- HD 1080
- Runtime: 104m.
- Status: Released
0
- Languages: en
- Country: Germany, Japan, United Kingdom
- Director: Stephen Quay, Timothy Quay
- Stars: Alice Krige, Mark Rylance, Gottfried John, Daniel Smith, Joseph Alessi
- keywords: surrealism
- Production_studio: Koninck Studios, Image Forum, Pandora Film, Hot Property Films, Film4 Productions
- providers: Amazon Prime Video, Fandor Amazon Channel, Amazon Prime Video with Ads
- The Institute Benjamenta, or This Dream People Call Human Life is featured in the top rankings of 1995
- #17 in Top Drama Movies of 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?