The Blood Countess

Screen icon Isabelle Huppert mesmerises as a glamorous vampire in iconoclastic queer filmmaker Ulrike Ottinger’s high-camp comedy.

Countess Elizabeth Báthory awakens from a four-century-long slumber in modern-day Vienna, costumed in extravagant crimson gowns and a perfectly coiffed copper updo. Reunited with her faithful handmaid Hermine and her self-hating vegetarian vampire nephew Rudi Bubi Baron von Strudl (with his sceptical psychotherapist in tow), the countess sets out to find and destroy an ancient magical book that has the power to end vampire immortality. With police inspectors and a duo of dithering vampirologists in hot pursuit, the eccentric entourage scours the city’s baroque libraries and cathedrals – but the countess soon realises that her nephew’s plans for the book are very different from her own.

A glorious addition to an astonishing oeuvre, The Blood Countess is brought to eternal life by one-of-a-kind New German Cinema filmmaker Ulrike Ottinger (Paris Calligrammes, MIFF 2020), who is the subject of an entire strand devoted to her work and influences this year, Ulrike Ottinger: Radical Travels. Co-written by Nobel laureate and author of The Piano Teacher Elfriede Jelinek, this playful reimagining of one of history’s most notorious serial killers is a sumptuous visual feast. In a role she was born to play, Isabelle Huppert embodies the coolly fabulous countess, leading a committed cast including Birgit Minichmayr (Everyone Else, MIFF 2016), Lars Eidinger (Dying, MIFF 2024), Thomas Schubert (Afire, MIFF 2023) and iconic former Eurovision winner Conchita Wurst.

Content: Melbourne International Film Festival