The Body (2012)

A detective searches for the body of a femme fatale which has gone missing from a morgue.

Director:

Oriol Paulo

Writers:

Oriol Paulo (screenplay), Lara Sendim (screenplay)

Stars:

José Coronado, Hugo Silva, Belén Rueda

3 wins & 10 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
José Coronado	...	Jaime Peña
Hugo Silva	...	Álex Ulloa
Belén Rueda	...	Mayka Villaverde
Aura Garrido	...	Carla Miller
Miquel Gelabert	...	Vigilante Ángel Torres
Juan Pablo Shuk	...	Agente Pablo
Oriol Vila	...	Agente Mateos
Carlota Olcina	...	Erica Ulloa
Patrícia Bargalló	...	Agente Norma
Mia Esteve	...	Luna Villaverde
Sílvia Aranda	...	Ruth Peña (as Silvia Aranda)
Manel Dueso	...	Agente Carlos
Pere Brasó	...	Agente 3
Albert López-Murtra	...	Agente 4 (as Albert López Murtra)
Paco Moreno	...	Agente Científica

Storyline

In the middle of the night, a guard working the night shift at a morgue located deep in the woods has a terrible car accident. But, why did the guard panic and left his post in the first place? Furthermore, according to the register, the body of Mayka Villaverde--a beautiful and affluent businesswoman--is mysteriously missing from the morgue. Presumably, Mayka died of a heart attack; nevertheless, who signed the death certificate, as her autopsy is still pending? In the end, there is a general principle in forensic medicine which specifically states that every death is a homicide until proven otherwise. But, finding out who is behind this fiendishly difficult case is going to be an arduous task. Can Inspector Jaime Peña get to the bottom of it?

---

Plot Keywords:

morgue | hitchcockian | missing body | surprise ending | rain | 

---

Taglines:

Hitchcock-style psychological thriller.

---

Genres:

Mystery | Thriller

---

Details

Country:

Spain

Language:

Spanish

Release Date:

21 December 2012 (Spain)

Also Known As:

The Body

Filming Locations:

Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain

Company Credits

Production Co:

Rodar y Rodar Cine y Televisión,Antena 3 Films,Televisió de Catalunya (TV3)

Technical Specs

Runtime:

108 min

Sound Mix:

Dolby Atmos

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Three of the male characters have the same names as Spanish and Argentinian Premier League footballers .

---

Goofs

Traffic light switches from green to red and vice versa without displaying any orange.

---

Quotes

Álex Ulloa: Who's that?
Mayka Villaverde: Nobody.
Álex Ulloa: Were you talking about me?
Mayka Villaverde: You won't like it. He's my new lawyer.
Álex Ulloa: What's wrong with Gloria?
Mayka Villaverde: As well as being my sister, she's also your lawyer, and I want to revise our marriage contract. The property division.
Álex Ulloa: You can't be serious.
Mayka Villaverde: I'm always serious with you. Even if I laugh at you constantly.
Álex Ulloa: You want everyone at your feet, don't you?
Mayka Villaverde: Not everyone. You, yes... Got you! You handed that to me on a platter!
[...]

---

Connections

Remade as The Body (2018)

---

Soundtracks

N'Importe Oú Quoi
Performed by Jean Paul Dupeyron
Written by Toni Saigi (as Toni Saigi Chupi) and Dani Espinet (as Daniel Espinet Nieto)
2012 Banda Sonora Original, S.L. BSO
Sound Studio: Banda Sonora Original, S.L.

User Reviews

Excellent Thriller with a Memorable Twist at the End

THE BODY (EL CUERPO) is one of those thrillers that grips you at the beginning and never lets go till the very end. The plot is straightforward: Álex Ulloa (Hugo Silva) has suffered a sudden bereavement, as his wife Mayka (Belén Rueda) has died of a heart attack. The corpse has been taken to the morgue without a postmortem, but has mysteriously disappeared. The morgue security- guard Torres (Miquel Gelabert) has been scared out of his wits - so much so that he runs out of the building and is knocked down by a car. Inspector Jaime Peña (José Coronado) investigates the crime, but finds the task difficult as he is still plagued by the memory of his wife's death a decade earlier in a hit-and-run accident. Sometimes his emotions get the better of him.

Set largely in and around the morgue, Oriol Paulo's film is a masterpiece of modern film noir, complete with dark shadows, long tracking shots down corridors, and point-of-view shots where we share the protagonists' uncertainties about what is going on. To complicate the plot still further, he introduces flashbacks into the past lives of Jamie and Álex, to show how the past exerts an almost paralyzing influence over the present.

The action takes place one dark night, where the rain pours down outside, confining all the characters to the claustrophobic space of the morgue. Within that space, Jaime apparently tries his best to tease out the truth of the crime, but Álex keeps resisting him. On the other hand, Álex tries to communicate with his girlfriend Carla (Aura Garrido), in an attempt to elope with her, but finds his endeavors continually frustrated by circumstances. Neither he nor Jaime can apparently obtain what they want. In this disordered environment, the logic of cause and effect has been deliberately disrupted.

As the action unfolds, so director Paulo further complicates the action by introducing sequence that represent projections of the protagonists' imagination; in other words, putting their assumptions on screen. This further complicates our comprehension of the plot; we have no idea how to separate 'truth' from 'fiction'. This confusion makes the dénouement all the more shocking.

Brilliantly performed, with Coronado giving a quite outstanding performance as the guilt-ridden inspector, THE BODY deserves to be considered a modern classic.