''Ödipussi'' is a 1988

West German West Germany was the common English name for the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG) from its formation on 23 May 1949 until its reunification with East Germany on 3 October 1990. It is sometimes known as the Bonn Republic after its capital c ...

comedy film, written and directed by and also starring

Loriot Bernhard-Viktor Christoph-Carl von Bülow (12 November 1923 – 22 August 2011), known as Vicco von Bülow or Loriot (), was a German comedian, humorist, cartoonist, film director, actor and writer. As an artist, he was almost exclusively kno ...

. It was the first of two feature films he directed, the other one being ''

Pappa Ante Portas ''Pappa Ante Portas'' is a 1991 German comedy film directed by Loriot, who also played the leading role and wrote the script, and Renate Westphal-Lorenz. This was Loriot's second and final feature film, after 1988's Ödipussi. Synopsis Heinrich ...

.'' The title is a

pun A pun, also known as a paronomasia in the context of linguistics, is a form of word play that exploits multiple meanings of a term, or of similar-sounding words, for an intended humorous or rhetorical effect. These ambiguities can arise from t ...

on the

Oedipus complex In classical psychoanalytic theory, the Oedipus complex is a son's sexual attitude towards his mother and concomitant hostility toward his father, first formed during the phallic stage of psychosexual development. A daughter's attitude of desire ...

described by

Sigmund Freud Sigmund Freud ( ; ; born Sigismund Schlomo Freud; 6 May 1856 – 23 September 1939) was an Austrian neurologist and the founder of psychoanalysis, a clinical method for evaluating and treating psychopathology, pathologies seen as originating fro ...

and the nickname "''Pussi''", the way the main protagonist is called by his mother throughout the film. Rumors that the title might also be a reference to the

James Bond The ''James Bond'' franchise focuses on James Bond (literary character), the titular character, a fictional Secret Intelligence Service, British Secret Service agent created in 1953 by writer Ian Fleming, who featured him in twelve novels ...

film ''

Octopussy ''Octopussy'' is a 1983 spy film and the thirteenth in the List of James Bond films, ''James Bond'' series produced by Eon Productions. It is the sixth to star Roger Moore as the Secret Intelligence Service, MI6 agent James Bond filmography, J ...

'' have been denied by Loriot.

Synopsis

Paul Winkelmann runs the family's furniture and decoration business. Despite his age (he is 56 years old), he is still single and maintains a close relationship with his mother, who cooks for him and cannot understand that he now has his own apartment. When he meets Margarethe Tietze, a practicing psychologist, the two attempt to join their expertise to better serve the potential furniture customers who have psychological troubles. After an afternoon of coffee and pastries and a business trip to Italy, Margarethe introduces Paul to her parents, who initially assume he is one of her patients. In the meantime, much to Paul's dislike, his jealous mother has found a lodger. Margarethe's family's return visit at Paul's mother's apartment ends with a debacle, but Paul and Margarethe nevertheless start a relationship.

Premières in East and West Germany

The première of the movie was on March 10, 1988 at 16:00 in

East Berlin East Berlin (; ) was the partially recognised capital city, capital of East Germany (GDR) from 1949 to 1990. From 1945, it was the Allied occupation zones in Germany, Soviet occupation sector of Berlin. The American, British, and French se ...

and in the evening in the

West West is one of the four cardinal directions or points of the compass. It is the opposite direction from east and is the direction in which the Sun sets on the Earth. Etymology The word "west" is a Germanic word passed into some Romance langu ...

. It was the first and only première in the divided Germany to happen in both parts of the country on the same day. In the Federal Republic the film was seen by 4,612,801 viewers.

References

External links

* 1988 films 1988 comedy films German comedy films West German films 1980s German-language films Films set in West Germany Films set in Italy Films produced by Horst Wendlandt 1980s German films Films scored by Rolf Alexander Wilhelm German-language comedy films {{1980s-Germany-film-stub