Sneha Girap (Editor)

The Countess (film)

Updated on
Edit
Like
Comment
Share on FacebookTweet on TwitterShare on LinkedInShare on Reddit
6.4
/
10
1
Votes
Alchetron
6.4
1 Ratings
100
90
80
70
61
50
40
30
20
10
Rate This

Rate This

Director
  
Julie Delpy

Initial DVD release
  
October 25, 2011

Duration
  

Country
  
France Germany

6.2/10
IMDb

Genre
  
Biography, Drama, History

Screenplay
  
Julie Delpy

Writer
  
Julie Delpy

Language
  
English

The Countess (film) movie poster

Release date
  
February 9, 2009 (2009-02-09) (Berlinale)

Cast
  
Julie Delpy
(Erzebet Bathory),
William Hurt
(Gyorgy Thurzo),
Daniel Brühl
(Istvan Thurzo),
Anamaria Marinca
(Anna Darvulia),
Maria Simon
(Helena),
Sebastian Blomberg
(Dominic Vizakna)

Similar movies
  
The Philadelphia Experiment
,
Caramel
,
Countess Dracula
,
Blood for Dracula
,
The Fallen
,
The District

The countess 2009 official trailer 1 julie delpy


The Countess is a 2009 French-German drama historical film written and directed by Julie Delpy. It stars Delpy, Daniel Brühl and William Hurt. It is based on the life of Elizabeth Báthory.

Contents

The Countess (film) movie scenes

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."

The Countess (film) movie scenes

Plot

The Countess (film) movie scenes

In 1560, Erzsébet Báthory is born to Hungarian general George Báthory of Ecsed. From an early age, Erzsébet's parents raise her to accept hardness and cruelty. As a teenager, Erzsébet is impregnated by a young peasant lover and is forced to watch as he is brutally tortured and executed before her eyes; Erzsébet's mother takes the child away from her directly after its birth, ensuring that she never sees it again. Erzsébet is later married to the Hungarian baron Franz Nádasdy, with whom she has three children. After Nádasdy's return from the Ottoman-Hungarian Wars, he succumbs to a disease he contracted abroad and dies.

The Countess (film) movie scenes

Erzsébet, now the sole heir of her husband's 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 György Thurzó's son, István, and falls in love with him. After a night together, István is forced by his father to end the relationship and marry the daughter of a wealthy merchant in Denmark. Erzsébet believes that 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, Erzsébet starts to believe that bathing in the blood of virgin girls can help her to reach eternal youth and beauty. To this end, her staff capture and brutally kill peasant girls to obtain their blood.

The Countess (film) movie scenes

It is only when Erzsébet starts to kidnap aristocratic girls that the authorities begin an investigation. Count Thurzó is asked to investigate the incidents and he thus sends István, now a count himself, to visit Erzsébet. István is reluctant to believe the allegations and is seduced once more by the countess. Only when he and one of his companions discover evidence of her crime do they arrest her. During the trial, Erzsébet is found guilty and, due to her noble origin, she is sentenced to spend the rest of her life walled into her room in Čachtice Castle in total isolation. Erzsébet's staff is also found guilty, but unlike her they are put to death. All of her estate is awarded to the Count Thurzó with the exception of Čachtice, which is given to her children.

The Countess (film) movie scenes

Driven by desperation after being walled in, Erzsébet Báthory 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 Thurzó.

Cast

  • Julie Delpy as Countess Erzsébet Báthory
  • William Hurt as Count György Thurzó
  • Daniel Brühl as István Thurzó
  • Adriana Altaras as Aunt Klara Báthory
  • Charly Hübner as Count Ferenc Nádasdy
  • 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 Báthory
  • Frederick Lau as Janos
  • Henriette Confurius as Kayla
  • Nikolai Kinski as The Teacher
  • Release

    The film premiered on February 9, 2009 (2009-02-09) at the 59th Berlin International Film Festival and was shown at the Cannes Film Festival 2010.

    References

    The Countess (film) Wikipedia
    The Countess (film) IMDb The Countess (film) themoviedb.org