Institute Benjamenta, or This Dream People Call Human Life

Institute Benjamenta, or This Dream People Call Human Life (1995)

Jakob arrives at the Institute Benjamenta (run by brother and sister Johannes and Lisa Benjamenta) to learn to become a servant. With seven other men, he studies under Lisa: absurd lessons of movement, drawing circles, and servility. He asks for a better room. No other students arrive and none leave for employment. Johannes is unhappy, imperious, and detached from the school's operation. Lisa is beautiful, at first tightly controlled, then on the verge of breakdown. There's a whiff of incest. Jakob is drawn to Lisa, and perhaps she to him. As winter sets in, she becomes catatonic. Things get worse; Johannes notes that all this has happened since Jakob came. Is there any cause and effect?

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  • Release Date: 1995-08-01
  • Runtime: 1h 44min
  • Directors: Stephen Quay, Timothy Quay.

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  • Trailer

    Cast

    • Alice Krige

      Lisa Benjamenta

    • Mark Rylance

      Jakob

    • Gottfried John

      Herr Benjamenta

    • Daniel Smith

      Kraus

    • Joseph Alessi

      Pepino

    • Jonathan Stone

      Hebling

    • César Saratxu

      Inigo

    • Peter Lovstrom

      Jorgenson

    • Uri Roodner

      Schilinski

    • Peter Whitfield

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