Backdrop image for movie 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?

  • Drama

Top billed cast

  • Photo of Alice KrigeAlice KrigeLisa Benjamenta
  • Photo of Mark RylanceMark RylanceJakob
  • Photo of Gottfried JohnGottfried JohnHerr Benjamenta
  • Photo of Daniel SmithDaniel SmithKraus
  • Photo of Joseph AlessiJoseph AlessiPepino
  • Photo of Jonathan StoneJonathan StoneHebling
  • Photo of César SaratxuCésar SaratxuInigo
  • Photo of Peter LovstromPeter LovstromJorgenson
  • Photo of Uri RoodnerUri RoodnerSchilinski
  • Photo of Peter WhitfieldPeter Whitfield

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