Incredibly unnerving film with strong undertones that will creep under your skin. A borderline masochistic viewing experience.

Wonderful. Forget being able to pinpoint the answer to the title's question... you will feel it but you won't be able to put your finger on it. Perhaps you will be left tackling another question: How is it possible to become unbearably alienated when you're right at home, leading a normal day-to-day life?

Although its documentary-style scenes and dialogue can be long and meandering, I never got bored because I knew that the payoff was coming...

Very, very amateurish. But still, one of the best Fassbinder's early efforts.