[2] The story follows an aimless young man who is institutionalized for defying his wealthy father, and in the process airs several questions about how society defines and treats mental illness.

François discovers that many of the inmates are not seriously deranged, but Dr. Varmont, senior doctor of the ward where he is interned, is of the opinion that the mentally ill should be locked away from society.

Together with Heurtevent, he makes an escape attempt, but his friend collapses in an epileptic seizure while he himself is wounded by a local with his gun.

Unsure if this is a milieu he wants to enter, he goes unannounced to Stéphanie's room, who lets him stay at her place and spends the night with him.

Upon its release, Head Against the Wall received praise by the critics of Cahiers du Cinéma, especially by Jean-Luc Godard, who noted that Franju "seeks the madness behind reality, because it is for him the only way to rediscover the true face of reality behind this madness […] Franju demonstrates the necessity of Surrealism if one considers it as a pilgrimage to the sources.