''Anatomy'' () is a 2000 German

horror film Horror is a film genre that seeks to elicit physical or psychological fear in its viewers. Horror films often explore dark subject matter and may deal with Transgressive art, transgressive topics or themes. Broad elements of the genre include Mo ...

written and directed by

Stefan Ruzowitzky Stefan Ruzowitzky is an Austrian film director and screenwriter. Early life and education Ruzowitzky was born in Vienna. He studied drama and history at the University of Vienna and started directing music videos, for example for 'N Sync, an ...

that stars

Franka Potente Franka Potente (; born 22 July 1974) is a German actress. She first appeared in the comedy film '' After Five in the Forest Primeval'' (1995), for which she won a Bavarian Film Award for Best Young Actress. Her breakthrough came in 1998, when s ...

. The film became the highest-grossing German-language movie in 2000.Foroohar, Rana; Seno, Alexandra; Theil, Stefan. "Hurray for Globowood", ''

Newsweek International ''Newsweek'' is an American weekly news magazine based in New York City. Founded as a weekly print magazine in 1933, it was widely distributed during the 20th century and has had many notable editors-in-chief. It is currently co-owned by Dev P ...

'', May 27, 2002

Columbia Pictures Columbia Pictures Industries, Inc., Trade name, doing business as Columbia Pictures, is an American film Production company, production and Film distributor, distribution company that is the flagship unit of the Sony Pictures Motion Picture Group ...

released the film's English- dubbed version in the

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

theatrically on 8 September 2000. However, the dubbed version underperformed at the United States box office. A sequel, '' Anatomy 2'' (''Anatomie 2''), was released in 2003.

Plot

Medical student Paula Henning wins a place in a summer course at the

University of Heidelberg Heidelberg University, officially the Ruprecht Karl University of Heidelberg (; ), is a public university, public research university in Heidelberg, Baden-Württemberg, Germany. Founded in 1386 on instruction of Pope Urban VI, Heidelberg is List ...

, where her grandfather had been a renowned professor. During one of her classes on

anatomy Anatomy () is the branch of morphology concerned with the study of the internal structure of organisms and their parts. Anatomy is a branch of natural science that deals with the structural organization of living things. It is an old scien ...

, the body of David, a young man whom Paula encountered on her train to

Heidelberg Heidelberg (; ; ) is the List of cities in Baden-Württemberg by population, fifth-largest city in the States of Germany, German state of Baden-Württemberg, and with a population of about 163,000, of which roughly a quarter consists of studen ...

, turns up on her

dissection Dissection (from Latin ' "to cut to pieces"; also called anatomization) is the dismembering of the body of a deceased animal or plant to study its anatomical structure. Autopsy is used in pathology and forensic medicine to determine the cause of ...

table. Her instructor, Professor Grombek, humiliates her by daring her to dissect the heart. Paula finds that David's body bears strange incisions and decides to investigate the mysterious circumstances surrounding his death. As she proceeds to cut a sample for an independent test, she is intrigued to find a triple "A" mark near David's ankle. She is then startled by the school's mortuary attendant, who wants to know if Grombek is aware of her investigation. Paula finds clues pointing to an ancient

secret society A secret society is an organization about which the activities, events, inner functioning, or membership are concealed. The society may or may not attempt to conceal its existence. The term usually excludes covert groups, such as intelligence ag ...

, the Anti-

Hippocratic Hippocrates of Kos (; ; ), also known as Hippocrates II, was a Greek physician and philosopher of the classical period who is considered one of the most outstanding figures in the history of medicine. He is traditionally referred to as the "Fat ...

Society, which performs gruesome experiments on living people who they deem undesirable. She also comes across research about the rituals that they perform on transgressors of their rules or those who inquire too much. One night, Paula sits on her bed and realizes that it has been soaked in blood, with candles lit underneath, as a sign of warning from the Society. She then attacks a figure that enters her room, but it turns out to be her friend Hein, who is seeking consolation over his recent breakup from his girlfriend Gretchen. While they talk, Paula's boyfriend Casper stops by and storms off when he sees that she is not alone. Hein leaves, apparently more at peace. As Gretchen and her new boyfriend Phil prepare to have sex in one of the morgue halls, Hein murders Phil in a jealous rage. He then injects Gretchen with a blood-coagulating drug, telling her that he will preserve her body. He is so absorbed in the work that he falls asleep without having disposed of Phil's body. Hein hides it in the morgue and removes the head to prevent identification. The next day, when Paula tries to share her findings about the Society, Hein menacingly tells her that it is dangerous to know too much. Grombek reveals that Paula's grandfather was a member of the Society, and that the drug which he became famous for developing was the result of his experiments in

