy
Desire, love, and doubting
Are battling in my heart

Papin: Come, then, with me, my beauty

Philippa: Masetto still loves me

Papin: I’ll make you a great lady

Philippa: My soul weakens already

Papin: Come on, come on

Papin: Come with thy hand in mine, dear

Philippa: I would, and yet I would not

Papin: Don’t fight! It will be fine, dear

Philippa: I’m afraid of my own joy

Papin: Let us leave, my beauty

Papin: Oh, come, oh come

Philippa: Let us go

Together: It’s you, it’s you I love, heart and hand uniting; love will unite us

Papin’s letter to the sisters: ....What is fame? The grave awaits us all. And yet, my beautiful soprano of the snows, as I write this, I feel the grave is not the end. In Paradise I shall hear your voice again. There you will forever be the great artist God intended you to be. Oh, how you shall enchant the angels. Babette knows how to cook...

General Loewenhielm (speaking of the first time he had cailles en sarcophage:
One day in Paris, after I had won a riding competition, my French fellow officers invited me out to dine at one of the finest restaurants, the Cafe Anglais. The chef, surprisingly enough, was a woman. We were served Cailles en Sarcophage, a dish of her own creation. General Galliffet, who was our host for the evening, explained that this woman, the head chef, had the ability to transform adinner into a kind of love affair, a love affair that made no distinction between bodily appetite and spiritual appetite. General Galliffet said that in the past he had fought a duel for the love of a beautiful woman. But now there was no woman in Paris for whom he would shed his blood—except this chef. She was considered the greatest culinary genius. What we are now eating is nothing less than Cailles en Sarcophage.

The General’s speech (quoting the pastor): Mercy and truth have met together. Righteousness and bliss shall kiss one another. Man, in his weakness and shortsightness, believe he must make choices in this life. He trembles at the risks he takes. We do know fear. But no. Our choice is of no importance. There comes a time when your eyes are opened. And we come to realize that mercy is infinite.We need only await it with confidence, and receive it with gratitude. Mercy imposes no conditions. And, lo! Everything we have chosen has been granted to us, and everything have rejected has also been granted. Yes, we even get back what we rejected. For mercy and truth are met together; and righteousness and bliss shall kiss one another.

Hymn Philippa sings at end of feast:
Oh, watch the day once again hurry off
And the sun bathe itself in water
The time for us to rest approaches
Oh God, Who dwelleth in heavenly light
Who reigns above in heaven’s hall
Be for us our infinite Light in the valley of night

The sand in our hourglass will soon run out
The day is conquered by the night
The glories of the world are ending
So brief their day, so swift their flight
God, let thy brightness ever shine
Admit us to Thy mercy divine

General’s last words to Martina: I have been with you every day of my life.... You must also know that I shall be with you everyday that is granted to me from now on. Every evening I shall sit down to dine with you: not with my body, which is of no importance, but with my soul. Because this evening I have learned, my dear, that in this beautiful world of ours, all things are possible.

Song around the well:
The clock strikes and time goes by:
Eternity is nigh.
Let us use this time to try
To serve the Lord with heart and mind.
So that our true home we shall find.
So that our true home we shall find.

Philippa: The stars have moved closer.
Martina: Perhaps they move closer every night.

Babette: It was not just for you.
Martina: Now you’ll be poor for the rest of your life.
Babette: An artist is never poor.
Philippa: Did you prepare that sort of dinner at the Cafe Anglais?
Babette: I was able to make them happy when I gave of my very best. Papin knew that.
Philippa: Achille Papin?
Babette: Yes. He said: Throughout the world sounds one long cry from the heart of the artist: Give me the chance to do my very best.
Philippa: But that is not the end, Babette, I’m certain of that. In Paradise, you will be the great artist that God meant you to be. Ah, how you will delight the angels!