Based on the writings of Swiss author Robert Walser, this beautifully dark film combines fantasy and fairytale, telling the story of a boarding school for servants. Photographed by cinematographer Nic Knowland, the academy's hallowed halls are dull and drab, and the students spend their days repeating a single lesson. When Jakob (Mark Rylance) enrolls in the school, he becomes enmeshed in the lives of the strange siblings who run it.