Roswitha Bronski runs an illegal abortion practice so that she can afford to have more children. For Kluge, her actions epitomize the contradictions and selfishness of contemporary society and especially of its basic unit, the family. The film recounts Roswitha's commendable, if often misguided, efforts to change her life and the society in which she lives. When her practice is closed by the police, she becomes a political activist... Like Anita G. (Yesterday Girl) and Leni Peickert (Artists under the Big Top...), Roswitha must navigate a difficult path through existing conditions in the Federal Republic. Unlike them, she is neither a victim nor a utopian reformer, but a dreamer committed to practical action,...a kind of "Mother Courage" played out in a minor key. She has not been perceived this way, however, by feminist critics of the film. They objected-with considerable justice-to what they regarded as Kluge's condescending treatment of Roswitha (once again played by his sister Alexandra), particularly to his frequent mocking voiceovers. (Kluge developed) his theory of "antagonistic realism" in discursive terms as a response to their objections. Stuart Liebman