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 In four centuries, no historical document has been found to reveal what had exactly happened.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)
Bathory is impressive in its intimate moments and very well played by the lead actors. In its would-be spectacular scenes, however, it is ridiculous and the nice outdoor camerawork barely manages to compensate for the cheap interiors. Also notice the facial expressions of some of the extras... ahem. And when I don’t know how to go on because my story doesn’t have a proper dramatic framework, I’ll divide it into three phases, which is supposed to give it some meaning... ahem. This TV-like Czech-Slovak “blockbuster” looks exactly like I was afraid it would, even though Juraj Jakubisko is an inspiring and likable man and artist... Bathory is subject matter for Cronenberg and not for a poetic Slovak storyteller.
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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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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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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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I am more (or less) at a bit of a loss with Bathory. On the one hand there is finally a bit of a revival of Czech cinema with at least a slightly better and more monumental movie, however, there are also a bunch of stupid mistakes in Bathory that should never have been there in the first place. This makes Bathory just an average movie. The biggest stumbling block is undoubtedly the screenplay, which at a certain point, jumps and changes its tune from one moment to the next, and the rest of the plot whizzes past you like a high-speed Bullet train. The tension in me rose only momentarily, when Erzsebet stabbed the maid Sara with a pair of scissors just as the courtier were passing by the hall. This was really the only scene that affected me. The actors do make the movie seem less messy (especially Anna Friel, who is really the highlight of the movie), but unfortunately, it is not worth awarding the movie more than three stars. I am awarding it a clean 50%.
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Gallery (60)
Photo © Jakubisko Film Slovakia
![Bathory - Making of](http://image.pmgstatic.com/cache/resized/w663/files/images/film/photos/162/340/162340008_f08c37.jpg)
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