665 Babette's Feast

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Moe Dickstein
Joined: Fri Aug 24, 2012 11:19 pm

Re: 665 Babette's Feast

#26 Post by Moe Dickstein » Fri Sep 06, 2013 8:08 pm

It's a technique to soften the image. Some actresses even had their own nettings they kept with them for close ups. It's sometimes more visible with digital techniques like many things that were hidden with prints that were several generations from the negative, like wires for effects etc.

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knives
Joined: Sat Sep 06, 2008 6:49 pm

Re: 665 Babette's Feast

#27 Post by knives » Fri Sep 06, 2013 9:18 pm

It can be used for a few other effects too. If I remember right everything except the epilogue to Berlin Alexanderplatz is shot that way to get an other view of the effect.

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MichaelB
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Re: 665 Babette's Feast

#28 Post by MichaelB » Sat Sep 07, 2013 4:17 am

It may well be the case that the transition to a digital medium has created an unfortunate moiré-style effect as a by-product, but I have to say that it didn't really bother me. I can't stress enough that this is absolutely nothing like what happened with Marnie!

Flanell
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Re: 665 Babette's Feast

#29 Post by Flanell » Sat Sep 07, 2013 1:43 pm

Ok, thanks for the explanation guys. Just finished watching it now. Guess i got a bit derailed by what i saw, thankfully the "fishnet" pattern didn't show up for the remainder of the movie, so no big deal. At first i got a bit worried that it was my equipment that failed me. Apart from that it was a beautiful transfer of a beautiful movie. Made me feel all warm and fuzzy inside.

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movielocke
Joined: Fri Jan 18, 2008 12:44 am

Re: 665 Babette's Feast

#30 Post by movielocke » Fri Sep 13, 2013 1:22 pm

Just caught this last night, and absolutely adored the film.

I also caught the diamond like pattern in two scenes, visible only in the sky to me, I initially thought it was a gradient filter put over the lens to keep the sky from blowing out (since I've used those in still photography), but gauze over the lens makes sense too. I imagine they could have avoided the problem entirely by harvesting a positive element instead of the negative, as the grain of even a first generation IP should probably cause the issue to vanish.

Michael Almeyreyda's visual essay tone poem on the film is absolutely wonderful, I liked the way he wove together the whole story of the Dineson, Axel, Welles and the film itself, it felt very organic and not at all like a typical 'history of' special feature.

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MichaelB
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Re: 665 Babette's Feast

#31 Post by MichaelB » Wed Nov 27, 2013 10:40 am

MichaelB wrote:It may well be the case that the transition to a digital medium has created an unfortunate moiré-style effect as a by-product, but I have to say that it didn't really bother me. I can't stress enough that this is absolutely nothing like what happened with Marnie!
Usefully, this discussion has enabled me to identify the same issue behind a couple of similar shots in Arrow's Frivolous Lola, which I'm just QCing. Although I suspect I'll be the only viewer looking at the faint veil pattern in the background rather than the heroine's naked buttocks in the foreground, so it's less of an issue than it was with Babette's Feast!

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movielocke
Joined: Fri Jan 18, 2008 12:44 am

Re: 665 Babette's Feast

#32 Post by movielocke » Wed Nov 27, 2013 12:11 pm

MichaelB wrote:
MichaelB wrote:It may well be the case that the transition to a digital medium has created an unfortunate moiré-style effect as a by-product, but I have to say that it didn't really bother me. I can't stress enough that this is absolutely nothing like what happened with Marnie!
Usefully, this discussion has enabled me to identify the same issue behind a couple of similar shots in Arrow's Frivolous Lola, which I'm just QCing. Although I suspect I'll be the only viewer looking at the faint veil pattern in the background rather than the heroine's naked buttocks in the foreground, so it's less of an issue than it was with Babette's Feast!
Does that harvest also originate from the negative? I still think that the grain structure of an IP would hide the pattern, it's not a flaw anyone but the negative cutter would have ever seen (and only then if they had a fabulously powerful loupe!).

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bottled spider
Joined: Thu Nov 26, 2009 2:59 am

Re: 665 Babette's Feast

#33 Post by bottled spider » Wed Nov 27, 2013 3:32 pm

movielocke wrote:Michael Almeyreyda's visual essay tone poem on the film is absolutely wonderful, I liked the way he wove together the whole story of the Dineson, Axel, Welles and the film itself, it felt very organic and not at all like a typical 'history of' special feature.
Agreed. I liked it so much it prompted me to investigate his movies. Those who liked his essay might like his documentary William Eggleston in the Real World.

I saw Babette's Feast in the theatres when I was much younger, and loved it for its joie de vivre. Watching it again many years later, it is the intimations of mortality that especially resonate.

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movielocke
Joined: Fri Jan 18, 2008 12:44 am

Re: 665 Babette's Feast

#34 Post by movielocke » Fri Nov 29, 2013 2:04 am

Actually I've seen William Eggleston in the real world and really enjoyed it, but I'd forgotten who directed it.

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Ashirg
Joined: Wed Nov 03, 2004 9:10 am
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Re: 665 Babette's Feast

#35 Post by Ashirg » Sat Aug 16, 2014 1:30 pm

Separate DVD and blu-ray editions are up for pre-order at Amazon with November 4 release date.

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swo17
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Re: 665 Babette's Feast

#36 Post by swo17 » Sat Aug 16, 2014 1:51 pm

If you're suggesting that this was once a dual-format package that is now being broken up, that's not the case.

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Ashirg
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Re: 665 Babette's Feast

#37 Post by Ashirg » Sat Aug 16, 2014 2:10 pm

My mistake. I guess it's just a repackage.

dcsmith
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Re: 665 Babette's Feast

#38 Post by dcsmith » Thu Mar 28, 2019 2:19 am

Has anyone seen the story of this film being a representation of different facets of a personality. Discipline vs. Artistic expression, or perhaps ambition and achievement as a result of suppression of romantic intentions. I had this impression after seeing the movie, but then after watching the supplement on Karen Blixen and her near forced chastity I wondered if the sisters' chastity was an expression of this facet of her life.

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Gregory
Joined: Tue Nov 02, 2004 4:07 pm

Re: 665 Babette's Feast

#39 Post by Gregory » Sat Aug 14, 2021 5:25 pm

Apparently this is fairly old news, but I heard recent confirmation that this is still happening: Guy Branum is currently writing a remake of this for Alexander Payne. Whatever happens, or doesn't, we'll see eventually.

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