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La Comtesse

Original title: The Countess
  • 2009
  • Tous publics
  • 1h 38m
IMDb RATING
6.2/10
8.9K
YOUR RATING
Julie Delpy, William Hurt, and Daniel Brühl in La Comtesse (2009)
BiographyDramaHistoryHorrorMysteryThriller

A 17th century Hungarian countess embarks on a murderous undertaking, with the belief that bathing in the blood of virgins will preserve her beauty.A 17th century Hungarian countess embarks on a murderous undertaking, with the belief that bathing in the blood of virgins will preserve her beauty.A 17th century Hungarian countess embarks on a murderous undertaking, with the belief that bathing in the blood of virgins will preserve her beauty.

  • Director
    • Julie Delpy
  • Writer
    • Julie Delpy
  • Stars
    • Julie Delpy
    • Daniel Brühl
    • William Hurt
  • See production info at IMDbPro
  • IMDb RATING
    6.2/10
    8.9K
    YOUR RATING
    • Director
      • Julie Delpy
    • Writer
      • Julie Delpy
    • Stars
      • Julie Delpy
      • Daniel Brühl
      • William Hurt
    • 46User reviews
    • 42Critic reviews
  • See production info at IMDbPro
  • See production info at IMDbPro
    • Awards
      • 1 win & 1 nomination total

    Photos29

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    Top cast53

    Edit
    Julie Delpy
    Julie Delpy
    • Erzebet Bathory
    Daniel Brühl
    Daniel Brühl
    • Istvan Thurzo
    William Hurt
    William Hurt
    • Gyorgy Thurzo
    Anamaria Marinca
    Anamaria Marinca
    • Darvulia
    Sebastian Blomberg
    Sebastian Blomberg
    • Dominic Vizakna
    Adriana Altaras
    • Aunt Klara
    Charly Hübner
    Charly Hübner
    • Ferenc Nadasdy
    Andy Gätjen
    Andy Gätjen
    • Miklos
    • (as Andy Gatjen)
    Maria Simon
    Maria Simon
    • Helena
    Frederick Lau
    Frederick Lau
    • Janos
    Katrin Pollitt
    • Dorothea
    Anna Maria Mühe
    Anna Maria Mühe
    • Bertha
    Marlis Eulitz
    • Zusanna
    Rolf Kanies
    Rolf Kanies
    • Count Krajevo
    Christine Mayer
    • Kaija
    Henriette Confurius
    Henriette Confurius
    • Kayla
    Helen Woigk
    • Nadia
    Jesse Inman
    Jesse Inman
    • King Matthias
    • Director
      • Julie Delpy
    • Writer
      • Julie Delpy
    • All cast & crew
    • Production, box office & more at IMDbPro

    User reviews46

    6.28.8K
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    Featured reviews

    johnnytbananas

    Sympathy for the Devil Countess

    This movie rocks because it manages to be both a lavish, complex period movie and a psychological horror movie at the same time. Julie Delpy does a fantastic job in the role of a complex woman from a brutal period in European history, and her performance somehow gracefully manages to be both sympathetic and monstrous. Bathory is one of history's most prolific and sadistic mass murderers, but historians are ultimately unsure of who she really was, and to what extent she was responsible for the atrocities for which she is credited. Most agree that the whole "beauty treatment bloodbath" thing is a myth made up by later generations to spice up the story, so I was surprised that a telling supposedly rooted in fact ended up going that route, but I loved the idea of a Bathory who is a real person and not just a 2-dimensional fiend. Great sets, costumes, and performances from a well-written script make The Countess an engaging and informative portrait of a woman whose vanity and blood lust have become the stuff of legend.
    4LeaBlacks_Balls

    A Disappointment

    I really wanted to like this. Based on the true story of 17th century Countess Bathory, who grew obsessed with retaining her youth, and decided the best way to do this was by bathing in the blood of virgins. What could have been a disturbing descent into madness turns out to be a dull by the numbers bio-pic/period piece.

    Julie Delpy does an alright job in the titular role, but the departure from her usual romantic roles doesn't really work, as Delpy just seems like she's on auto-pilot throughout most of the film. The script, written by Delpy, treats the Countess as some sort of feminist pioneer, and at other times, shows her to be a monster. The movie wants to have it both ways, but in the end it it just seems really confused and tiresome.
    7dromasca

    a feminine interpretation of a feminine legend told many times

    Film lovers and connoisseurs looking for a significant example of an auteur film from the first decade of the 3rd millennium can choose 'The Countess' without hesitation. Made in 2009 as a Franco-German co-production with international distribution, the film is written and directed by Julie Delpy, who also plays the title role. On top of that, she is also a co-producer and the composer of the film's music. The screenplay picks up a story that has already been told in dozens of books and films that adapt those books or invent original versions - the story of the bloody Countess Elisabeth (Erzsébet) Báthori, alleged serial killer and mother of all the heroes and heroines of 'Gothic' horror books and of vampire movies. She was a genuine character from Hungarian history of the 16th and 17th centuries, a woman whose real life has long been amplified and distorted by the legends built around her. Screenwriter Julie Delpy's version questions the historical accounts and the legends developed around them and focuses on the heroine's evolution and the origin of the deeds attributed to her. Without denying them, the story we see on the screen proposes a reading in a feminist key, in the political context of Central Europe of that historical period, superimposed on an unfortunate love story.

