Institute Benjamenta, or This Dream People Call Human Life
Institute Benjamenta, or This Dream People Call Human Life
Overview
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?
Trailer
Cast
Alice Krige
Mark Rylance
Gottfried John
Daniel Smith
Joseph Alessi
Jonathan Stone
César Saratxu
Peter Lovstrom
Uri Roodner
Peter Whitfield
Crew
Stephen Quay
Timothy Quay
Timothy Quay
Stephen Quay
Alan Passes
Nicholas D. Knowland
Larry Sider
Irene Lamb
Jennifer Kernke
Alison Riva
Nicky Gillibrand
Gina Carter
Dave Crownshaw
Karl Baumgartner
