The Countess

Plot synopsis:
Place: Warsaw, Poland, and a village in the Polish countryside Time: early 19th century
=== Act I ===
Warsaw. A great ball is to be held at the house of the recently widowed young Countess in a couple of days. Everyone here is busy with the preparations and talking about the greatness of the projected event. A breathtaking Diana's costume (dress) is being sewn for the Countess. Dzidzi is doing his best to win the Countess's favour. Also present in the household is Bronia, the Countess's distant relative who is being courted by the elderly Podczaszyc. Bronia has recently come to town from the country and she is feeling miserable in the new surroundings. She complains to her grandfather (the Chorąży) that she does not feel at home in the artificial world of the salon, a fake world full of unnatural foreign customs and empty laughter (O mój dziaduniu arietta). Bronia is unhappily in love with a neighbour from the countryside, the young nobleman Kazimierz who is also present in this house. He in turn loves the Countess. He is told by Chorąży to stop moping and go for a hunt (Ruszaj bracie, ruszaj w pole song). Kazimierz, however, feels that his happiness depends on the Countess's returning his love (Od twojej woli aria).
=== Act II ===
Before the ball the Countess puts on her new dress and admires herself in the mirror (Suknio coś mnie tak ubrała aria). The guests assembled in the ballroom are clearly divided into 2 groups: Kazimierz, Bronia and Chorąży form the "national side" - dressed in simple, traditional Polish attire. The other guests form the "foreign side" - luxuriously dressed yet alien to Polish tradition. We next witness a rehearsal of the show which is to aggrandize the ball: first a ballet scene (ballet music), then a virtuoso aria sung by the Countess's friend Ewa (Italian aria), then the Podczaszyc dressed up as Neptune arrives in a shell-shaped chariot, greeted by the other guests. The final number was to be sung by another of the Countess's friends, who fell ill. Bronia fills in for her and sings a sad song about a peasant girl longing for her soldier lover who went to war - she promises to be faithful to him to the grave (Szemrze strumyk pod jaworem song). The foreign-type guests are unmoved and find the song too trivial. Kazimierz, Chorąży, and even Podczaszyc are extremely impressed by the song's simple, sincere beauty. Madame de Vauban, the most prominent of the guests, arrives. In the ensuing disorder Kazimierz accidentally steps on the Countess's dress and tears it badly. Her polite attitude is immediately gone. It is clear that Kazimierz has lost all favour with her.
=== Act III ===
The Chorąży's country manor. A melancholy polonaise melody played by four cellos evokes the serene and patriotic atmosphere of this house. The Podczaszyc, who is a guest in this house, is out hunting (Pojedziemy na łów - Hunters' song). Bronia misses Kazimierz who after the unfortunate incident at the ball has set off to war. Unexpectedly, the Countess arrives - she has understood the value of Kazimierz's true feelings, and, having learned of his upcoming arrival and expecting that he will stop by Chorąży's house, she is eager to greet him and regain his love (On tu przybywa aria). Upon seeing Chorąży's country manor Kazimierz is reminded of Bronia's sweet face and sincerity (Rodzinna wioska już się uśmiecha aria). He greets the Countess rather coldly. Neither Bronia nor the Chorąży are aware of Kazimierz's change of heart, and they are anxious about his and the Countess's arrival at the same time. The Podczaszyc has however understood everything, including the unappropriate age difference between him and Bronia. A little drunk, he gives a long speech and proposes to Bronia on Kazimierz's behalf. Kazimierz kneels down before the Chorąży, confirming that the Podczaszyc has indeed correctly expressed his wish. The Countess is of course deeply disappointed. Vain and proud, she does not want to show her true feelings to everyone, and decides quickly to leave (Zbudzić się z ułudnych snów aria). Dzidzi is full of new hope. The remaining guests raise a toast to the new couple.

Tags: romantic, murder, sadist

Review:
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.
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.
Writer/director/producer/musical scorer/actress Julie Delpy brings to the screen a character from history that few know.
