Jesus returns to present-day Bavaria, walks around Munich in a somewhat dazed manner and strikes up an affair with a nun, arguing that they are married anyway. Therefore, he refers to himself as "Ober" (waiter), obviously the male form of "Oberin" (Mother Superior). He occasionally transforms into a snake when being afraid and is finally carried up into the sky by the nun, who transforms into a bird of prey.
Acting
Achternbusch's deadpan messiah is gloriously unhinged.
Direction
Pure stubborn auteur vision—makes zero concessions to sense.
Director
Herbert Achternbusch
Trivia, insights & behind the scenes
Part of the 1980s German auteur explosion that treated Catholic Bavaria as personal playground. Achternbusch made eleven features in eleven years—this one's the weird middle child.
The 'Ober/Oberin' wordplay loses everything in translation—it's a gendered power flip that English can't touch.
DE
