Anatomy (film)

Anatomy
Theatrical release poster
Directed by	Stefan Ruzowitzky
Produced by	Andrea Willson
Written by	Stefan Ruzowitzky
Starring	Franka Potente Benno Fürmann Rüdiger Vogler Anna Loos Oliver Wnuk Arndt Schwering-Sohnrey Sebastian Blomberg
Music by	Marius Ruhland
Cinematography	Peter von Haller
Edited by	Ueli Christen
Distributed by	Columbia Pictures
Release date	8 September 2000 (USA)
Running time	103 min.
Country	Germany
Language	German
Budget	DEM 8,400,000 (estimated)

Anatomy (German: Anatomie) is a 2000 German horror film written and directed by Stefan Ruzowitzky that stars Franka Potente. A sequel, Anatomy 2 (Anatomie 2) was released in 2003. The film was a box-office success in Germany, and Columbia Pictures released the film's English-dubbed version in the United States theatrically.

Medical student Paula Henning (Franka Potente) wins a place in a summer course at the prestigious University of Heidelberg's Medical School. Her grandfather had been a noted professor there, and was famous for developing a useful drug, Promidal. The course will be taught by Professor Grombek, who announces the hard work ahead. He also tells them that he will be using the elimination system, where the six lower grades will be periodically discarded. During one of their courses on anatomy, the body of David, a young man whom Paula met and helped on the train trip to Heidelberg, turns up on her dissection table. She is then humiliated by Professor Grombek, who dares her to cut and dissect the heart. She remarks that the body presents strange cuts, but this is dismissed as bad handling by the morgue caretaker. She decides to investigate the mysterious circumstances surrounding his death. When she goes to cut a sample for an independent test she is amazed to find a triple "A" mark near David's ankle. She is then startled by the medical school's mortuary preparator, who wants to know if Professor Grombek is aware of her acts.

Following her investigations, she begins to connect the facts with an ancient group, known as the Anti-Hippocratic Society, a secretive society of medical investigators that is not ethically-restrained. They perform gruesome experiments using living people, especially when they consider those people useless. Paula also comes across research about the rituals that they perform on transgressors of their rules, or those who inquire too much.

Meanwhile, the relationship between Hein and Gretchen becomes strained, and Gretchen begins to go out with another man. This greatly affects Hein.