The Countess (2009)

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

1 win & 1 nomination.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Julie Delpy	...	Erzebet Bathory
Daniel Brühl	...	Istvan Thurzo
William Hurt	...	Gyorgy Thurzo
Anamaria Marinca	...	Darvulia
Sebastian Blomberg	...	Dominic Vizakna
Adriana Altaras	...	Aunt Klara
Charly Hübner	...	Ferenc Nadasdy
Andy Gatjen	...	Miklos
Maria Simon	...	Helena
Frederick Lau	...	Janos
Katrin Pollitt	...	Dorothea
Anna Maria Mühe	...	Bertha
Marlis Eulitz	...	Zusanna
Rolf Kanies	...	Count Krajevo
Christine Mayer	...	Kaija

Storyline

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

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Plot Keywords:

fear of aging | hungary | female serial killer | virgin | blood | 

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Taglines:

She sacrificed all for love... and sacrificed others for beauty

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Genres:

Biography | Drama | History | Horror | Thriller

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Certificate:

Not Rated

Details

Official Sites:

Official site [Germany] Official site [France]

Country:

France Germany USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

25 June 2009 (Germany)

Also Known As:

Bathory

Filming Locations:

Germany

Box Office

Budget:

$8,500,000 (estimated)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Serenity Film,Celluloid Dreams,EMC Filmproduktion

Technical Specs

Runtime:

94 min

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Ethan Hawke was originally part of the cast.

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Goofs

(at around 1h 15mins) The fifth book on the bookshelf is the "Dictionnaire De Boyer". Abel Boyer was born in 1664 and did write a French-English dictionary. Countess Báthory died in 1614.

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Quotes

Erzebet Bathory: God, perhaps you are trying my faith. Perhaps you are punishing me because I loved him more than I love you. Man has created God in his image which gives him dominance over everything else. Birds, lions, trees and women. I wish I had been born a man, I would have killed thousands in battle, taken over countries, burned witches - I would have been a hero. That is it, you're nothing but a myth. The Greeks created gods for everything because they could not figure out why the sea, why love, why ...

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Connections

Version of Lust of the Vampire (1957)

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Soundtracks

Ritornello Terzo
Cordarte
Written by Biagio Marini
© & ® Raumklang 2004
Courtesy of Raumklang and Bayerischer Rundfunk - Studio Franken

User Reviews

Slow and fairly uneventful...

I must admit that I had expected a bit more from this movie, especially given the story that it was portraying and telling. I just had expected something grander than what director Julie Delphy dished out here.

Everyone should be fairly familiar with the bloody story of Countess Bathory, well at least if you have just an ounce of interesting in World history. So I am not going to delve into details about the storyline.

What worked for this movie was the acting. Julie Delphy, who both directed and starred in the movie, did a great job in her portrayal of the Countess Erzebet Bathory. There was something very raw and emotional about her acting in "The Countess" and she really carried the movie all by herself.

Julie Delphy seems rather talented, doing acting, directing, producing and even writing the music for this 2009 movie.

But the movie was just too slow paced for my liking, but it was an interesting portrayal of the infamous Countess Erzebet Bathory.