Institute Benjamenta, or This Dream People Call Human Life

Synopsis

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?

Watch the trailer

When & where

Streaming on

• Amazon Prime Video↗
• Philo↗
• Fandor Amazon Channel↗
• Amazon Prime Video with Ads↗
• Shout! Factory Amazon Channel↗
• Cineverse Amazon Channel↗

Top of the call sheet

• 
  Alice Krige
  as Lisa Benjamenta
• 
  Mark Rylance
  as Jakob
• 
  Gottfried John
  as Herr Benjamenta
• D
  Daniel Smith
  as Kraus
• J
  Joseph Alessi
  as Pepino
• J
  Jonathan Stone
  as Hebling

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