Institute Benjamenta, or This Dream That One Calls Human Life
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?
Jimmy Scanlon
Director
Tiffany Shepis
as
Katherine Rizzo
Kyle Rappaport
as
Kid at the Zoo
Stephen Quay
Director
Mark Rylance
as
Jakob
Alice Krige
as
Lisa Benjamenta
Jeremy Kagan
Director
Campbell Lane
as
Chicago Moderator
Lainie Kazan
as
Connie
Stephen E. Miller
as
Guard
Barry Miller
as
Parker
Benedict Cumberbatch
as
Alexander Masters
Felicity Dean
as
Dido
Timothy Carlton
as
Judge Howarth
Tom Hardy
as
Stuart Shorter
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