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Director Ula Stöckl has championed women's rights in her films and Der Schlaf Der Vernunft follows this pattern, but in a very labyrinthian way. Gynecologist Dr. Dea Jannsen (Ida di Benedetto) is tormented by nightmares because she is backed into a corner with no easy way out: her husband is having an affair with her assistant, her two argumentative daughters disagree with anything she says, her mother is living at home, and she is fighting an uphill battle to protect women against the side effects of birth control pills. These conflicts manifest in her frightening dreams (shown in tones of gray), conflicts that the good doctor will have to face to maintain her sanity. In this rather convoluted film, Director Stöckl's remedy for women's problems might be easier to take if the narrative were smoother and the doctor more appealing.