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 ...

Outrage as Emmanuel Macron says Gérard Depardieu is target of ‘manhunt’

Feminists and politicians on left condemn French president’s praise of actor as sending ‘massive support’ to man being investigated for rape

Feminists and politicians on the left have reacted angrily after the French president described the actor Gérard Depardieu – who is under formal investigation for rape and facing fresh scrutiny over sexist comments – as the target of a “manhunt”.

“You will never see me participate in a manhunt … hate that type of thing,” Emmanuel Macron told the broadcaster France 5, when asked about the possibility of stripping Depardieu of a state award after a documentary showed footage of sexist and inappropriate behaviour by the star.

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