The Countess (2009)

44% of users liked it
(1,759 ratings)

Julie Delpy directs and stars in this biography of Erzebet Bathory, the 17th century countess whose love of a younger man drove her to madness and beyond. At the dawn of the 17th century, Countess Bathory was the most powerful woman in Hungary. At the age of 14, she married a powerful warlord twice… More Julie Delpy directs and stars in this biography of Erzebet Bathory, the 17th century countess whose love of a younger man drove her to madness and beyond. At the dawn of the 17th century, Countess Bathory was the most powerful woman in Hungary. At the age of 14, she married a powerful warlord twice her age and bore him four children. While her husband was away fighting wars, Countess Bathory maintained their estate with the help of her one true confidant, a powerful witch named Anna Darvulia. Over time, Countess Bathory's gained great influence, even holding sway over decisions made by the King. But she was unwilling to accept a world in which men were able to break the rules without consequence while women were expected to be unquestionably subservient, and after her husband died, Countess Bathory fell deeply in love with a young nobleman named Istvan (Daniel BrÃ 1/4hl), whom she encountered at a lavish feast. Istvan too was smitten, though his relationship with the countess was cut short when his father, Count Thurzo (William Hurt), forced him to break off the romance. Meanwhile, as Countess Bathory becomes obsessed with the prospect that age was a factor in the failure of the relationship, Count Thurzo begins crafting an elaborate plot against her. Eventually Countess Bathory's blinding sadness gives way to irreversible madness, and she becomes convinced that she can maintain her youth and beauty forever by bathing in the blood of virgins. Her dementia and obsession flowing like the virginal blood she bathes in every night, Countess Bathory eventually realizes that she has become the victim of a vast political conspiracy hatched by the father of her beloved. But by now it's already too late, Countess Erzebet Bathory's downfall had already been set into motion. ~ Jason Buchanan, Rovi

Rating, Runtime: Unrated, 1 hr. 34 min.
Directed By: Julie Delpy
Written By: Julie Delpy
Genres: Drama, Art House & International, Mystery & Suspense

On DVD: Oct 24, 2011

Critic Reviews

Boyd van Hoeij, Variety
Wacky tale of a woman who killed virgins for their blood to keep her skin wrinkle-free might get some traction in Central Europe, where it is set, but won't make it past the Europudding label elsewhere.
Harvey S. Karten, Compuserve
A bizarre tale of a vampiric countess performed with stilted, faux-Shakespearean dialogue

Critic ratings and reviews powered by RottenTomatoes.com

Fresh (60% or more critics rated the movie positively)

Rotten (59% or fewer critics rated the movie positively)

Featured Audience Ratings

Cynthia S

True story? Who knows. Story derived from legend? Absolutely. Famous for her obsession with virgin blood, the story of Countess Elizabeth Bathory is a fascinating one, at any rate. Julie Delpy's performance here was outstanding, and her portrayal of mental illness, and heartache,… More
True story? Who knows. Story derived from legend? Absolutely. Famous for her obsession with virgin blood, the story of Countess Elizabeth Bathory is a fascinating one, at any rate. Julie Delpy's performance here was outstanding, and her portrayal of mental illness, and heartache, was well done. Good scenery. Good supporting cast. I enjoyed this...
Jennifer X

It's pretty one-note but bonechilling and believable enough to work. This isn't really the epic period love film I always dreamed it would be, but it's quite Black Swan.
familiar s

When we go through history, we sometimes come across legends that we find impossible to exist in real life. But fact is stranger than fiction and this world is a weird plaice. At times, we can't figure out what the truth is since it's as much possible that that part of… More
When we go through history, we sometimes come across legends that we find impossible to exist in real life. But fact is stranger than fiction and this world is a weird plaice. At times, we can't figure out what the truth is since it's as much possible that that part of history is adjusted as it is true. The Countess, directed and acted in the title role by Julie Delpy, depict the events that occurred during Countess Erzbert Bathory's life through the voice-over of Istvan Thurzo. The Countess is shown as a cruel murderess who gets killed lots of young, virgin girls in order to bath in their blood, believing that doing so retains her beauty. However, the ending leaves us wondering whether this could have been true or it's a fabricated part of the history.
Drew S

When I think of Julie Delpy's acting accomplishments, I think of women who never fail to be realistic, outspoken and most of all, contemporary. In many ways, I believe that she placed herself in Erzebet Bathory's shoes in an attempt to distance herself from these traits, if… More
When I think of Julie Delpy's acting accomplishments, I think of women who never fail to be realistic, outspoken and most of all, contemporary. In many ways, I believe that she placed herself in Erzebet Bathory's shoes in an attempt to distance herself from these traits, if not to challenge herself. This is absolutely not the movie to help her break this mold. She gave herself this role ready to pour herself fully into it, inhabiting a role centered around consumptive vanity as brutally as possible. Unfortunately, the results are confoundingly bad. She gets hamstrung by her total inability to write a solid historical piece - though the movie's navigation around its necessary exposition is graceless, worse yet is her tin ear for period dialogue. So sharp and insightful in 2 Days in Paris, her conversations here feel like flailing, purple thematic rants. As she has the primary role, she thus feels the most affected, spitting awkward lines right and left. Her motivations feel overly obvious, stripped of any deeper psychology (or if there is any, it's later trotted out in lousy voiceover). The rest of the characters don't really talk so much as they represent whatever Delpy chooses them to, and the results are generally pretty ghastly. Supporting performances range from technically strong but grasping (Anamaria Marinca, William Hurt) to barely there (Daniel Bruhl) to numbingly awful (Sebastian Blomberg as an antagonist so broadly evil, you expect him to sprout a mustache and start twirling it). Finally, the cherry on top of this mess is the total soup of accents that the actors seem to be swimming through. Bathory has one, Vizakna doesn't. Count Thurzo has one, but his son doesn't. What gives? There's also a certain peculiarity to the story's construction. The Countess would posit Bathory as a tragic figure, misunderstood and condemned despite whatever crimes she may or may not have committed. That doesn't change the fact, however, that the movie still depicts her committing these awful crimes in cold blood. It uses Daniel Bruhl as a reliable narrator, informing the audience that what they see may not necessarily be true, but as if there was no way to get financing without showing Bathory REALLY killin' those virgins, it besmirches its own stance and paints a pretty picture of an insane woman anyway. It's like the scene in Marie Antoinette where Kirsten Dunst is seen as a black-clad Bizarro Antoinette, giggling manically and saying "let them eat cake!" only here it's the entire movie and not done for laughs. Where The Countess does shine is Delpy's obvious gift for visual language. The script may render her redundant more often than it should, and the cheapness of the sets threatens to trivialize it, but there's no denying that she knows her way around a camera. We learn so much from the way Delpy compares her hands with those of her young paramour's, or the flash of revelation that befalls her after striking a servant girl with a brush and getting blood on her face. I truly feel that Delpy did not trust her audience in making this film, because things like this could easily acted as substitutes for the words words words that Delpy's awful screenplay heaps upon us. Some might say that Delpy is a vain filmmaker, as she's been the star, writer and occasionally composer of all the movies she's directed thus far. I think of her more as a woman thoroughly and utterly committed to the craft. What we have here is an astronomical failure of a talented artist, and talented artists have no shortage of failures. The scary part of it is that it befell her so early in her directing career. Maybe this one will get swept under the rug and she'll correct herself after this misstep, but frankly, there's not much to justify The Countess in its own right.
August S

Despite a very interesting story. The Countess is an averagely acted film that seems a little fake and bland. It does teaches some history but still, not as good as I thought it would be.
Sarah P

Interesting and disturbing.