What moment is still alive in your heart, years after it was lived in time?

In this episode, Bernard and Kirsten continue their two-part conversation through Babette’s Feast, the 1987 film based on the story by Isak Dinesen.

What does eternity taste like?

This is part two of two. You can watch Part One, “An Artist Is Never Poor,” on YouTube.

Chapters

00:00 The feast
02:28 Roads taken and not taken
06:50 Finding his voice in the now
14:27 The taste of eternity
17:37 Baked Alaska
23:36 Art as a relational experience
27:00 Rilke: beauty and terror
29:18 Making ourselves available

Watch the video version and subscribe to Little Connections on YouTube.

Some links below may be affiliate links. If you make a purchase through them, we may earn a small commission at no extra cost to you. Thank you for supporting Little Connections!

Watch / read / explore

• Watch Babette’s Feast on Prime Video
• Read the short story by Isak Dinesen on Kindle. You may also be able to check it out from your local library.
• Babette’s Feast official trailer
• Criterion Collection’s Three Reasons to Watch
• The General’s Toast — “Mercy and truth have met together”
• “I have been with you every day of my life. Tell me you know that” — clip featuring Birgitte Federspiel and Jarl Kulle
• Final scene — “The Wild Voice”
• Rainer Maria Rilke, “Go to the Limits of Your Longing”
• Cynthia Bourgeault, Eye of the Heart: A Spiritual Journey Into the Imaginal Realm — a look at the time and causality of Babette’s Feast
• Lady Gaga, “Always Remember Us This Way,” from A Star Is Born — “The part of me that’s you will never die.”
• Perino’s, the famous Los Angeles restaurant where Bernard had baked Alaska
• A fun baked Alaska how-to video from Preppy Kitchen

When has someone’s generosity rekindled something in you that you thought was lost?

In this episode, Bernard and Kirsten begin a two-part conversation about Babette’s Feast, the 1987 film based on the story by Isak Dinesen, also known as Karen Blixen.

Entering the film through the heart, they reflect on how a gift given fully can rekindle what has been forgotten. At the center of the conversation is Babette’s unforgettable line: “An artist is never poor.”

This is part one of two.

In this episode:

00:00 — Introduction to Babette’s Feast and its themes

02:16 — Our resistance to the movie and why we kept watching

04:43 — What changes over time, what stays the same

09:27 — The secret ingredient Babette introduces

12:15 — “An Artist Is Never Poor”

14:09 — A gift given all the way rekindles hearts

18:48 — Why am I giving? Why am I creating? Is it just going into a void? 20:39 — The exquisite subtlety that cannot be fully named

23:29 — It’s bittersweet. How do we bear it?

25:10 — When we touch Now, we are in eternity

Watch the video on YouTube

References:

Watch Babette’s Feast on Prime Video

Read the short story by Isak Dinesen on Kindle You may also be able to check it out from your local library.

Babette’s Feast official trailer

Cooking and eating scenes

The General’s Toast: “Mercy and truth have met together”

Little Connections Short: Bernard on roads taken and not taken

"I have been with you every day of my life. Tell me you know that" Clip — Birgitte Federspiel and Jarl Kulle

Babette’s Feast final scene / The Wild Voice

Rainer Maria Rilke, “Go to the Limits of Your Longing”

Some links may be affiliate links. If you make a purchase through them, we may earn a small commission at no extra cost to you. Thank you for supporting Little Connections.

Little Connections | Episode 2
Time passes, nothing lasts. So beautiful. The Curious Case of Benjamin Button.

In this second conversation, Bernard and Kirsten begin a two-part exploration of time, beauty, impermanence, love, and loss through the lens of The Curious Case of Benjamin Button.

What begins with the simple recognition that “time passes, nothing lasts” opens into a conversation about the ache and wonder of being human, the tenderness of ordinary moments, and the way some stories help us see our lives with more presence.

We’d love to hear from you! What did this conversation stir?

Watch this episode on YouTube

The Curious Case of Benjamin Button trailer and clips:

The Curious Case of Benjamin Button (2008) Trailer

That Mattress | The Curious Case of Benjamin Button (2008)

A Clock That Runs Backwards (2008) HD

Be Whoever You Want to Be (2008) HD

Some are artists | The Curious Case of Benjamin Button Ending

Music and other references:

The Architect (Live From The Tonight Show With Jimmy Fallon/2024)

Sunny and Jeff Get Married | Better Things | FX (Memento Mori)

Connect with us:

Kirsten offers spacious accompaniment at Soulspace: https://www.mysoul.space/
Kirsten collages wisdom with visual art, audio, and words on Faint Outlines: https://kirstenharrison.substack.com/
Bernard makes art at BtheMann Creations: https://www.instagram.com/bthemanncreations/

Watch Little Connections on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@LittleConnectionsPod