The film is based on the true history of the woman known as The Blood Countess, but after viewing this film it is obvious that the actual figure on whom the story is based was a brilliant political mind, a woman of noble breeding who could read and write in four languages, who once widowed was able to successfully defend her lands from the warring Turks and exact control over the reigning Hungarian King Matthias.
Later writings about the case have led to legendary accounts of the Countess bathing in the blood of virgins in order to retain her youth.' The film opens with voice over by István Thurzó (Daniel Brühl) who relates the story of his only love.
She became a beautiful woman and Erzsébet (Julie Delpy) married General Nádasdy, gave birth to children, and together they were the power couple of Hungary.
When Nádasdy dies, Erzsébet meets and falls passionately in love with István Thurzó (Daniel Brühl), a many 19 years her junior, but Istvan's father György Thurzó (William Hurt) prevents Istvan from remaining with Erzsébet.
The film is beautifully designed, costumed, photographed and scored, and Delpy manages to pace her story credibly and well.
For this viewer there is an absence of gritty passion that would make the history more indelible: Delpy and the remainder of the cast fail to create fiery on-screen chemistry that would have brought a sense of stronger impetus to the heinous acts that occur.
But as a piece of rarely known history it is a fascinating film about a strong woman of the past and the impact she had on her country ...
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....
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.
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..
Julie Delpy gives her own vision (through an innocent young man's eyes who would have been one of her numerous -male and female-lovers)of a nefarious figure of history .her direction is icily impersonal but effective .Her hieratic cold look gives the jitters for her acting is restrained.Unlike Walerian Borowczyk's segment of "Les Heroines Du Mal"(1979) in which Paloma Picasso played an "erotic " countess with nudity galore,"the countess" has few bed scenes and few gore clichés -and with THAT subject,it is much to Delpy's credit.Her directing is not feminine at all (as Agnès Varda's or Jane Campion's are) and her character has the mind of a man :political power,women and men treated -with one exception- as sexual objects .She wouldn't sacrifice a virgin lad cause ,she says , God created man in his own image .She remained pious even in living in the most awful sin!The atmosphere which is depicted does not square with reality,if you read one of her biographies:she lived in a lugubrious castle ,in a cold area,and she suffered from chronic migraines which almost never gave her any respite..
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.
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..
I was really excited when I found out, that there is a movie about a Hungarian countess.
from an anglo-centric and a male-centric point of view, this movie sucks, of course...from any other point of view, The Countess is a very well orchestrated piece of story-telling.a dark portrait of a dark age.
The legend of the Red Countess, like that of Dracula and so many others has yielded several theatrical and film adaptations.
Julie Delpy likes challenges of this kind.
Not only did she write the script, direct, act, and compose the music, but her adaptation can compete with what I thought was the best previous film adaptation of the legend by Walerian Borowczyk (from the collection called Immoral Tales, and with Paloma Picasso).
Here, she blends her own speculations about the Countess's character and motivation with historical facts, to make a new and provocative statement about the legend.
The best way to see this film is to compare it with the other adaptations not as much to see who spent the money the most intelligently, but what each director has to say through the same legend..
Why?......Overall, casting, directing and acting were near OK, but why spend all those resources, talent and money, just a year after a very similar movie(Bathory)was release?
I haven't seen the film yet, I was thinking of seeing it this week, but given some of the things I've read in the reviews, I may not bother.
She was an extremely rich and powerful woman living at a time when in most societies, but especially Eastern European ones, wealthy and powerful women were hugely resented by their male counterparts.Once she was widowed Countess Bathory chose not to remarry as she did not want another man to take control of her lands.
Sadly films like this perpetuate the myth and falsehoods about a woman who, although tough and sometimes hard on her servants, was never guilty of the horrendous crimes of which she has been accused.
Julie Delpy's voice was often dubbed over and created quite a bit of confusion.
with this cast you expect the movie to be well acted: it wasn't.
As much as I wanted to like this film, I was left feeling unsatisfied after watching it.
