Institute Benjamenta, or This Dream People Call Human Life

Stil.

Wiegend.

I wish to enrol.

To enrol? Certainly?

This way...if you please.

Keine Bewegung, bitte.

Moment, bitte.

Außergewöhnlich...

Sir? Herr Benjamenta?

I'm here to enrol.

These are students I have hammered into Europe.

Bitte, setzen.

Asseyez-vous!

So...Name. Date of birth.

It's on the concession.

Und so weiter, und so weiter.

Etc, etc...

..etc, etc.

Das ist?

Ah...

Von Gunten.

Eintausend, zweitausend, dreitausend, viertausend,

fünftausend.

Jakob.

A few other details, Herr von Gunten.

Wollen doch mal sehen.

Ja.

Ganz gute Reaktion.

I have sought entrance to the Institute Benjamenta as a student...

..in order to acquire the necessary knowledge for being a servant...

..as I have no high hopes of life.

I hope - no I am quite certain - that I am fit.

I...

Glitschig.

I hope I am quite certain that in some measure I am fit to be of service to someone in this life.

To someone in this life.

Jakob von Gunten wishes to affirm that he...

Drei, vier, fünf, sechs.

..wishes to affirm that it is a matter of indifference to him what he is ordered to

Sechs, sieben, acht, neun...

..as his modesty knows no bounds.

Zwölf.

Ja...ein kapitaler Zwölfender.

Ugh. Agh.

It's good your hair is short.

There's an epidemic of tics...

..in the forest here.

You can put aside any idea of preferential treatment.

You're all one size here.

You can go now, von Gunten.

The class of life has already started.

Don't I get a receipt?

Go! Raus!

Kapitaler Zwölfender.

Flammenartige...

I refer you to your manuals, the chapter headed...

- (Knock on door) - ..The Divine Duty of Servants.

Danke.

Jakob von Gunten.

Gut.

Herr Jakob, these are your fellow students.

Kraus.

Auclair. Barcelonnette.

Fridolin. Fisoloebede.

Schilinski. Nyepertatikva.

Jorgenson. Aarhus.

Hebling. Fnetenberbel.

Pepino. D'Agrigento.

Inigo. Euskadikoa.

One.

Service is a beautiful, gold flower, full of...

We have to learn the rules by heart.

There is but one lesson here...

..endlessly repeated...

..over and over again.

One will learn very little here.

And none of us will amount to much.

Later in life, we shall all be something very small and subordinate.

..are his ears at the word of command,

and folded and pressed at all times are his lips.

Except to say, 'Yes, sir, at once, sir. Of course, sir.'

Next page.

Herr Jakob, will you please join us next time?

Three.

The satisfaction of his master shall be the servant's heaven.

The woeful opposite is his annihilating hell.

Can't. Can't. Can't eat this. It's impossible.

I won't. I won't.

I won't stand up until you promise me a decent room to sleep in.

Fräulein Benjamenta, I beg of you.

You... You won't ever, never, never, never, have to complain about my behaviour again.

Is that so?

I shall never have to complain?

Such a fuss about where to lay your head.

Hm.

Go up.

Is this more to your liking?

Well, it's small...

and the window scarcely merits the name.

There are no curtains, but don't be angry, Fräulein, I like it.

Even if the sun never gets a look in.

I like it.

Thank you.

Well...

Well, now my comrades are sure to feel offended.

And now be quiet, Herr Jakob.

Class commences at eight. Kraus will collect you.

Good night.

I shall never let myself be rescued...

..nor shall I ever rescue anybody.

Why can't there be a light in the light, instead of just in the dark?

Perhaps I shall never put out roots and branches.

One day, some fragrance will issue from my being and I will flower.

I will bow my head, and my arms and legs will sag.

Everything will wither and fade...

..and I will be dead.

Not really dead.

Only in a certain sort of way.

Dead.

Then I will go on dying for perhaps another 60 years.

Instead of older, I grew younger.

Whoever thinks this possible will be happy for the rest of his life.

Once great snowflakes fell in the castle courtyard.

To live on here until the winter only.

Then when it begins to snow...

Oh...

It can snow upon us so gently...

so intensely...

..in such an immense...

..silence.

Neither beginning nor end, everything in a grey-white snowing...

..no more sky, no more air.

No more streets.

Rule the world.

Sometimes more life lies hidden in the opening of a door

than in a question.

Past and future circle about us -

now we know more...

..now we know less.

To the deer forests.

And what was the institute before it was the institute?

Is life sketching a more subtle sketch than I?

Here they find the things Fräulein Benjamenta teaches us...

..worth knowing.

It isn't much

and we are always revising.

But perhaps there is some hidden meaning to all these nothings.

We grasp a thing and it is as if it possessed us.

Not we possess it, but it us.

Sir, I have rescued the cat from the tall tree in the garden.

Be careful, Viscount, the steeple, it is wobbling!

Agh!

Be careful, Viscount, the church steeple, it is wobbling.

Agh!

- (Hand clap) - Be careful...

Your Highness, don't eat the schnitzel. It's...

Agh!

The institute is no place for your vile fantasies, Duchess.

Please remove your hand from my knee.

Wake up, wake up, Duchess!

There's a fire in the nursery!

Wake up!

Wake up, wake up, Duchess! There's a fire in the nursery!

I have placed the children in the care of the chief of the fire brigade.

There is no need to worry.

Look, there are only minor burns to my left side.

You go to the children. Forget about me.

Yes, I forgive you for you know not what you do.

I forgive you, Your Highness, for you know not what you do.

Wake up, wake up, Duchess! There's a fire in the nursery!

Kraus?

He behaves as if he plans staying here for another century.