Fest Track On Sirk TV Film Review: THE BLOOD COUNTESS [Berlinale - Berlin, Germany]
The essence of the vampire movie rests in the idea of tragedy and irony in the eye of the beholder (or in this case, the filmmaker). With "The Blood Countess" [Berlinale Special Gala] directed by visual artist Ulrike Ottinger and starring Isabelle Huppert as the titular character, the idea is a kind of tongue-in-cheek within an abstract painting repletely aware of its own existence while moving back and forth between a kind of slapstick and gothic mime. It is very particularly staged even from the first shot as Huppert hovers on a would-be float in the catacombs in Vienna before a tourist boat comes by. This is a continuing gag of course but sets off the course of a kind of treasure hunt for the Countess who has returned to life after years of being bored and dried out in a coffin. Huppert gets this but the great thing is that her hunger takes over every time she seems she is about to make a breakthrough. It is fun to watch because there is a distinct balance of poise and aloofness, elegance and primality. Her nephew Rudi Bubi (Thomas Schubert) [all the characters have silly names] is interested in the past of his aunt and he too is part of the circle but doesn't want to embrace it even as his cousins who fought in a long ago war tease him to just try meat (he likes pastries). The film is obviously set at turn of the century but then it isn't. The Countess Bathory travels around in a ornate carriage, very obvious in anywhere she goes so there is no mistaking where the crime scene might actually be. This works in interesting perspective in terms of the killings she participates in.
For example, Bathory sees one young woman on an escalator and proceeds very easily to seduce and drink her with no repercussions. There is also an inspector and his aide looking for The Countess, but like Keystone Kops, they are always two steps behind (and almost blindfully aware of it). What makes Huppert's performance though really work is the beautiful, zany and outputting performance opposite her of Birgit Minichmayr as Hermine, the Maid. With the overdone makeup, movements and great timing, there is an essence of Grace Jones in her and yet she doesn't take anything away from Huppert. Minichmayr knows exactly when to make the laugh work but also when there is something darker to be said (and yet it always plays evenly). There are some great musical stylings including what seems to be a famous European drag performer but the way he operates in a club and then later (if it is the same performer) in a catacomb as a misdirect is fantastic. In that later sequence, which also has a character called The Little Countess, the tone borders on rock opera. Again in comparison to something like "Dust Bunny" at TIFF last fall or even "Holy Motors" some years back, "Countess" knows its boundaries but doesn't respect them all the time. The focal points of certain characters and what they want are more metaphorical resting points than anything else whether it be the Countess and Hermine invading a convent, turning a researcher to stone or acting as would-be tourists in a museum to get a look at some old bones. There is a unnerving and delicious fugue to the proceedings even when it leads to its final act which is both a given but also not overwrought. The Countess will live forever but the ideas that interested her in her early days never change since human beings, despite their technology or embracing of academia, tend to stay the same. "The Blood Countess" is an unusual swing and a motley, fun and unbalanced one (with special strengths) nonetheless. B+
By Tim Wassberg
