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The Countess (film)
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Wikipedia article
'The Countess' is a 2009 French-German historical crime thriller drama written and directed by Julie Delpy, who also composed its score. It stars Delpy, Daniel Brhl and William Hurt. It is based on the life of the notorious Hungarian countess Elizabeth Bthory.
The film is the third directorial effort by Delpy, who has said of the project that "it sounds like a gothic [story] but it's more a drama. It's more focusing on the psychology of human beings when they're given power."
Plot
In 1560, Erzsbet Bthory is born into the Hungarian noble Bthory family, the daughter of general George Bthory of Ecsed. From an early age, Erzsbet's parents raise her to accept hardness and cruelty. As a teenager, Erzsbet is impregnated by a young peasant lover and is forced to watch as he is brutally tortured and executed before her eyes; Erzsbet's mother takes the child away from her directly after its birth, ensuring that she never sees him again. Erzsbet is later married to Count Ferenc Ndasdy, with whom she has three children. After Ndasdy's return from the Ottoman-Hungarian Wars, he succumbs to a disease he contracted abroad and dies.
Erzsbet, now the sole heir of her husband's vast estate, seeks recognition from the Hungarian Habsburg King Matthias II. Matthias consents reluctantly due to his considerable debt to the Countess. At a ball, she meets Count Gyrgy Thurz's 21-year-old son, Istvn, and falls in love with him. After a night together, Istvn is forced by his father to end the relationship and marry the daughter of a wealthy merchant in Denmark. Erzsbet, 39, believes that their age difference is to blame for the failure of the relationship. After an incident in which she is splashed with blood after striking a female servant, Erzsbet starts to believe that bathing in the blood of virgin girls can help her to reach eternal youth and beauty, a belief reinforced by her sycophantic servants who insist her skin is suddenly much smoother. To this end, her staff capture and brutally kill peasant girls to obtain their blood.
It is only when Erzsbet starts to kidnap aristocratic girls that the authorities begin an investigation. Count Thurz is asked to investigate the incidents and he thus sends Istvn, now a count himself, to visit Erzsbet. Istvn reluctantly goes to visit her, and they spend a passionate night together. Istvn, despite his affections for the countess, still suspects the countess and when he and one of his companions discover evidence of her crime, they arrest her. During the trial, Erzsbet is found guilty and, due to her noble origin, she is sentenced to spend the rest of her life walled into her room in achtice Castle in total isolation. Erzsbet's staff are also found guilty, but unlike her they are put to death. All of her estate is awarded to the Count Thurz with the exception of achtice, which is given to her children.
Driven by desperation after being walled in, Erzsbet Bthory commits suicide. She is then buried without a coffin in a humble grave, with no funeral ceremony. The film casts doubt on the sentence, suggesting that much of the happenings have been manipulated by Count Thurz.
Cast
* Julie Delpy as Countess Erzsbet Bthory
* William Hurt as Count Gyrgy Thurz
* Daniel Brhl as Istvn Thurz
* Adriana Altaras as Aunt Klara Bthory
* Charly Hbner as Count Ferenc Ndasdy
* Anamaria Marinca as the witch Anna Darvulia
* Sebastian Blomberg as Dominic Vizakna
* Andy Gatjen as Miklos
* Rolf Kanies as Count Krajevo
* Jesse Inman as King Matthias
* Jeanette Hain as Anna Bthory
* Frederick Lau as Janos
* Henriette Confurius as Kayla
* Nikolai Kinski as The Teacher
Release
The film premiered on at the 59th Berlin International Film Festival and was shown at the Cannes Film Festival 2010.[http://www.dreadcentral.com/news/37392/first-stills-and-sales-art-the-countess First Stills and Sales Art - The Countess]
Critical reception
'The Countess' received negative reviews. Boyd van Hoeij wrote in 'Variety', "Though some individual moments work, Delpy's screenplay lacks psychological connective tissue. It never becomes clear why a powerful and intelligent woman was brought to her knees by a cute kid, only to turn murderous and possibly insane when deprived of her object of affection."
In his review for the Associated Press, Kirk Honeycutt wrote that fans of Delpy and arthouse films would be disappointed: "The film is beautifully and lovingly produced with cool, deeply burnished cinematography inside the palace and out. Costumes, editing and Delpy's music all consistently support the high tone taken toward this bloody tale. One appreciates 'The Countess'. But it neither terrifies nor illuminates."
See also
* Elizabeth Bthory in popular culture
References
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