De Humani Corporis Fabrica

De Humani Corporis Fabrica

Verena Paravel, Lucien Castaing-Taylor / 2022 / 118 min. / France, USA, Switzerland

Five centuries ago, anatomist Andreas Vesalius opened up the human body to science for the first time in history. Today, De Humani Corporis Fabrica opens the human body to the cinema. It reveals that human flesh is an extraordinary landscape that exists only through the gaze and attention of others. As places of care, suffering and hope, hospitals are laboratories that connect every body in the world.

 

A Grasshopper Film and Gratitude Films Co-Release.

  • Director

    Verena Paravel, Lucien Castaing-Taylor

  • “A phantasmagorical journey… An eye-opening film…. Through these directors’ eyes, these bodies look wondrous and unsettling, macabre and beautiful, and often uncannily unfamiliar. Critic’s Pick!”

    — Nicolas Rapold, The New York Times

  • "Extraordinary... digs deep into the human body and opens up landscapes as otherworldly—and harrowing—as any you're likely to see. The result is a work of purest corporeal poetry... and a remarkably unvarnished, sympathetic portrait of doctors and nurses at work."

    — Justin Chang, Los Angeles Times

  • "[A] fascinating and probing look at modern surgery."

    — Jordan Mintzer, The Hollywood Reporter

  • "A movie that simply has everything: sadness and humor, death (at the morgue) and birth (when we see a Caesarean section), camaraderie and coldness."

    — Ben Kenigsberg, RogerEbert.com

  • "The magic of Paravel and Castaing-Taylor’s work is that so much of it is open for abstract interpretation, and this magnificent new one is no exception."

    — David Jenkins, Little White Lies

  • "An astonishing dive into the human body. A real-life Fantastic Voyage. Remarkable. It left this writer with a deeper understanding of the proverbial, universal self — and maybe with what it means to be human."

    — A.A. Dowd, Digital Trends
Trailer / Clips
Stills

Where to Watch

Toronto International Film Festival

Toronto, ON

09/09/2022

New York Film Festival

New York, NY

10/02/2022

Hot Springs Documentary Film Festival

Hot Springs, AK

10/13/2022

Hamptons International Film Festival

The Hamptons, NY

10/14/2022

Vermont International Film Festival

Burlington, VT

10/21/2022

AFI Fest

Los Angeles, CA

11/04/2022

Denver Film Festival

Denver, CO

11/05/2022

Cucalorus Film Festival

Wilmington, NC

11/18/2022

IFC Center

New York, NY

04/14/2023

Grand Illusion Cinema

Seattle, WA

04/14/2023

Film Streams

Omaha, NE

04/14/2023

Time & Space Limited

Hudson, NY

04/22/2023

DeBartolo Performing Arts Center, University of Notre Dame

Notre Dame, IN

04/27/2023

Laemmle Glendale

Glendale, CA

04/28/2023

Cinema Arts Centre

Huntington, NY

05/03/2023

Digital Gym Cinema

San Diego, CA

05/05/2023

FilmScene

Iowa City, IA

05/12/2023

Belcourt Theatre

Nashville, TN

05/14/2023

American Cinematheque, Los Feliz

Los Angeles, CA

05/15/2023

Webster Film Series

St. Louis, MO

05/19/2023

Lumiere Cinema at the Music Hall

Beverly Hills, CA

05/19/2023

The Nightlight Cinema

Akron, OH

05/28/2023

Gateway Film Center

Columbus, OH

06/02/2023

Cleveland Cinematheque

Cleveland, OH

06/08/2023

Ragtag Cinema

Columbia, MO

07/13/2023

Brattle Theatre

Boston, MA

07/14/2023

International Film Series

Boulder, CO

09/17/2023

Duke Cinematic Arts, Screen/Society

Durham, NC

11/10/2023

The Campus Theatre

Lewisburg, PA

01/19/2024

Museum of the Moving Image

Queens, NY

01/27/2024

Cornell Cinema

Ithaca, NY

04/18/2024