TV tip: “The Countess” – Julie Delpy bathes in blood

Julie Delpy not only directed this historical thriller but also stars as the infamous “Blood Countess” Erzebet Bathory, who is notorious for being a vampire…

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So far, Julie Delpy has been the woman for humorous romance, but with her second directorial work she shows her darker side: “The Countess” is about the Hungarian Erzebet Bathory, who is said to have killed over 600 girls in the 17th century. Delpy, who also wrote the screenplay and played the lead role, weaves myth and fact into a multifaceted portrait of the Blood Countess.

It shows a strong woman who manages her possessions with an iron hand after the death of her husband – until she begins an affair with the younger Isvtan Thurzo (Daniel Brühl). Isvtan’s father (William Hurt) schemes against the lovers, leaving Erzebet, deeply hurt, who believes Isvtan left her because of her age. Believing that the blood of virgins makes her younger, she begins to kill.

Delpy stages the bloody deeds with extraordinary grace: the blood flows slowly from beautiful bodies; the victims remain faceless. In any case, the aesthetics of the entire film are reminiscent of a Mannerist painting: Delpy stages herself and her actors against a dark background, bathed in the glow of incoming rays of light.

This is how she manages to create an atmospherically dense film that also knows nuances: the countess is both victim and perpetrator, and her sadomasochistic and same-sex tendencies are also mentioned. One wonders all the more why this ambivalent character should have been broken by the unrequited love of a single man – which degrades all nuances back to tiresome black and white painting.

Text: Kathrin Kaufmann

March 4, 2022 // Matthias Jordan

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