Institute Benjamenta, or This Dream People Call Human Life (1995)1h45
Drama · Mystery
Director Stephen Quay
Also directed Street of Crocodiles, The Cabinet of Jan Švankmajer, Stille Nacht I: Dramolet, and 44 more
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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Cast
Alice Krige
Mark Rylance
Gottfried John- Daniel Smith
- Joseph Alessi
- Jonathan Stone
César Saratxu- Peter Lovstrom
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THX 1138
