her with tears in her eyes saying: "Oh, how you will enchant the angels!", which is precisely how the short story ends. Cast Stéphane Audran as Babette Hersant Bodil Kjer as Filippa (old) Birgitte Federspiel as Martine (old) Jarl Kulle as General Lorens Löwenhielm (old) Jean-Philippe Lafont as Achille Papin Vibeke Hastrup as Martine (young) Hanne Stensgaard as Filippa (young) Tina Kiberg as Filippa (singing voice) Gudmar Wivesson as Lorens (young) Bibi Andersson as Swedish courtier Pouel Kern as the pastor, the father Bendt Rothe as Nielsen, parishioner Cay Kristiansen as Poul, parishioner Lisbeth Movin as the Widow, parishioner Preben Lerdorff Rye as the Captain, parishioner Ebbe Rode as Christopher, parishioner Else Petersen as Solveig, parishioner Asta Esper Andersen as Anna, parishioner Holger Perfort as Karlsen, parishioner Ebba With as Löwenhielm's aunt Axel Strøbye as Löwenhielm's coachman Finn Nielsen as grocery store owner Ghita Nørby as Narrator (voice) Production Blixen's original story takes place in the Norwegian port town of Berlevåg, albeit in an inaccurate setting of multi-coloured wooden houses on a long fjord. However, when Axel researched locations in Norway, he found the settings were too idyllic and resembled a "beautiful tourist brochure". He shifted the location to the flat windswept coast of western Jutland and asked his set designer, Sven Wichmann, to build a small grey village offering very few or no attractions. Mårup Church, a plain Romanesque church built around 1250 on a remote seaside cliff near the village of Lønstrup, was used as a backdrop. Somewhat ironically, the actual village of Berlevåg is not on a fjord, but directly on the Barents sea, and is subject to strong winds—very much similar to Axel's vision. Axel altered the setting from a ship-filled harbor to fishermen's rowboats on a beach. He said the changes would highlight Blixen's vision of Babette's life in near complete exile. The Nordisk Film production company suggested the cast of Babette's Feast should include only Danish actors to reduce production costs. However, Axel wanted Danish, Swedish and French actors to play the roles for the sake of authenticity. Axel was supported by the Danish Film Institute's consultant, Claes Kastholm Hansen, who also agreed the cast should include international stars. The title character of Babette was initially offered to Catherine Deneuve. Deneuve was interested in the part but was concerned because she had been criticized in her past attempts to depart from her usual ‘sophisticated