Institute Benjamenta, or This Dream That One Calls Human Life

Institute Benjamenta, or This Dream That One Calls Human Life is an intriguing British film that was released in 1995. This art-house feature is directed by the Quay Brothers, Stephen and Timothy, and features a three-dimensional stop-motion animation style that they are well-known for, serving as their first live-action feature film. The movie stars renowned actors like Mark Rylance, Alice Krige, and Gottfried John, who collectively create a unique cinematic experience for audiences.

The film is based on the 1919 novel "Jakob von Gunten" by Swiss writer Robert Walser. It's a surrealistic portrayal of a peculiar institution where the wealthy send their sons to learn to become servants. The school's curriculum is dominated by a near-obsessive focus on humility, submission, and the ability to blend into the background. The unconventional film ingest the viewer into a world where peculiarities are the norm, and logic and sequence often seem secondary to aesthetic visuals and allegorical implications.

The film's protagonist, Jakob von Gunten, is played by the BAFTA-winning actor Mark Rylance. He is a student at the Institute Benjamenta, attempting to decipher and navigate the puzzling rules and regulations of the mysterious institute. Jakob is an aspirant servant and represents the observer and critical thinker, someone ambitious in his quest to master the institute's unique belief system and philosophy.

Alice Krige portrays the elusive Lisa Benjamenta, the principal of the institute who, along with her brother Johannes Benjamenta (played by Gottfried John), maintains the enigmatic aura of the institute. Lisa Benjamenta is depicted as a woman of mystery and power, while Johannes Benjamenta is a man aloof and detached, a stark personification of duty. Their fascinating performances contribute majorly to the strange allure and deep intricacy of the movie.

The narrative of Institute Benjamenta serves more as a subjective impression rather than a fact-based recording, and the movie is more concerned with the visual presentation than a straightforward plot. The film's beauty lies in its outstanding visual imagery and metaphoric content, rendering it akin to a dreamlike fairy tale rather than a typical narrative feature. For instance, the institute's interiors are intricately detailed, filled with shadows, mirrors, and uncanny objects, that is consistent with the Quay Brothers' design style. The characters are presented as inhabiting this dreamlike space, and the story unfolds as much through their interactions with their environment as through their interactions with each other.

The Quay Brothers' painstakingly crafted visual style helps to enhance and complement the film's atmosphere of eerie mystery, surreal beauty and its undercurrents of turbulent emotions, power dynamics, and looming despair. This visual richness makes it a film that needs to be watched more than once to fully enjoy its imagery and symbolism.

Overall, Institute Benjamenta is a visual poetry — a dark fairy tale about power play dynamics, the banality of servitude and human's insatiable quest for knowledge and meaning. It competently uses the metaphoric potential of cinema to bring forth deep-seated human concerns in a surreal, fantastical fashion. Besides the narrative, the film's unique design, set construction, animations, and the evocative musical score set it apart as a visual treat.

However, Institute Benjamenta is a film that is certainly not for everyone. It is, above all, an experiment in form and narrative, which has the potential to be disconcerting for those more used to traditional storytelling structures. But if you enjoy superbly crafted visuals, metaphoric content and avant-garde cinema, Institute Benjamenta, is likely to be an entrancing experience. The film is more than a movie; it challenges your perceptions, prompts you to question what you know, and takes you down the uncanny path of a dream that one calls human life.