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Julie Delpy, Daniel Brühl, William Hurt, Anamaria Marinca, Sebastian Blomberg ... see more see more... , Charly Hübner , Anna Maria Mühe , Frederick Lau , Adriana Altaras , André Hennicke , Maria Simon , Katrin Pollit , Nikolai Kinski , Andy Gatjen

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 Bat... read more read more...hory 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 Brà 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

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1,758 ratings

Unrated, 1 hr. 34 min.

Directed by: Julie Delpy

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DVD Release Date: October 24, 2011

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Flixster Reviews (207)

  • itsjustme2004
    November 26, 2011
    itsjustme2004
    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,... read more was well done. Good scenery. Good supporting cast. I enjoyed this...
  • jennifxu
    April 29, 2011
    jennifxu
    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.
  • imrealgod
    January 20, 2011
    imrealgod
    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... read more 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.
  • ceWEBrity
    July 12, 2010
    ceWEBrity
    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 t... read moreo 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.
  • Junnerayemalinao2012
    November 5, 2011
    Junnerayemalinao2012
    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.
  • trisarahtops22
    October 27, 2011
    trisarahtops22
    Interesting and disturbing.
  • jusstpete
    May 13, 2012
    jusstpete
    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, but the story did drag a bit.
  • mayrei
    April 16, 2012
    mayrei
    These are good actors, so I was shocked at how bad the acting is. Not that they had much to work with, because the dialog is awful, too.
  • ThomasJayWilliams
    November 13, 2011
    ThomasJayWilliams
    A dark movie that starts out rather rough (technically speacking anyway ... the first couple of scenes feel like a staged production). Once the story gets underway, and Julie Delpy takes to the screen the film's earlier problems are forgotten. The movie isn't spectacular but it i... read mores a decent effort and the sets, costumes and art direction is grand. This is the story of a lesser-known, European noblewoman who became a legend after her death. It was reported that Bathory actually killed up to 650 young women in her day to "bathe" in their blood because she was convinced it would keep her eternally young (some even say her story inspired Bram Stoker and his Dracula). She was cruel and sadistic while still remaining religious ( which is bizzarely odd). Delpy wrote, acted, directed and scored this film (who else does this other than Clint Eastwood) so I have to give her some credit. I don't think the movie made the character out to be as monstrous as I would have done it; but perhaps it is the subtle performance that is supposed to be more scary/evil. The production values on this piece are quite nice. Bathory is a fascinating individual in history if one looks her up -- she was never convicted of anything and all of the accusations were heresay. She was the richest and most powerful woman in Hungary at the time -- so the entire story could have been fabricated to ruin her ... much as Vlad the Impaler became Count Dracula. If she were imprisoned -- the kingdom would forgive its debts to her and they could claim her land and castles ... humm ... interesting ...
  • benjaminguilbert2
    May 2, 2010
    benjaminguilbert2
    Very ambitious.... Totally missed. Totally missed on so many levels it is actually quite a performance. The many messages the film is trying to carry through (women are worth as much as men, powers corrupts, love is immortal, don't forget to buy some bread) are uninteresting and ... read moreanyway totally blurred. Even though the actors are really good and the production design excellent, the film is not beautiful, special effects are way too "in your face" and the camera work is non-existent. Actually one would be hard-pressed to understand why any one would ever want to produce this vehicle for Julie Deply.
    The worst part is certainly the fact that the story is inexistent. There is no consistent point of view, no surprise, the potential for epics and mystery is totally wasted. It often seems like the film has been partially butchered by the editors. The secondary characters totally lack any form of interest and the countess alone has been granted a layered personality with shades and contradiction, the rest is depthless. Finally the film takes itself way too seriously and is devoid of fun and humor. Sad.

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Critic Reviews

Boyd van Hoeij
February 11, 2009
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. Full Review

Harvey S. Karten
June 13, 2011
Harvey S. Karten, Compuserve

A bizarre tale of a vampiric countess performed with stilted, faux-Shakespearean dialogue Full Review

Rich Cline
February 18, 2010
Rich Cline, Shadows on the Wall

Click to read the article Full Review

February 12, 2009
Screen International

Click to read the article Full Review

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    • Countess Erzebet Bathory: Where is my usher?
    • Countess Erzebet Bathory: Yes, the king owes me a fortune.
    • Countess Erzebet Bathory: What have you herd about me?
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  • He played a virgin that the vampire Countess was seeking in Once Bitten.  Answer »
  • For a group of teens, the answer to the mysterious death of their old friend lies within the world of an online video game based on the true story of an ancient noblewoman known as the Blood Countess. The above plot outline is from which movie?  Answer »
  • What was Nieci Rose's given name when she joined the Ya Ya Sisterhood in Divine Secrets Of The Ya Ya Sisterhood ?  Answer »
  • In the beginning scenes of the James Bond film "On Her Majesty's Secret Service", Bond rescues the Countess from a debt on a casino table. Which game are they playing?  Answer »
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