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

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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 ...
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Tell That to the Winter Sea review – teenagers’ woozy, blushing tale of first love

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Flashbacks reveal an all-consuming bond when two friends reunite at a hen night in a country cottage

Filled with luscious shades of pastel pinks, blues and greens, the warm colour palette of Jaclyn Bethany’s latest feature blushes with the heady glow of summer. Like a bruised fruit, however, the sugary imagery belies unexpected notes of bitterness, as the film plumbs the complex depths of female relationship and the everlasting spell of first love. Led by an all-female cast, the mood is beguilingly woozy, even conspiratorial.

Friends in their teens as dance students, Scarlet (Amber Anderson) and Jo (Greta Bellamacina) reunite as adults for the latter’s hen night at a countryside cottage. Other guests will soon arrive, but much of the film hinges on the palpable tension and intimacy between the two women. Nearly opposite in temperament – Scarlet is reserved while Jo is more flamboyant – the pair finds their life paths have starkly diverged in terms of love and career. Resentment and hurt float to the surface, as flashbacks reveal that their all-consuming bond in the past has also been a romantic one. Their nostalgic conversations are dotted with stolen glances and hesitant pauses. They encapsulate that very specific push and pull between once-close confidants, who struggle to perceive each other with fresh eyes.

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