Review of The Countess (2009) by Catherine T — 20 Mar 2010

SPOILER ALERT!

Europe, early 17th century. Hungarian Countess Erzebet Bathory (Julie Delpy) is a strong-willed and vain, the most powerful and also the most feared in her country. She is beautiful, intelligent and unwilling to accept that men make and break the rules as they please.

Then, one day, She meets the much younger Istvan (Daniel Brühl) and they immediately fall for each other and start a passionate affair.A late husband, a lesbian lover (Anamaria Marinca) and a Sadomasochistic enthusiast (Sebastian Blomberg) have all been received between her bed sheets with little passion. Only Estavan Thurzo/ Istvan, a much younger man of much lower rank, lights her fire. But their bliss is short-lived. Istvanâ??s father Count Thurzo (deliciously cold: William Hurt) forces his son to marry another woman and initiates a scheme to bring down the commanding Countess.

Erzebet however is convinced that Istvan left her because of her fading beauty. Intensely, obsessively in love, the countess believes she has been deceived and betrayed when the young man disappears. She doesn't realize that his father, Count Thurzo has conspired to marry him into a financially attractive family. Instead, she sees this as a younger man's rejection based on age differences.Slowly going mad, she starts to believe that the blood of virgins, extracted by a brutal metal cage will preserve her youthful visage. She embarks on a murderous undertaking, risking everything: her reputation, her wealth, her standing, her life. Erzebet quickly develops a fixation on bathing in female virgin blood to improve her complexion. At first a few drops from a tiny cut will do. All too soon she must wring each girl dry.

A metal cage with sharp, slicing knives drains away the blood, which gravitation pulls down into her chamber for long, leisurely baths. Before long, girls all over the area are disappearing. As rumors reach Count Thurzo, he realizes he has the means to seize Erzebet's family lands.

Disturbingly, the movie is based on an actual person and actor/writer/director Delpy meshes legend and fact: The real Countess Barthory (1560-1614) is possibly the most prolific female serial killer in history, convicted on 80 counts, with one witness attributing more than 600 deaths to her. In actuality she was never tried in court and the legendary bloodbaths were never verified. Yet she is remembered as the â??Blood Countessâ?? or â??Countess Draculaâ??.

All of this being said, this is definitely not a splatter movie! It is disturbing, but not on a â??slasherâ?? level. There is structure and unruliness. Lesbianism, Bloodthirst and romance, oh and also sadomasochism. Vanity and power struggles. Itâ??s not exactly horror, more like psychological gothic movie.

The movie starts off with a structured stab at a behavioral explanation. I think that Delpy tried to explore the main character in a very honest and exploratory fashion without excusing anything. Little Erzebet is exposed to cruelty and insensitiveness from childhood. Delpy employs two crucial childhood experiences and a merciless disposition to round out the character profile. Mixed in unrequited love, madness and high social ranking and power and what do you get? Bloodbaths galore.

I have got to applaud writer/director Julie Delpy for a cunning psychogram of a very complex woman that was part victim and part perpetrator simultaneously, she is trying to explore the facets of an inherently cruel, sangfroid and narcissistic character that falls for a much younger man. It is immensely difficult to chronicle the demise of a lover turning into a quenchless murderess, much less portray it. Delpy does a great job with the acting, The question arises how cruel anyone could become if they had the freedom to be. The Countess viewed herself as a devout Protestant and hardship and cruelty were a sign of the times then. But the quote â??Time has no respect for beautyâ?? is one that could be uttered by anyone in Hollywood today. Still, it is a long way to dead virgins lining the woods.

I like the psychology behind â??The Countessâ?? and that Delpy isnâ??t afraid to explore the wrath of a woman scorned in all its splendor. She isnâ??t afraid to portray herself as ugly or â??oldâ?? (though I am sure 39 looked different in 1610). However, combining fact and fiction sadly, the movie turns out so captivating!

I am a fan of Delpyâ??s work. This movie has a distinct, dark style. Still, it demands an acquired taste for the genre and human contradictions.

Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned.

I SAY, WATCH IT!