14 year old Jeanne is raised in a commune. Free nature, free art and free love are part of the program, but things aren‘t as relaxed as they may seem, because Otto is actually the decision maker. He rejects bourgeois monogamy. Those who do fall in love are kicked out. He also isn‘t a believer in being fixated on parents. The city communes make money, sell bonds in suits in Frankfurt, Amsterdam and Munich, while the naked upper league dance with the children in a drum circle. Jeanne feels comfortable here. She paints and hangs out with her best friend Otis, always telling him “see you in hell“ as her goodbye. Then she falls in love with the slightly older Jean and Otto intervenes and becomes violent. But Jeanne is more of a rebel than the adults, and she protests Otto. The screenplay of SERVUS PAPA is based on the memories of Jeanne Tremsal, who grew up in Otto Mühl‘s AAO commune. Even if the last name is never mentioned, the film Otto is quickly recognizable as the controversial commune leader. The former Wehrmacht soldier and performance artist Mühl created an alternative world to the contemptuous establishment in the 1970s in a cemetery in Austria which attracted investors from all over Europe. When more and more communards leave due to Mühl‘s authoritarian outbursts, reports of sexual assaults on minor follow. Mühl eventually went to prison. Director Christopher Roth and Jeanne Tremsal, who plays her own mother in the film, depicts a morality tale that keeps the balance between the light and heavy facets of the narrative with the help of a great cast such as Clemens Schick as Otto and Jana McKinnon as Jeanne.

Clarissa Lempp (INDIEKINO MAGAZIN)

Translation: Elinor Lewy