Life in Singapore tends to be rather structured. When I was younger, I remember being acutely aware of certain expectations about what I – everyone – was supposed to do: Go to primary school – go to secondary school – go to poly/JC – go to university – get a job – get a HDB – get married – have kids – help kids get into ‘good’ schools – kids go to primary school – … Now, don’t get me wrong, I don’t mean to say that following the ‘path’ is bad. The ‘path’ has served many people well over the years, a way in which many have been able to build their lives and succeed. It is the way in which we set up expectations for our lives and for ourselves that I question here.

Babette’s Feast is a movie from 1987 based on a short story of the same title by Danish author Isak Dinesen. It follows the story of two sisters living in an old Danish village. Like in Singapore, life in the village is structured, and in a lot of ways, unchanging. The sisters have faithfully lived under their strict father’s regimen for many years, and after he passes away, they strive to continue the work he began in the village. The sisters have not deviated from the path that their father set for them. When they were younger, suitors came for them, and they were presented with the opportunity to marry and leave the village. However, their father did not look kindly on the suitors and sent them away. The sisters never married and are now getting on in years. A French woman, Babette, arrives at their door one day in need of a place to stay and they hire her as a housekeeper in exchange for room and board. One day, Babette announces that she would like to prepare a “real French dinner” for the sisters and their friends in celebration of what would have been their father’s hundredth birthday.

The meal turns out to be a feast unlike anything the villagers have ever known. It is extravagant, luxurious and exotic, a bolt out of the blue in the austere and drab lives of the villagers. At first, they struggle to shed their curmudgeon-y exterior, maintaining their aloofness amid the wonder of the meal. But as the night progresses, their reservations fade away, and they rejoice in each other and in the happy occasion.

At the end of the dinner, it is revealed that Babette is actually a renowned chef from one of the most famous restaurants in Paris. She recently won the lottery in France, but decided to spend her money on preparing this meal for the villagers. The sisters expect her to return to France, but it turns out that she has already spent all of her winnings on the meal and has nowhere else to go.

When we live with such structure and order, it can seem as if we are missing out on something. It seems as though that something will make our life more special or more meaningful. People can deal with this in a number of ways: planning and anticipating their next overseas traveling experience, scuba diving, cafe hopping, searching for the best and most authentic Katong laksa… But maybe the answer is not somewhere out there. Maybe the answer can be found precisely in the mundane and the ordinary. Maybe, like the sisters, we may feel that we have missed some good opportunities to truly live an exciting life. But maybe the most exciting thing is waiting to be discovered.

Maybe, we are Babette. We don’t have to win the lottery, but there are many little ‘treasures’ we have accumulated through the years which we can share with those around us. If we only strive to accumulate more and more overseas trips, scuba dives, big dim sum dinners, and so on, for our own pleasure and enjoyment, I suspect we will never be satisfied. But if, like Babette, we saw ourselves as artists and our lives as the canvas upon which we paint, then we can truly make our lives something truly special and wonderful. We can live lives of “quiet desperation,” watching our lives go by, with seemingly no greater meaning or purpose than to wait for the next thing that will bring us satisfaction. Or, we can live by giving all we have and finding something greater there.

Through all the world there goes one long cry from the heart of the artist: Give me leave to do my utmost! – Babette’s Feast