The film opens with Dogma95 certificate. It follows Dogma95’s ten must-have rules. It’s the first film of the movement. Dogma is a state of mind that accepts the ideas and principles put forward to be true and as the absolute truth without any research, seeking evidence, reviewing, criticizing, or discussing. Just like taboos. Director Vinterberg described incest in the movie Festen (Feast) with Dogma95 techniques.
The movie tells the story of the feast given exclusively for the father’s (Helge) 60th birthday. Children, all away from home, come together at the feast. Close relatives, and very old family friends… At this feast, Cristian (the eldest child abused by the father) begins some confessions. Cristian’s confessions and the hypocrisy of the feast table – especially the hypocrisy of the bourgeoisie- increase the tension.
Cristian takes the first step with a letter he wrote for the celebration day. He says that his father raped him many times for many years. Everyone at the table loses their appetite. The grandfather (Helge’s father) stands up and tries to soften the mood with a joke. Then Helene (little sister) gets up and gives a speech to soften the mood. However, Helene found the confession letter left by her sister, who committed suicide because of her father’s rapes, before she came to the banquet table. Still, Helene doesn’t take Cristian’s side.
They give a break, and Cristian is now alone with his father.
Father: I don’t remember what you said.
Cristian: I’m sorry I was wrong.
Everyone gathers again at the banquet table. Cristian’s thought to be gone, but he is still on the table. Cristian takes a second step. He mentions that Linda (sister who committed suicide) was raped by her father, and that she committed suicide because of it. The feast table is shaken. Helge’s adopted child gives a rescue speech this time. Michael tries to smoothen the mood. Helene blames Cristian.
Dinner is suspended. People at the table don’t generally take sides, they try to leave the place. Those who support Cristian are just the servants of the hotel, which is also the home of the family and Helene’s black boyfriend who’s been racially assaulted.
Cristian is alone with his father. The father changes tactics. He tries to suppress Christian by talking about Cristian’s misbehaviour as a child, his drug addiction, his apathy to women, his special relationship with Linda, and that Linda blamed Cristian for leaving her.
They all are gathered at the banquet table again. It’s Christian’s mother’s turn to talk-to support Helge. After his mother describes Helge as a great family father, she now turns to Cristian. She talks about how he’s made up so many good stories as a kid, that she’s always expected him to be a writer, that he’s always confused fantasy with reality. His mother uses the character Mug, which Cristian created to resist his experiences, against Cristian at the banquet table. “Cristian, I think Mug is here tonight, and you should tell him to leave. Apologize to your father.”
His mother now deserves a confession, too. Christian takes step three. He tells how his mother turned a blind eye when his father raped him. Tensions rise at the table. Again, the majority of the people will not take a side.
It’s Michael’s turn to save their father now. They beat Christian to unconsciousness, drag him to the woods, tie him onto a tree and leave him there.
The feast table gathers again. The chain is now broken by Helene now, who had just had a racist attack for her boyfriend. She reads the letter she found in Linda’s room, written just before Linda committed suicide. The letter talks about how Linda committed suicide because she couldn’t bear her father’s rapes any longer, and how much she loves Christian.
Christian is now back home, and at the table. This time, he does the talk with his father not behind closed doors, but at the feast table.
Cristian: I never understood why you did this to us!
Baba: Because you were useless otherwise.
Helge gets off the table. Tensions are high at the feast table. As nerves rise, so does the consumption of alcohol, and everyone is drunk now. The feast goes on, the music goes on. When night is over and everyone retreats to their rooms, the festive table is left to Cristian and those who side with him. Michael ends the night. Michael, the boarding school boy, rapes his racist father who is constantly inflicting physical and psychological violence on people.
As the morning begins, everyone’s down at the breakfast table. The dark, black, hypocritical feast table of the night is replaced by the bright, white, intimate breakfast table of the morning. Everyone is now on a side. On Cristian’s side. Cristian resisted in spite of everything and won. Only one person is forced to leave the breakfast table; father Helge.