It doesn't help that the acting seems forced most of the time (as if the actors are reading their lines off of cue cards), or that Delpy and Bruhl have about 0 chemistry...I did, however, love the costumes and the sets, as well as Anamaria Marinca's unique character.
the portrait of Countess Bathory is not only different but good exercise of details'exploration.
and a not surprising performance, in a small role but wise explored, by Anamaria Marinca.a film who impress for its new perspective about a classic character.and that could be good support for reflection..
I've thoroughly enjoyed Julie Delpy's acting in Linklater's Before trilogy and in her own directorial efforts such as 2 Days in Paris and 2 Days in New York.
added to the mix, which would have made it much more appealing to me; because in some way, it's kinda like the story of Countess Bathory itself is asking for those elements.Nevertheless, I felt mildly entertained in some small passages of the film.
William Hurt and Daniel Brühl put on acceptable performances, the costumes and the sets are done very well.I'm not sure if I would recommend this movie to anyone; if anything I would recommend Delpy's other feature films which are a lot better than The Countess..
The correct names of real historical persons in Hungarian: BÁTHORY ERZSÉBET (Erzebet Bathory) THURZÓ GYÖRGY (György Thurzo) THURZÓ ISTVÁN (Istvan Thurzo) NÁDASDY FERENC (Ferenc Nadsky) BÁTHORY PÁL (Paul Bathory) King Mátyás (King Matthias)/Other names f.e.: PAULA (Pola) Berta (Bertha)/I think the cast and the direction were good enough and the music was beautiful.
I liked the protagonist and the love story, but the screenplay was not interested in the historical loyalty of any of the known facts.
It's amazing that a film with such an intriguing story, breathtaking sets, and gorgeous costumes can be so god-awful!
I was hoping to be drawn into a thrilling telling of the "true" story of the Countess Bathory, but instead wasted over an hour and a half of my life that I will never get back.
The acting is so awful, watching and especially hearing (accents and voice acting reminds me of dubbing in cheap B movies) Julie Delpy is so cringeworthy.
I did not regard "The countess" as a historical or a horror movie.
I think the movie wants to show the very destructive effect falling in love can have when a person is very insecure and does not have the ability to reflect its own behavior.
The movie also had a feminist side to me: on the one hand it deals with the obsession of beauty (a kind of female issue, also an issue that matters especially to actresses).
It does not want to be a historical movie.
I also remember reading an interview with Julie Delpy quite some years ago where she complains about not getting any roles in the US because her accent is "too french".
I think mixing actors from different countries she wants to show (or find out) that (or if) a movie can work even though there is an international cast.
But as my boyfriend does not like watching movies in English we watched the dubbed German version and i really don't know if the accents would have bothered me...
In the 17th Century, the Hungarian Countess Elizabeth Bathory (Julie Delpy) and her husband, General Ferenc Nadasdy (Jack Berglund), are regarded as one of the most powerful couples in Hungary.
This ultimately leads to her believing that the blood of virgin girls can help her remain youthful, and Elizabeth starts a mysterious killing spree to satisfy her vanity.The issue surrounding Elizabeth Bathory makes for an interesting narrative in the cinematic format.
Politics is perhaps the best dealt with theme in the film: while not shown in a refreshing manner, politics still has an overriding importance into understanding how arranged marriages were so important for families in regards to gaining new ties and allies and, more importantly, how these marriages ultimately develop characters in order to enrich the story.
Yet it is disappointing that nothing helps strengthen the plot: the life of Elizabeth Bathory is open to much speculation with there being a debate as to whether she really is the 'Blood Countess' or whether she was trapped in a political conspiracy.
Istvan believes that the true story of Elizabeth was never revealed but as shown from the films intention, it clearly is.There is a reasonably strong cast in the film but it never shows.
In Delpy's defence it can be argued that her character lacked any real emotion but nevertheless, there is nothing really compelling about the performance.
The best of the lot is Annamaria Marcina who feels more believable then her co-stars, and does a good job as a supporting actress.Julie Delpy does shine in her role as director with the film being, for the most part, eloquently shot.
