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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?
Movie rating: 7.3 / 10 (1438)
Directed by: Stephen Quay - Timothy Quay
Writer credits: Alan Passes - Stephen Quay
Cast: Mark Rylance - Alice Krige - Gottfried John - Daniel Smith - Joseph Alessi
AKA: Institute Benjamenta, or This Dream People Call Human Life, Institute Benjamenta, France (Institut Benjamenta (Ce qu'on appelle la vie humaine)), Institut Benjamenta, Institut Benjamenta oder Dieser Traum, den man menschliches Leben nennt
