Blending gothic horror with mystery and dark humour, The Blood Countess sees French star Isabelle Huppert step into the role of the notorious Countess Elizabeth Báthory. Boasting an all-star ensemble cast, the film, directed by Germany’s Ulrike Ottinger, is set to take flight at the imminent European Film Market (EFM), where US sales agent Magnify will launch its international sales.

Inspired by the legend of the aforementioned 16th-century Hungarian noblewoman, The Blood Countess follows Countess Báthory (Huppert) as she awakens from her long beauty sleep and reemerges from the underworld. Accompanied by her loyal maid (Birgit Minichmayr), she embarks on a baroque journey through Vienna in search of the elusive red elixir of life. Her quest is complicated by a group of unlikely adversaries, including her vegetarian nephew (Thomas Schubert), his psychotherapist (Lars Eidinger), two vampirologists and a police inspector, all determined to uncover secrets that could disrupt the vampire realm.

The film sports an impressive ensemble cast, with Huppert leading alongside Austrian actress Minichmayr, who starred in two films that screened at last year’s Berlinale – Andrea Gets a Divorce [+lire aussi :
critique
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fiche film] and Sleeping with a Tiger [+lire aussi :
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interview : Anja Salomonowitz
fiche film]. Austrian thesp Thomas Schubert (known for leading Afire [+lire aussi :
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interview : Christian Petzold
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interview : Matthias Glasner
interview : Tapis rouge @ European Fil…
fiche film], Personal Shopper [+lire aussi :
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interview : Artemio Benki
interview : Olivier Assayas
fiche film]), and Luxembourgish stage and film actor André Jung (The Forger [+lire aussi :
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interview : Maggie Peren
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A seminal figure of the German New Wave, Ottinger is renowned for her visually daring and avant-garde storytelling in films such as Ticket of No Return and Freak Orlando. In 2020, she received a Lifetime Achievement Award at the Berlin Film Festival. The screenplay for The Blood Countess was co-written by Ottinger and Austrian playwright and Nobel Prize-winning author Elfriede Jelinek, known for The Piano Teacher. The production is backed by an accomplished creative team, including Austrian cinematographer Martin Gschlacht (The Devil's Bath [+lire aussi :
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interview : Veronika Franz, Severin Fi…
fiche film]), a Silver Bear winner at last year’s Berlinale, as well as costume designer Jorge Jara (Freak Orlando) and production designer Christina Schaffer (Fever [+lire aussi :
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Commenting on the project and how the character of Countess Báthory resonates with modern times, Ottinger told Variety: “This is the right time for the Blood Countess to wake up from her deep sleep and savour the present. The world is upside down, and events are repeating themselves in an eerie way. Vienna, with its historic buildings and timeless flair, is the perfect crime scene. With her sophistication, beauty and calculation, the Blood Countess casts a spell over all those who serve her, flee from her or pursue her.”

The Blood Countess is an Austrian-Luxembourgish-German co-production staged by Alexander Dumreicher-Ivanceanu, of Amour Fou Vienna (Ingeborg Bachmann – Journey into the Desert [+lire aussi :
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interview : Margarethe von Trotta
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interview : David Oelhoffen
fiche film]), of Amour Fou Luxembourg; and Bettina Brokemper, of Heimatfilm, who previously served as an executive producer on The Devil’s Bath, and co-produced Melancholia [+lire aussi :
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interview : Lars von Trier
fiche film] and Nymphomaniac [+lire aussi :
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interview : Louise Vesth
fiche film]. With Magnify – Magnolia Pictures’ international sales arm – handling the film at the EFM, it is expected to generate significant buzz as a standout European genre project.