In 1973, Danish director Jens Jørgen Thorsen set the world ablaze with just the announcement of his proposed film project—The Many Faces of Jesus. Also known by its more provocative title, “The Sex Life of Jesus,” the film, which promised to portray Jesus Christ engaged in a range of explicit sex acts, unleashed a firestorm of outrage that spanned continents, politics, and faiths.
Thorsen, a polarizing figure in Danish cinema, saw his country legalize pornography in 1969, opening up a new front in his battle to challenge societal norms. His ambitions culminated in a screenplay that combined eroticism with the sacred, aiming to represent Jesus in a manner far removed from traditional depictions. After securing financial backing from the government-funded Danish Film Institute to the tune of 600,000 kr., Thorsen’s intentions quickly met with a wall of resistance.
The film was to feature Jesus as not only a religious figure but also as a drunkard, thief, and sexually active with characters including John the Baptist and Mary Magdalene. It was a direct challenge to the sanctity of an icon and a provocation that would not be ignored. The backlash was instantaneous and intense. In Denmark, Christians poured into the streets in protest. The matter spilled over into politics, becoming a campaign issue in the 1973 Danish general election and contributing to the success of two political parties that ran on anti-film platforms.
The outrage wasn’t contained within Denmark’s borders. Internationally, Pope Paul VI expressed his condemnation of the project, and the Danish ambassador’s residence in Rome suffered a Molotov cocktail attack. Queen Elizabeth II, through a spokesman, made an unusual foray into public debate by calling the film “obnoxious.”
Thorsen’s quest for a production location became a geopolitical game of hot potato. He was barred from filming in France, where the project was deemed blasphemous against Christianity’s one billion followers. The United Kingdom denied Thorsen entry, and Israel proactively declared that he would be barred should he attempt to enter the country for filming. His attempts to shift the project to the United States also fizzled amid public outcry, including from prominent religious figures and lawmakers.
Even after Thorsen abandoned the project in 1978, its infamy lived on through a decades-long hoax in the United States, with a chain letter erroneously warning of the film’s production. The controversy surrounding Thorsen’s unmade film reflects the power of cinema to challenge societal norms and the fierce resistance that such challenges can provoke.
Years later, in 1989, Thorsen would face the Danish courts, ultimately failing to reinstate funding after the court ruled against the claim that his screenplay violated the moral rights of the apostles. He would go on to release a non-pornographic Jesus film in 1992, which received a tepid response, signaling that the era of his particular brand of controversy had passed.
Jens Jørgen Thorsen passed away in 2000, but his attempt to create a film that would redefine the narrative of one of history’s most revered figures remains a provocative chapter in the annals of cinematic history.