Nazi concentration camp From 1933 to 1945, Nazi Germany operated more than a thousand concentration camps (), including subcamp (SS), subcamps on its own territory and in parts of German-occupied Europe. The first camps were established in March 1933 immediately af ...

s. Paula flees to the hospital to confront her grandfather but is told that he has died. At the assembly of the Society, Hein expresses no remorse for the murders and defiantly accepts their punishment, slashing himself three times in the face. Grombek takes responsibility for the killings and leaves to call the authorities to arrest Hein. Later, while Paula destroys the

diploma A diploma is a document awarded by an educational institution (such as a college or university) testifying the recipient has graduated by successfully completing their courses of studies. Historically, it has also referred to a charter or offi ...

s granted to her grandfather, a crazed Hein kills Grombek in his house. Paula gets back to the school but is trapped by Hein and his accomplice, Ludwig. While they are preparing her for preservation, Paula's bindings are partially cut by Casper. She gets loose, poisons Ludwig, and runs away until Hein strikes a high voltage cable and dies. Casper and Paula then escape together. In a mid-credits scene, two of Paula's classmates praise Hein's abilities in dissection and preservation, discuss Grombek's imminent replacement, and how they will keep a low profile in their respective practices while experimenting for the Anti-Hippocratic Society.

Cast

as Paula Henning * Benno Fürmann as Hein *

Rüdiger Vogler Rüdiger Vogler (born 14 May 1942 in Warthausen, near Biberach an der Riß) is a German film and stage actor. Biography Rüdiger Vogler attended acting school in Heidelberg from 1963 to 1965. Later he played for six years at "''Theater am Turm ...

as Dr. Henning * Anna Loos as Gretchen *

Oliver Wnuk Oliver Wnuk (born 28 January 1976) is a German actor. He is best known for his performance as Ulf Steinke in the TV series '' Stromberg''. Selected filmography References External links * 1976 births Living people German male film ...

as Ludwig * Arndt Schwering-Sohnrey as David *

Sebastian Blomberg Sebastian Blomberg is a German actor. He is known for his role as Rudi Dutschke in the 2008 film ''The Baader Meinhof Complex''. Early life and education Sebastian Blomberg was born in Bergisch Gladbach, West Germany. Career Blomberg has app ...

as Caspar * Holger Speckhahn as Phil * Traugott Buhre as Prof. Grombek * Gennadi Vengerov as the Preparateur

Release

''Anatomy'' opened on 386 screens and grossed 3.9 million

Deutsche Mark The Deutsche Mark (; "German mark (currency), mark"), abbreviated "DM" or "D-Mark" (), was the official currency of West Germany from 1948 until 1990 and later of unified Germany from 1990 until the adoption of the euro in 2002. In English, it ...

s over the four-day weekend from 320,000 admissions, placing fourth at the German box office. The film had its North American premiere at the

Fantasia International Film Festival Fantasia International Film Festival, also known as Fantasia Fest or simply Fantasia, is a genre film festival that has been based mainly in Montreal since its founding in 1996. It focuses on fantasy, horror, sci-fi and cult genre films. Regular ...

on July 25, 2000, where it won a prize in the Best International Film category.

Reception

Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review aggregator, review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee ...

, the film holds an approval rating of 62% based on , with a

weighted average The weighted arithmetic mean is similar to an ordinary arithmetic mean (the most common type of average), except that instead of each of the data points contributing equally to the final average, some data points contribute more than others. The ...

rating of 5.3/10. On

Metacritic Metacritic is an American website that aggregates reviews of films, television shows, music albums, video games, and formerly books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted average). Metacritic was created ...

, the film has a weighted average score of 33 out of 100, based on 4 critics, indicating "Generally unfavorable reviews". Dennis Schwartz from ''Ozus' World Movie Reviews'' gave the film a grade B, calling it "both eerily written and directed". Stephen Holden from ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...

'' gave the film a negative review, stating that the film "lacks the raucous, anything-for-a-shock carnival humor of its American prototypes".

References

External links