The Blood Countess review – Isabelle Huppert reigns supreme in a surreal vampire fantasia

Vienna turns into a playground of camp, cruelty and aristocratic disdain in a blackly comic take on the Báthory legend – with Huppert gloriously suited to the title role From the dark heart of central Europe comes a midnight-movie romp through the moonlit urban glades of Euro-goth and camp from German director Ulrike Ottinger. As for the star … well, it’s the part she was born to play. Isabelle Huppert is Countess Elizabeth Báthory, 16th-century Hungarian noblewoman and serial killer, legendary for having the blood of hundreds of young girls on her hands and indeed her body, in an attempt to attain eternal youth. The “blood countess” has been variously played in the past by Ingrid Pitt, Delphine Seyrig, Paloma Picasso, Julie Delpy and many more, but surely none were as qualified as Huppert who importantly does not modify her habitual hauteur one iota for the role. Her natural aristocratic mien and cool hint of elegant contempt were never so well matched with a part. She gives us the ...

‘Cosmetic surgery? Just wear a hat!’ US sitcom legends Jane Curtin and Harriet Sansom Harris on AI, ageing and aliens

They are veterans of everything from Frasier to 3rd Rock from the Sun. As the duo make the leap into sci-fi with alien caper Jules, they reveal the secrets to a long career – and make a plea for smarter, quieter movies

Jane Curtin and Harriet Sansom Harris are best known in the UK for their roles in big 1990s sitcoms. Curtin was Mary Albright, sceptical professor and the object of John Lithgow’s affections in 3rd Rock from the Sun. Harris played Bebe Glazer, Frasier’s purringly machiavellian agent.

In the US, both are comedy veterans. Curtin, now 76, began in the first seasons of Saturday Night Live, then won back-to-back Emmys for divorcee double act Kate & Allie. Harris, 68, has had stints on Desperate Housewives and Hacks, but spent most of her career on stage – she trained at Julliard with Kelsey Grammer, Christopher Reeves and Robin Williams and has been a Broadway fixture for 30 years, winning a Tony in 2002 for Throughly Modern Millie.

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