First Danish movie to win an Academy Award for best foreign language film.
The original novella is set in the Norwegian village of Berlevag. Gabriel Axel stayed very close to the original source, but he felt the original setting had become too colourful and pretty to evoke the bleakness described by Karen Blixen. He transposed the setting to Jutland in his native Denmark, where he had the wooden village houses built.
The seven-course menu in the film consisted of:
"Potage à la Tortue" (turtle soup) served with Amontillado sherry. "Blinis Demidoff" (buckwheat pancakes with caviar and sour cream) served with Veuve Cliquot Champagne. "Cailles en Sarcophage" (quail in puff pastry shell with foie gras and truffle sauce) served with Clos de Vougeot Pinot Noir. An endive salad. "Savarin au Rhum avec des Figues et Fruit Glacée" (rum sponge cake with figs and candied cherries) served with Champagne. Assorted cheeses and fruits served with Sauternes. Coffee with vieux marc Grande Champagne cognac.
"Potage à la Tortue" (turtle soup) served with Amontillado sherry. "Blinis Demidoff" (buckwheat pancakes with caviar and sour cream) served with Veuve Cliquot Champagne. "Cailles en Sarcophage" (quail in puff pastry shell with foie gras and truffle sauce) served with Clos de Vougeot Pinot Noir. An endive salad. "Savarin au Rhum avec des Figues et Fruit Glacée" (rum sponge cake with figs and candied cherries) served with Champagne. Assorted cheeses and fruits served with Sauternes. Coffee with vieux marc Grande Champagne cognac.
The novella on which this film is based originally was published in the June 1950 issue of "Lady's Home Journal". It was the last work published by Karen Blixen-Finecke (under the pen name Isak Dinesen) in her lifetime. She is best remembered now as being played by Meryl Streep in Out of Africa (1985), based on her memoirs.