Death Is Not Always the End
Directed by Oriol Paulo.
Written by Oriol Paulo and Lara Sendim.
AKA
El cuerpo
The night guard at a morgue, Ángel Torres (Miquel Gelabert), is admitted to hospital when he is hit by a car while fleeing from his post. A detective, Jaime Peña (José Coronado), is called in and is told the body of a woman, who died of a heart attack, Mayka Villaverde (Belén Rueda), is missing from the morgue. Mayka is a very powerful woman. She is also the wife of Álex Ulloa (Hugo Silva), the director of a company called Farmatech, a pharmaceutical lab which she owns.
To reveal anything else would be unfair really. What I can say is that from early in the film we the audience are privy to certain information that the detective and so on are not and the story is partially revealed in flashbacks; you know the kind of thing, we bounce back and forth between the past and present as the plot gradually unravels in both, typical thriller fare.
However, this is an unusully smart thriller and the less you know the better. I would recommend it without hesitation to anyone who enjoys well-plotted mysteries (and doesn’t mind subtitles).
It’s very well-made, well-acted, with well-drawn characters, very lavish sets/locations. It has it all really. It’s a dialogue-heavy film but it’s smart and pacey dialogue; it’s a pacey film, gripping stuff. It all leads to a very well thought-out conclusion that makes it one of the best thrillers I’ve seen in a long time.
Also stars Aura Garrido as Carla, Patrícia Bargalló as Agente Norma, Carlota Olcina as Erica Ulloa, Juan Pablo Shuk as Agente Pablo, Oriol Vila as Agente Mateos, Nausicaa Bonnín as Patricia, Aina Planas as Eva and Sílvia Aranda as Ruth.