Considering the subject matter, the film is neither as gory or bloody as you would expect, but the acts of cruelness still have a haunting presence to them, and Delpy must be congratulated for this.
Likewise the musical score appears to compliment the film though is forgettable by the end, and the costume design has a real sense of reality to them though they lack extravagance as shown in other similar period films.Sex is implied with upper female nudity appearing at times in the first half of the narrative.
None of the violence is lingered upon but their buildup has a threatening quality to them; blood does appear throughout.The Countess is a surprisingly average film with a good sense of technical techniques being weighed down by some weak showcases of acting and a confused directional narrative.
Julie Delpy didn't just helm her most ambitious project to date, she gives a carefully reserved, effective performance, she composed a befitting score, she had an active part in costume design, and her script gives the right angles at the right places.
Julie Delpy's own cute French-American sounds odd in this somber tale; Daniel Brühl's German-American accent is so ridiculous that one expects him to pronounce 'I vont tu sukk ur bluhd' any second.
The main production company involved in this project is Tom Tykwer's X-Filme, so this movie feels very German.
The continuity is muffled, too; for instance, the escape scene of a little girl, one of the rare moments of suspense, is almost instantly killed off, quite literally, not allowing for goosebumps to build.It's OK that Julie Delpy makes a clear departure from the romantic fluffy stuff of her past.
This film shows no innovative approach : narrative voice-over in a very dull way.
This film directed and starred by Julie Delpy gives a very human portrayal of one of history's most infamous murderers, Countess Erzebet Bathory, who is said to have bathed in the blood of virgins to preserve her youth.She is said to have killed hundreds of young women and drained their blood, such a horrendous and yet fascinating real life character is bound to inspire countless myths, stories, books, even movies.But the real task is to portray such a monster as a human being, she wasn't a supernatural monster but a real woman, and the tales of horror might or might not be completely accurate, but regardless of that the film manages to balance the horror of the myths and the portrayal of a human being, heartless and maybe psychotic, but still human.With great performances by Julie Delpy (The Three Musketeers), William Hurt (Mr. Brooks) and Daniel Brühl (Captain America: Civil War), a great script, and beautiful photography, this movie is a must for cinema fans..
The Countess is a partly truthful historical drama that tells the story of the infamous Countess Bathory, who reportedly bathed in blood and served as inspiration for Bram Stoker's Count Dracula.
The story is told painfully slowly, and sometimes the atmosphere isn't really enough to make up for it.Julie Delpy is cold and distancing, which makes the character intriguing but feels a bit jarring at the end where we are supposed to sympathize with her..
Being unfamiliar with Delpy's uncanny abilities in the realm of all that is film, I was overwhelmed with her many contributions to such an intractable historical conveyance.My first reaction was how does organic matter create powerful enzymes to effect a youthful appearance?
One admires Delpy for writing and directing and, given the fascinating historical material, it'd appear hard not to come out with something good.
Its a poor love story, historical account, morality tale, feminist doctrine, suspense work or anything else it might be.
That said, there was a great deal effort put into this film to get things looking and feeling right for the period.
It tries so hard to be a 'great' work and fails at every turn.Julie Delpy seems unaware of who or what she is.
The countess is at times a lesbian lover, matriarch, wife, businesswoman, wreck, girl, woman and everything else you can think of...
His monstrous character is barely explored and his sidekick, sadomasochistic accomplice is just a daft cliché.Bathory (the other, recent version of this story) was simply terrible.
As for Erzebet Bathory, I think it would take someone of the stature of Roman Polanski to tell her story in a compelling, cinematic way.
The legend of Hungarian countess Elisabeth Bathory isn't as well known as rumored distant relative Vlad the Impaler (aka Count Dracula), but her story has created much curiosity because of her vicious deeds.
Julie Delpy keeps her cool even in the most tense moments, adding a sort of divine right to do what she's doing.The historical aspect of this is fascinating, but I found myself turning my head during some very tense torture moments.