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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Baftas 2025: how to watch, predictions and timetable

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The 78th British Film Academy awards are heading our way tonight – here’s what you need to know about the big night at the Royal Festival Hall

With each passing year the attention paid to the Bafta film awards turns up a notch, as campaigns jostle and reposition themselves in the quest for the real prize: an Academy Award. The Oscar race is pretty open this year, even more so after the Emilia Pérez debacle, but with its British centre of gravity and slightly differing nominations list, the Baftas have their own dynamic. Hence the Baftas can sometimes seem to be a fairground-mirror reflection of the American contest, or (looked at the other way) an assertion of a similar but separate cultural identity.

The most obvious example of this is the strong showing for Belfast rap comedy Kneecap, which could walk off with a fistful of Baftas, but failed to even get on the Academy nomination sheet. Hard Truths star Marianne Jean-Baptiste is the other big Oscar casualty, but she is in with a major shout for best actress here. And in a wider sense, the current Oscar frontrunners – The Brutalist, Anora, A Complete Unknown – may not resonate quite so strongly with British voters, so expect Conclave, a (largely) domestic effort, to put up a significant fight and follow through on its nominations lead.

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