“It was like you were in a pornographic film”: Stanley Tucci’s X-rated take on the movie that changed his life
Stanley Tucci can seemingly do it all onscreen, where he is just as capable of making us cry tears of laughter as he is tears of emotional turmoil.
He can play the hero, the villain, the sidekick, and the one-scene wonder, and he’s written and directed a number of movies, as well as authored four books, but most importantly, he’s single-handedly revolutionised the way bald men wear glasses, which will be his true legacy.
Another major aspect of the Oscar-nominated star’s career is food, and those four books we mentioned are all related to eating in some form or other. His 2021 memoir Taste: My Life Through Food is exactly what it says on the tin, and his food-based travel show Searching for Italy has won him three Emmys and Big Night, his directorial debut, is set in a restaurant.
It should come as no surprise that one of his favourite films of all time is all about grub. Speaking to Letterboxd, Tucci revealed his adoration for the 1987 Danish drama Babette’s Feast, and according to the Devil Wears Prada star, it was love at first sight.
“I remember seeing it in this little theatre that’s no longer there, on the Upper West Side, and it was so moving,” he recalled, “This is going to sound terrible. It was like you were in a pornographic film because people were moaning throughout…as [Babette] is preparing the food; it’s set against this very ascetic background, which just heightens everything. It’s an absolutely brilliant film that was, without question, inspirational to me.”
Babettes Gæstebud (to give it its original Danish title) is from director Gabriel Axel, where Stéphane Audran plays Babette, a French woman who begins working at a Danish church as a cook, impressing the locals with her extravagant and delicious meals, but things quickly get out of hand when her dark past is uncovered. The film became an international sensation, becoming the first movie from Denmark to win ‘Best Foreign Language Film’ at the Oscars and is a favourite of many celebrities, from Richard Gere to the late Pope Francis.
The near sexual ecstasy that Tucci and his fellow cinemagoers experienced that night was shared by the characters in the movie as well, where Babette spends weeks slaving away in preparation for an extravagant dinner party for the entire congregation, a selflessness that is misinterpreted by the two sisters running the church, who simply cannot believe that this is a purely altruistic act, so they treat her with suspicion, believing she is an evil witch sent to tempt them with earthly pleasure, but then comes the meal, and all that tension explodes when the guests begin to eat the food.
Axel creates an onscreen dining experience that is somewhere between a religious experience and an orgy that is truly encapsulating, presenting one of the finest eating scenes in film history.
Food has always had a place on the big screen, and it’s linked to sex more often than you might think. Babette’s Feast is one of many excellent films that use our desire to eat as a metaphor for other vices, and is definitely not one to watch on an empty stomach.
