Die Leiche der Anna Fritz

Anna Fritz (Alba Ribas) is not a human being. In the public eye, she's a celebrity, a religion, an object. "The Corpse of Anna Fritz" makes this clear in its opening scene. As we see her lifeless corpse being moved to the morgue, voice-overs of people on the news are heard. They discuss her impressive career, shower her with compliments on her looks, and gush over how perfect a human being she is. This makes what follows all the more interesting.

Three friends end up in the morgue, alone with her corpse. Though there are brief and glossed over moments of ethical struggle before things get down and dirty, the characters are one-dimensional and serve a distinct purpose in the story. There's the moral compass, the antagonist and the spineless coward. While certain moments could have been more tastefully done, the film does raise questions on whether there is a grey area between right and wrong. In the hands of another team, this could have been a film further beyond our comfort zones that delved into its meaty themes of moral conflict, the ethics of necrophilia, the difference (if any) between the ownership of one's body before and after death and the repercussions of celebrity idolisation.

To be fair, the film does do something different in terms of the way the story shifts focus and evolves with its turns. The acting is fine but not entirely convincing, with Ribas being the stand out.

For a second I had thought that the film would end without its final twist, which was preceded by a intense escape sequence that's noteworthy. This would have been a subversive choice but would probably feel out of place given what they were going for: an entertaining, if predictable, midnight movie that's safe and thus more satisfying.