Institute Benjamenta,
or This Dream People Call Human Life (1995)
A film by the Brothers Quay
A quiet and softly spoken man
arrives at a ghostly building to enrol for the servants class taught there. He
rings the doorbell and is greeted by a monkey's face through the small hole in
the door. The man's name is Jakob. He enters and meets one of the two owners (a
brother and sister). The brother is unpleasant, and informs Jakob that there are
no favourites here.
Jakob goes into class to meet the other students. They all announce their names
to him and then fall over. The lessons are presumptuous and iterative. They
involve the men swaying from side to side and standing on one leg. They really
are quite eccentric. The institute seems to be its own little world away from
reality, with its low ceiling rooms. The sister soon has a strange fondness for
Jakob. This is a very sombre film, but has a unique air to it. The pacing is
pedestrian, but you stay with it. The acting is good, and the camerawork is
meticulous and probing.
