Ödipussi
Director: Vicco von Bülow aka Loriot
Writer: Vicco von Bülow
Cast: Vicco von Bülow, Katharina Brauren, Evelyn Hamann

Plot:
Paul (Vicco von Bülow) is rather middle-aged but still spends most of his time when he isn’t working as a furniture salesman with his mother (Evelyn Hamann) who cooks for him, does his laundry and expects him to play scrabble with her and her friends. But when Paul, affectionately called Pussi, meets psychologist Margarete (Katharina Brauren) he starts to show an actual interest in a woman who isn’t his mother.

Ödipussi – a pun, as you probably gathered, on the Oedipus complex – is a classic of German comedy (contrary to Austrian popular belief, Germans do have a sense of humor) and it’s wonderfully absurd. It does end weirdly but that doesn’t make it any less entertaining.

My biggest beef with the film is the ending. When the credits started rolling, I actually asked, out loud, “is that it?” and it really was. It seems like the film just ends in the middle of nowhere, as if they suddenly decided they had enough of the project, even if there were another 15 pages to shoot, and just called it a day at that point.

But apart from that, the film is pretty goddamn wonderful. It’s absurd in so many different ways – like when Paul wants to demonstrate to his customers how easy it is to take a wardrobe apart and then just leaves his customer standing there holding up said wardrobe because he can’t put it back together anymore. Or when he and Margarete start their joint business of psychologically curated color choices for furniture and Margarete suggests that a rather depressed looking couple should get something green and they just want to live in a grey environment and really want that fresh stone-grey sofa.

It’s a wonderfully executed idea to take on the Oedipus complex in such a way. It’s funny without ever becoming disrespectful of its characters and it’s really entertaining to watch. The cast is great – above all Loriot himself and Evelyn Hamann.

I had never seen a Loriot movie before and I only know a few of his sketches and comics. But I am really motivated now to see the rest of his work. It’s bound to be good.

Summarizing: Classic for a reason.