Institute Benjamenta, or This Dream That One Calls Human Life

Basic Info:

Released Date:

1996-08-23

Languages:

English, German

Countries:

UK, Japan, Germany

Runtime:

104 min

IMDB Ratings:

7.3 (1232 Reviews)

Director:

Stephen Quay Timothy Quay

Genres:

Animation Drama

Cast:

Mark Rylance Alice Krige Gottfried John Daniel Smith

Writer:

Alan Passes

Stephen Quay

Timothy Quay

Robert Walser (novel)

Fullplot:

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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