ANATOMIE

SYNOPSIS:
Munich medical student Paula Henning (Franka Potente) has just realised her greatest dream – she’s been accepted into the prestigious Heidelberg medical school. In doing so, she follows in the footsteps of her father and grandfather, both of whom are doctors. When she and her friend Gretchen (Anna Loos) arrive in Heidelberg, they’re subjected to some student high jinks, led by Hein (Benno Furmann), involving corpses in the anatomy lab. But as Paula becomes immersed in the intellectual rigour of the anatomy class run by Professor Grombeck (Traugott Buhre), she begins to suspect what’s going on is more sinister than mere pranks and soon her own life is in danger.

"If you don't mind plot holes as wide as the Rhine, Anatomie is a decent enough exploitation flick which is executed with a little polish to make it more palatable. What you won't find palatable if you're at all squeamish are the grisly scenes of dissections and sundry scalpel work which are liberally sprinkled through this silly exercise in medical madness. The big plus here is Franka Potente, minus the red shock top she sported in Run Lola Run but with the same star power - which certainly helps when we're asked to swallow increasingly ludicrous twists and turns. Other plusses include a zesty performance by Anna Loos as Paula's man-hungry blonde roommate Gretchen and energetic direction by Austrian Sefan Ruzowitsky, who can't be accused of being indifferent to the task at hand. Anatomie, the first film from German Columbia Pictures Film Production Company, is, in the end, just another megalomaniac medicos on the loose picture that doesn't stand up to close scrutiny but you could do worse. I was less puzzled by the spooky goings-on in the lab than I was by the decision to retain the German spelling on advertising here when the title which appears on screen is 'Anatomy'"
Richard Kuipers