As much an essay on insignificance as a story about an incredibly small, but fragrant and dapper, Frenchman’s turbulent, ecstatic affair with a gorgeous Irishwoman, who’s much too good for him—the mysterious ‘Babette’.  The ending, where ‘Babette’ throws Étienne’s priceless collection of King Oliver 78s out of a sixth floor window onto the Place de la Comédie in Montpellier is delicious. One can almost hear the sound of cracking shellac.