Directed by:
Juraj JakubiskoScreenplay:
Juraj JakubiskoCast:
Anna Friel, Karel Roden, Vincent Regan, Hans Matheson, Deana Horváthová-Jakubisková, Bolek Polívka, Jiří Mádl, Anthony Byrne, Lucie Vondráčková (more)Plots(1)
"The gruesome tale of Countess Elizabeth Bathory, notorious yet obscure, has been recounted by historians, writers, poets, playwrights, musicians, painters and moviemakers. Tradition has it that Countess Bathory was the greatest murderess in the history of humankind, as documented by her entry in the Guinness Book of Records. She tortured her victims, exclusively women, before killing them. She bathed in their blood, and tore the flesh from their bodies with her teeth while they were still alive. But is that really true? In four centuries, no historical document has been found to reveal what had exactly happened. The plot of my film diametrically opposes the established legend. My story is about a defenseless widow who owns more property and riches than the king himself and who, as a result, becomes a victim of scheming from on high." - Juraj Jakubisko (Metrodome Distribution)
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Reviews (9)
A major misstep and a cynical mockery of all those who believed the advertising campaign about "the most expensive Czech-Slovak film." And to dryly reply that "you definitely can't see where the money went in the film" is not enough for me this time. The "cleansing" of the legend itself is not bad at all, as Anna Friel is excellent and Karel Roden takes over every scene, but... where the plot requires a few more sentences and two more shots to explain "why and how?", Jakubisko prefers to play lyricist in mono-thematic images of "drug highs" and plenty of nudity. Together with a couple of cameramen, he "paints" the surrounding landscape fantastically, and even in the cheap exteriors of the village he doesn't hold his breath. But then there’s the memory of the battle with the Turks and the viewer is back in the land of Central Europe, where we apparently cannot be as worldly as we would like. Sometimes big shoulders, foreign names, and a big wallet are not enough, which is a pity because I was looking forward to this film.
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I feel that the script was written by Pat and Mat, or at least they edited it, because such a choppy, confused narrative is something you don’t see every day. The first half was still narratively decent, but it got worse and worse as it went on. The story failed to draw me in, I didn't live with the main character, I was indifferent to her fate, and by the end I was so numb that even if the inventive Polívka and Mádl had constructed a plasma TV, I wouldn't have been snapped out of my lethargy. What I was most worried about – the production design and the cinematography – were quite acceptable by Central European standards, although it is true that the completely polished and ironed costumes of the villagers and Turks looked more like an advertisement for laundry detergent, and fell more into the realm of Troska's fairy tales. 3* for the visuals, the courage to embark on such a monstrous project and the effort to embrace the legend of Countess Bathory in an original way.
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Well, it turned out better than Janosik: A True Story, thank goodness for that. But not by much. Unlike the aforementioned bandit, I didn't have as much of a problem following Bathory to the end, because most of the time there was at least something and someone to watch. Primarily Anna Friel and Karel Roden. Thanks to Brabec's cinematography, quite a few scenes looked as if the director had borrowed them from Wild Flowers or, even worse, from Máj, but at least I got the impression that most of them belonged in the film and that they were not just the director's "Oh, look at the beautiful pictures" whim. The biggest minuses are definitely the "funny" characters of the monks, the annoying dreams and hallucinations... And Franco Nero. His fans will forgive him, but he didn't need to be here at all and everything would have been fine. But apparently it was necessary to attract "star" names. Well, whatever. In the end, I come out with three slightly, slightly above average stars.
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Where’s the splatter movie about a woman who bathed in blood? Herbs, after all... how lame. Boring, no atmosphere, nothing worth remembering. The story doesn’t hold together and of the actors, only Roden sticks out, the others don’t deliver anything special, but on the other hand it’s not embarrassing (even Upír Krejčí was ok in his mini-role :-). But mainly I had the feeling that this movie lasted about three and a half hours. Never again.
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Kindly uninitiated viewers will forgive me, but when I first read several very different books on the subject of Bathory long ago in the year 2000, I came to a similar position to the one Jakubisko presents today in his latest blockbuster. So logically, I'm excited. I see the entire negative media halo around the film as a pure reaction to the endless delaying of release dates and the general hype around the cost, which is none of the audience's business anyway. On November 9, 2009, I finally got the DVD and I can better take stock of my older movie theater experience. My basic understanding of it truly doesn't change. The biggest scarecrows of the project (Mádl and co.) were only cast in supporting roles anyway, and the entire dynamic of the story, which is by the way visually wonderfully sophisticated, is based on Jakubisko's direction and set design, camera work by Ďuriš, Brabec and Kende, music by Jirásek, and costumes by Pecharová. I, of course, appreciate Jakubisková's work for her perseverance and I fell in love with Anna Friel's performance. It made such a strong impression on me that I don't have to deal with the fact that the trio of Roden, Regan, and Matheson doesn't work that well for me. On the other hand, Monika Hilmerová was also excellent and Jakubisko's "discoveries" from Post Coita Pogodová, Greneche, and Elsnerová were absolutely fine. I have had the opportunity to watch all three versions - Czech, Slovak, and English, all the omitted scenes, and my enthusiasm for it only grows stronger. I can't wait for the planned series cut, which I hope will be dominated by Erzsébet Czobor. Moreover, knowing that since the end of the 1950s only B-movies, or at most one decent Hammer horror film, have been made on the subject of the Čachtice legend, I can safely compare Jakubisko's version with Viktor Kubal's magnificent animated film The Bloody Lady and be satisfied.
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Gallery (60)
Photo © Jakubisko Film Slovakia
![Bathory - Making of](http://image.pmgstatic.com/cache/resized/w663/files/images/film/photos/162/340/162340050_ab3670.jpg)
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