The Corpse of Anna Fritz (El cadáver de Anna Fritz) is a 2015 Spanish thriller co-written and directed by Hèctor Hernández Vicens. It stars Alba Ribas, Cristian Valencia and Albert Carbó.
The famous and beautiful actress Anna Fritz has been found dead at a party. Her body is quietly taken to a morgue, where one of the workers, Pau, sneak his two friends Ivan and Javi inside to gawk at the body before heading out to a party. Ivan decides he's going to take advantage of the situation and have sex with Anna's body, triggering a chain of circumstances that have disastrous consequences.
Spoilers ahead!
Tropes:
- Black-and-Gray Morality: Javi can be convinced to snort cocaine, sneak into a morgue and fondle the breasts of a dead woman, but he actively resists all of the other two's more unscrupulous intentions.
- Big Bad: Ivan drives all of the immoral actions in the film, and he's the one everyone needs to resist in the end.
- Bottle Episode: Most of the film takes place in a morgue cooler and locker room. There are only a handful of other locations in the hospital and immediate vicinity.
- Bring Me My Brown Pants: When Pau and Ivan smother Anna, she pisses herself.
- Chekhov's Skill: Anna is an actress, and she uses deception to spread discord among her attackers. Ivan remarks that she really is a great actress after figuring out one of her ploys.
- Drop Dead Gorgeous: The beautiful Anna Fritz's naked corpse is a central figure in the plot.
- Even Evil Has Loved Ones: Pau seems most concerned about his mother finding out what he's done. When Ivan believes that all hope is lost for him, he plans to let his own family hear it from him first.
- Famed In-Story: The film begins with Anna's corpse being wheeled into the morgue as we hear audio of news broadcasts reporting on her celebrity exploits and eventual death.
- Fan Disservice: All the nudity in the film is of corpses.
- Karma Houdini: Downplayed. It seems as though Pau will get away with his various crimes and complicity, but Anna stabs him as well.
- Know When to Fold 'Em: When Anna has called her father, Ivan admits that there's no hope of escaping justice, so he might as well drop all of his criminal plans. He picks his cards right back up after discovering that Anna was lying.
- A Lighter Shade of Black: Pau is the conflicted one of the group, having sex with Anna but being reluctant to cover it up.
- Hope Spot:
- Anna tries to call for help from an orderly, but he's wearing earphones and cannot hear her.
- Anna convinces Pau and Ivan that she's contacted her father, and he's staging a rescue, but she's lying.
- I Love the Dead: Pau admits to having sex with a beautiful teen he spotted in the morgue. Ivan and Pau then decide to give Anna the same treatment, which is portrayed in graphic detail. Only the twist is that Anna is alive the whole time.
- Improvised Weapon: Anna uses a small pair of medical scissors as a weapon.
- Informed Attractiveness: We're told that Anna is not only a famous fashion icon, but also extremely beautiful, enough that even her corpse arouses lust.
- Minimalist Cast: Most of the runtime revolves around three characters, and there are only a handful of other people present.
- Not Quite Dead: Anna springs back to life twice: once after being pronounced dead in a bathroom and sent to the morgue, and the second time after Pau and Ivan attempt to smother her to death.
- Spoiler Cover: Some versions of the poster show Anna with her eyes open.
- Walking Spoiler: The fact that a real actress is "playing" the corpse should tell you something about the first-act twist.
- Wham Shot: Anna opening her eyes.
- Why Don't You Just Shoot Him?: Ivan has decided that they need to kill Anna to cover up their crimes, but they keep her alive as they take care of a wide range of other business, giving her ample opportunities to attempt escape and sow seeds of contention between them. This is apparently because they're stalling for time and are reluctant to do the deed.
