A film that makes you ask yourself while watching: Why am I doing this to myself? Werner Schroeter's "Day of the Idiots" is a Kafkaesque experiment between madness and boredom.
A woman with too much free time voluntarily provokes herself into the nuthouse - as if that were an insight. Is that supposed to be a social critique? Or simply proof that self-abandonment can be an art form?
Carole Bouquet is at least pretty to look at - that makes it easier to watch. But where is the absurd humor? Fassbinder would have spiced it up with weird dialogue and grotesque wit. Instead, it remains an artfully staged but sluggish trip into nothingness.
The bizarre narrative style and the interesting camera work save the film from complete insignificance. It is boring, but in an artful way. And that deserves a certain amount of recognition.
