Isabelle Huppert Reigns Supreme in Surreal Vampire Fantasia The Blood Countess
From the dark heart of central Europe emerges a midnight-movie romp through the moonlit urban glades of Euro-goth and camp, courtesy of German director Ulrike Ottinger. The Blood Countess transforms Vienna into a playground of camp, cruelty, and aristocratic disdain, offering a blackly comic reinterpretation of the infamous Báthory legend. At its core, this surreal vampire fantasia features a performance by Isabelle Huppert that feels destined, with the actress gloriously suited to the title role of Countess Elizabeth Báthory.
A Role Born for Huppert's Hauteur
Isabelle Huppert embodies Countess Elizabeth Báthory, the 16th-century Hungarian noblewoman and serial killer legendary for bathing in the blood of young girls in a quest for eternal youth. While the "blood countess" has been portrayed by icons like Ingrid Pitt, Delphine Seyrig, and Julie Delpy, none match Huppert's qualifications. Importantly, Huppert does not modify her habitual hauteur one iota for the role, making her natural aristocratic mien and cool hint of elegant contempt perfectly matched with the part.
She delivers the classic Huppert opaque gaze—part dreamy, part coldly assessing—alongside a politely bemused half-smile of concealed distaste that merges into a pout at the absurdity or ill manners of those she encounters. Unlike other mere mortals in the film, Huppert's face is lit like a Golden Age Hollywood star, giving her impeccable makeup a ghostly sheen of profane sainthood.
A Vampire's Return to Modern Vienna
In the film, Countess Báthory is a vampire who returns to present-day Vienna, the historic seat of the Austro-Hungarian empire. She is initially seen gliding through its sewers as if on a royal barge, far more coolly than Harry Lime in The Third Man, though like Lime, she gets her moment on Vienna's Riesenrad ferris wheel. Accompanied by her vampire maidservant Hermine, played by Birgit Minichmayr, the countess reacquaints herself with relatives, including her timid nephew Rudi, a milquetoast member of the undead Báthory clan attended by his therapist Theobald.
Rudi, a devotee of the fine arts, believes a painting holds evidence of a rumored poetic text so melancholy that a vampire could be cured of immortality by shedding tears over it. Countess Báthory, however, has no interest in such redemption and sets out to slake her thirst, soon convulsing the city with fear as news of a serial killer spreads.
Surreal Black Humor and Satirical Undertones
The film's keynote is surreal black humor, unfolding in a succession of bizarre episodes that range from engagingly weird to heavy-handed. Notably, the script is partly credited to Austria's Nobel laureate Elfriede Jelinek, who is not known for humor, adding an intriguing layer to the narrative. Audiences may recall Jelinek's novel The Piano Teacher, chillingly filmed by Michael Haneke with Huppert in a very not-funny lead role.
Elements likely penned by Jelinek include grisly scenes in a ladies' lavatory, where a bourgeois Viennese woman is intimately approached by the countess with predictable results. The mysterious text and its redemptive tears, however, lead nowhere substantial, as storytelling is not the film's primary focus. In one standout moment, the countess makes a triumphal entrance to the music of the Radetzky March, often described as the right-wing Marseillaise, positioning The Blood Countess as a satire of the Austrian ruling class's eternal snobbery and vanity.
Beyond the Myth: Future Possibilities
The film raises questions about the potential for a non-mythic, tongue-out-of-cheek portrayal of Countess Báthory—one that commits fully to fear or eroticism without relying on humor as an alibi for absurdity. Could there be a Wicked-like revisionism, exploring how the countess's reputation has been trashed by misogynists to reveal a kinder figure? Perhaps artists like Ariana Grande might find inspiration in such a reinterpretation.
Ultimately, The Blood Countess stands as a testament to Isabelle Huppert's unparalleled ability to command the screen, blending horror, comedy, and drama into a uniquely surreal experience that challenges conventions and entertains with its aristocratic flair.
