If one could rate a film owing entirely to the versatility of its creator, The Countess would be 10 out of 10. Julie Delpy didn't just helm her most ambitious project to date, she gives a carefully reserved, effective performance, she composed a befitting score, she had an active part in costume design, and her script gives the right angles at the right places. Why then does the final result impress so little, unlike her wonderful debut "2 Days in Paris"?
Reason One: Insufficient voice coaching. You may think that's a minor detail - wait until you've watched this film in its original English. With the four main characters coming from four different countries, one would assume that their English accents would be balanced by someone - nope. The dialogue sounds awkward and sort of trashy. Julie Delpy's own cute French-American sounds odd in this somber tale; Daniel Brühl's German-American accent is so ridiculous that one expects him to pronounce 'I vont tu sukk ur bluhd' any second. William Hurt, being the seasoned pro that he is, smoothed his own accent to fit into his morose, cunning character, making him sound more European than the Europeans. Anamaria Marinca obviously had some serious vocal training, which elevates her performance, whereas Delpy and Brühl's romance scenes give off a feeling of unbalance and weirdness.
Reason Two: Daniel Brühl. Well, this is a French-German co-production, so I guess that, as the unwritten rules of Eurofilm prescribe, there has to be a German lead. And Brühl could be considered a star. Yet he does not have the stamina to carry such a part; he mostly acts as a bystander. He's not even pretty, as he looks quite sick. And according to an interview I've read, Delpy isn't totally innocent of Brühl's look, since she mentioned that she didn't want him to shape up.
Reason Three: German production values. The main production company involved in this project is Tom Tykwer's X-Filme, so this movie feels very German. If you've watched The Perfume, you know what that means for dramas like this one: a certain stiffness in tackling emotional content and rather Spartan set design. The Iron Maiden, which the Countess uses to bleed her virgin victims dry, is about the only visually interesting detail. The continuity is muffled, too; for instance, the escape scene of a little girl, one of the rare moments of suspense, is almost instantly killed off, quite literally, not allowing for goosebumps to build.
It's OK that Julie Delpy makes a clear departure from the romantic fluffy stuff of her past. It's impressive how versatile she's become as a film maker. But given her talent for intelligent comedy, I wonder if a less serious subject wouldn't have benefited her versatility more. This not-really period piece and not-really horror flick will satisfy nobody and keep audiences wonder how much more it could have been with another approach.
Reason One: Insufficient voice coaching. You may think that's a minor detail - wait until you've watched this film in its original English. With the four main characters coming from four different countries, one would assume that their English accents would be balanced by someone - nope. The dialogue sounds awkward and sort of trashy. Julie Delpy's own cute French-American sounds odd in this somber tale; