Herbert Achternbusch (néSchild; 23 November 1938 – 10 January 2022) was a German
film director, writer and painter.[1] He began as a writer of avant-garde prose, such as the novel Die Alexanderschlacht, before turning to low-budget films. He had a love-hate relationship with
Bavaria which showed itself in his work. Some of his controversial films, such as Das Gespenst (The Ghost), were presented at the
Berlinale festival.
Biography
Born Herbert Schild in 1938 in Munich,[2] Achternbusch was the illegitimate son of the sports teacher Luise Schild, née Muckenthaler, and the dental technician Adolf Achternbusch.[3] He grew up in the
Bavarian Forest with his grandmother.[3][4] In 1960, he was adopted by his biological father and took the name Achternbusch.[5] After his
Abitur in
Cham,[6] he studied at the
Academy of Fine Arts, Nuremberg, and at the
Academy of Fine Arts, Munich.[4][7]
In the early 1970s, Achternbusch wrote the prose Die Alexanderschlacht,[4] an important novel for the literary avant-garde of the time.[8] Achternbusch produced almost 30 low budget films.[9] He was often leading actor in his own films,[10] and worked together mainly with friends.[11] In 1975, Achternbusch met actor
Josef Bierbichler, who played in 15 of his films, partly without salary.[12] Also notable were the actresses
Annamirl Bierbichler [
de] and
Margarethe von Trotta,[13] as well as actor and painter
Heinz Braun and cinematographer
Jörg Schmidt-Reitwein.[14] In 1974, he made his film debut with Das Andechser Gefühl.[15] The 1977 film Bierkampf [
de] (Beerfight) caused attention with numerous drunk
Oktoberfest visitors as involuntary amateur actors.[4] Role models are the comedians
Karl Valentin and
Groucho Marx.[16][17][18] His
anarchistsurrealistic films are not known to a wide audience in Germany, although one of them, Das Gespenst (
The Ghost), caused a scandal in 1983 because of its alleged
blasphemous contents,[19] including a scene where Christ climbs down from the cross and later goes bathing with a nun.[15] Federal Minister of the Interior
Friedrich Zimmermann halted the funding for the film as it was deemed to have violated the "religious feeling of large parts of the population".[4] For a long time, no public broadcaster showed any of Achternbusch's films.[20] Years of legal battle ensued, with Achternbusch finally winning in 1992.[11] In the 1983 film Der Depp, he had his favorite enemy
Franz Josef Strauss poisoned.[6]
In 2002, Achternbusch stopped making films.[10] In 2008, the
Munich Film Festival dedicated a retrospective to him,[7] and on the occasion of his 80th birthday, the
Munich Film Museum paid tribute with eight of his feature films and a film portrait.[6]
Achternbusch's work also includes 20 plays, 40 books, and hundreds of paintings.[9] His large-format paintings have been described as child-like, expressive, and "naively excessive".[11] For his 70th birthday, the
Museum of Modern Art Passau [
de] made an exhibition of his works.[7] His plays were present on German stages, such as his two-person play Gust at the
Munich Kammerspiele in 1986,[21] and his last play Dogtown Munich at the
Münchner Volkstheater in 2017.[22][23] He was also a theatre director.[20]Werner Herzog, a director of the
New German Cinema, based his film Heart of Glass on a story by Achternbusch.[24] Achternbusch wrote novels, poetry, children's books and also theatre reviews for the German newspaper
Süddeutsche Zeitung.[25]
Personal life and death
Achternbusch was the father of six children with three women.[26] In 1959, his daughter Eva was born. The child's mother was a classmate. In 1962, during his studies, Achternbusch met Gerda Oberpaul, whom he married in November.[27] The children from that marriage were Rut (born 1963), Andreas (born 1964), Rita (born 1966), and Judit (born 1968).[28] They divorced in 1982.[28] From 1985 to 1993, Achternsbusch's partner and actress in 20 of his films was
Annamirl Bierbichler [
de], sister of
Josef Bierbichler.[29] In the 1980s, they lived together in a commune in Ambach,
Lake Starnberg.[11] From 1990 onward, Achternbusch lived on Munich's Burgstraße.[30] From 1993 to 1997, he was married to the actress Judith Tobschall. Their daughter is the actress
Naomi [
de] (born 1994).[28] He had a love-hate relationship with his homeland of
Bavaria.[3]
Achternbusch eventually withdrew from public life,[3] and died in Munich on 10 January 2022, at the age of 83.[31][32] Federal President
Frank-Walter Steinmeier described Achternbusch in a letter of condolence as a "unique universal artist" and that he "invaluably enriched the German cultural landscape, also because he provoked and polarized".[33][34]
Awards
Achternbusch was awarded the German international literary
Petrarca-Preis in 1977, but he declined the honor.[4][30] He burned the prize check after accepting it and left the event.[30] He won the
Mülheimer Dramatikerpreis in 1986 and 1994.[35] In 1996, Achternbusch refused to personally receive the Friedrich Wilhelm Murnau Film Award in Bielefeld.[36] In 2010, he was awarded the
Kassel Literary Prize.[37]