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Institute Benjamenta, or This Dream People Call Human Life (1995)
Directed by Stephen Quay, Timothy Quay
Drama, Mystery · 1h 45m
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?
Cast
Alice Krige
Mark Rylance
Gottfried John
César Saratxu
Uri Roodner
Crew
- Director
- Stephen Quay, Timothy Quay
- Writer
- Timothy Quay, Alan Passes, Stephen Quay
- Director of Photography
- Nicholas D. Knowland
- Original Music Composer
- Lech Jankowski
- Editor
- Larry Sider
- Producer
- Karl Baumgartner, Keith Griffiths, Janine Marmot, Katsue Tomiyama
Details
- Release date
- 1995-08-01
- Runtime
- 1h 45m
- Genres
- Drama, Mystery
- Original language
- EN
- Spoken languages
- Afrikaans, English, German, Spanish
- Countries
- Germany, Japan, United Kingdom
- Production
- Koninck Studios, Image Forum, Pandora Film, Hot Property Films, Film4 Productions