This film is the last in a series of four films about European history. The film describes the apparent goal of European history: the blessed state of the social democratic paradise.
A filmed version of drive-in movie critic Joe Bob Briggs' one man show, "An Evening With Joe Bob Briggs," featuring stories, comedy and music, performed in front of a live audience.
Paul Schulte takes a spa stay on the Baltic Sea to have his heart condition treated. His wife Barbara accompanies him and finds interest in the valuable art objects in a nearby church.
Peter and Bozena are studying medicine, they love each other and want to be together. The girl, after a dramatic experience, breaks off contact with her parents and moves out.
In a summer in Shonan village, Sumiko is the daughter of an important upper-class Shikishima family, she loves to paint pictures, is going through a cooling-off of an arranged marriage that did not work out.
"Barbara Hammer's Optic Nerve is a powerful personal reflection on family and aging. Hammer employs filmed footage which, through optical printing and editing, is layered and manipulated to create a compelling meditation on her visit to her grandmother in a nursing home.