Institute Benjamenta, or This Dream People Call Human Life

Movie·1995·105 min

Institute Benjamenta, or This Dream People Call Human Life

Name: Institute Benjamenta, or This Dream People Call Human Life
Genre: Drama, Mystery
Released: 1995-08-01
Duration: 105 min
Rating: 7.6
Cast: Alice Krige, Mark Rylance, Gottfried John, Daniel Smith, Joseph Alessi

Institute Benjamenta, or This Dream People Call Human Life streams in the US on Amazon Prime Video, Philo and 7 more apps, as of October 5, 2026.

7.6 / 10 · TMDB

Drama Mystery

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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