    Erzsébet Báthori - whose name is spelled out in the film as Erzebet - is born in the 16th century in a small Hungary, which was desperately struggling to survive on the map of Europe. It is also a time of witches and of the Inquisition and an era in which women have few rights, even if they belong to the nobility. Destined from birth to a forced marriage, the heroine of the film goes through a childhood traumatized by violence followed by adolescence in which an unexpected pregnancy ends with the death penalty in terrible tortures of the lover (a boy from the peasants class). The husband is one of Hungary's great warriors, and upon his death (possibly poisoned by the king who owed him considerable fortunes, it is suggested) the countess takes over the husband's affairs with no intention of remarrying, as social conventions required. A love affair with a nobleman 18 years her junior has no chance, as he belongs to the Thurzo family, the Báthori clan's competitors in dominating what was left of Hungary. Erzsébet blames the failure of the relationship on the age difference, and is ready to do anything to erase it. A random incident makes her believe that the blood of young women, necessarily virgins, can at least physically restore the appearance of youth. Is it her decision, is this about a personality warped to murder, or because the encouragement she received from her enemies? Doom is inevitable, but is she alone responsible? Hell has many nuances, the director and screenwriter seems to say.

    Julie Delpy tries to keep the balance between horror cinema and feminist drama, both in historical context. Scenes depicting the brutality and violence of the era are sprinkled throughout the film and generally consist of very brief flashes of seconds or less. Without denying the crimes attributed to the heroine, Julie Delpy avoids some details that have become common in legends (such as the bloodbaths) and questions the judgment applied to the heroine by contemporaries and history. She does it, unfortunately, using voice-over, a procedure that I like less and which seems to me unjustified considering the talent of the director in visually creating the relationships between the characters and reconstructing the era in its spirit and not necessarily in details . The team of actors is select. Delpy casts herself in the copious lead role, one of the best of her career. William Hurt as Thurzo the father is charismatic as always and Daniel Brühl is a perfect fit as the son. In my opinion, however, the most memorable role belongs to Anamaria Marinca, who embodies Darvulia - the servant, confidante, mistress and the only being who seems to have true and steadfast feelings for Erzsébet. The balance between romance, horror and drama is successful, perhaps a little too successful, and therefore the film gives the impression (and has been criticized) of a certain coolness. I personally liked this middle ground solution, which makes this version of Countess Báthori's story avoid cinematographic genre categorizations and let the audience decide.
    8streep82

    not a usual historic tale....

    this is very well made, true to the history, geography and atmosphere of the place where the story takes place. also very well played, esp by Julie Delpy who already is known for her convincing but modest acting. Costumes and art decoration were superior. The story was told well too, considering it's telling a rather controversial story and that the main character is an anti-hero.Still it's very successful in reflecting the controversies in history telling and discussions about historians, heroes and storytellers by saying they're the real devil. Watch it definitely and compare it to other historic movies, you'll sense the difference...
    8jshoaf

    Rashomon in Transylvania

    Well, actually, in the Little Carpathians, apparently, which are not part of Transylvania, or so Wikipedia tells me.

    I really enjoyed this film (at home on pay-per-view)though I think it is intended for a pretty narrow audience. As others have noted, the dialogue is amazingly stilted (very literary, rather like a French novel of the 17th or 18th century) and delivered in near-monotone. I kept feeling that the whole movie had been dubbed into English. On the other hand, I found the acting very fine, and I admired the insistence on presenting these characters as not at all like you, me, or the folks in the latest TV drama. The Countess in particular is a strange, unique portrait--her piety, her desire for amorous adventure, her pride, her intelligence. And that's before you get to the blood-of-virgins part.

    The film proposes that what we are seeing before our eyes is not the truth about the Countess. We are watching a fantasy of a noblewoman enacting a tale "told by the victors"--by the men who were enriched by her downfall and relieved, too, to be rid of the very possibility of an intelligent woman. The tale is told, too, by the peasants and others whose sons are fighting in her army. Yet the man who questions the gory story is her lover, and he too may be deceived. There is no simple answer to the question, what really happened?--no resolution.

    In short, it's an intellectual (and visual) treat, but it won't affect your blood sugar.

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    Storyline

    Edit

    Did you know

    Edit
    • Trivia
      The real Elizabeth Báthory has been speculated (such as by author Raymond T. McNally) as being Bram Stoker's main influence for his famous character Dracula, rather than or along with the real Vlad Tepes. Nosferatu le vampire (1922) (an unofficial adaptation of "Dracula") was filmed at Báthory's historical resident and later prison, the Cachtice Castle, which appears in its final shot.
    • Goofs
      At about 1h15m, the fifth book on the shelf is the "Dictionnaire De Boyer". Abel Boyer did write a French-English dictionary, but he was born in 1664 and Countess Báthory died in 1614.
    • Quotes

      Gyorgy Thurzo: Love is a myth, to keep the minds of young peasants and virgins occupied with a dream.

    • Connections
      Version of Les vampires (1957)
    • Soundtracks
      Couranta VI
      Solinger Streichquartett

      Written by Isaak Pesch

      From the album "Telemusik"

      © & ® Peter Lamprecht

      Courtesy of Solinger Streichquartett/Peter Lamprecht

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    FAQ18

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    Details

    Edit
    • Release date
      • April 21, 2010 (France)
    • Countries of origin
      • France
      • Germany
    • Official sites
      • Celluloid Dreams (France)
      • Filmcoopi Zürich (Switzerland)
    • Languages
      • English
      • French
    • Also known as
      • The Countess
    • Filming locations
      • Burg Kriebstein, Kriebstein, Saxony, Germany(exteriors: Countess Bathory's castle)
    • Production companies
      • Serenity Film
      • Celluloid Dreams
      • X-Filme Creative Pool
    • See more company credits at IMDbPro

    Box office

    Edit
    • Budget
      • €5,700,000 (estimated)
    • Gross worldwide
      • $784,522
    See detailed box office info on IMDbPro

    Tech specs

    Edit
    • Runtime
      1 hour 38 minutes
    • Color
      • Color
    • Sound mix
      • Dolby Digital
    • Aspect ratio
      • 2.35 : 1

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