Institute Benjamenta, or This Dream People Call Human Life

Jakob arrives at the Institute Benjamenta, run by siblings Johannes and Lisa Benjamenta, to train as a servant. He joins seven other men under Lisa’s guidance, where the curriculum unfolds as a series of peculiar lessons in movement, circle-drawing, 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 strikingly beautiful, initially tightly controlled, then on the verge of breakdown. There is a whiff of incest. Jakob is drawn to Lisa, and perhaps she is drawn to him. As winter settles in, she becomes catatonic. Things worsen; Johannes notes that all of this has happened since Jakob’s arrival. Is there any cause and effect?