THE BLIND DIRECTOR is conceived partly as a meditation on the closing years of this century. Writes Kluge: "There are times in this century which have the tendency to devour what has gone before as well as what is to come ... In my film, all the stories deal with the present, which is about to expand ..." The film centres on several groups of characters, showing how in society people are becoming superfluous. They are being replaced by dear decision makers in a world which is becoming less suited to dear decisions. But some refuse this. A young foster mother refuses to hand a child over to the legal guardians if they don't also take the notes she has made about a child's habits: a child is not a thing. It needs time.

A young woman is assigned to look after a little girl orphaned in a car crash. The girl is eventually placed in the care of an uncaring aunt who treats the child poorly. The young surrogate mother leaves with the child in the middle of the night...