Film - The Corpse of Anna Fritz

The Corpse of Anna Fritz see Ren Zelen taking in a Cult selection at the BFI London Film Festival...

Director: Hèctor Hernández Vicens
Writer: Hèctor Hernández Vicens, Isaac P Creus
Starring: Alba Ribas, Cristian Valencia, Bernat Saumel

Be warned, this movie is not for the squeamish or fainthearted. Dealing with some fairly transgressive subjects, it is nevertheless, a tense, shocking and arresting movie, charting how one depraved and immoral act can escalate out of control into a spiral of corruption and violence. It also addresses the darker aspects of the modern obsession with glamour and celebrity. ‘How far would you go?’ is a question often asked concerning the sliding morality of selfishness and opportunism.

The film tells of the sudden and untimely death of the beautiful and successful actress Anna Fritz, sending the media and her multitudes of mourning fans into shock. Her body is taken to a secret location, a morgue in a small hospital. There, a star-struck orderly called Pau, takes a picture on his phone of her naked body and sends it out, thus setting in motion a string of events.

En route to a party, two of Pau’s coked-up and slightly drunken friends sneak into the hospital and demand to see the corpse of the star. Alone in the basement morgue with the naked body of the actress before them, the most unscrupulous of the men suggests that they should take advantage of the situation.

With increasing suspense and Hitchcockian detatchment, Spanish director Hèctor Hernández Vicens takes the audience through an increasingly disturbing descent into moral bankruptcy and unforeseen violence, building through unexpected twists and turns to a harrowing denouement. It’s not comfortable viewing, but this briskly paced and cleverly written thriller, as thoroughly as it appals us, compels us to keep watching.

Copyright R.H. Zelen – ©RenZelen 2015 All rights reserved.

Image - BFI.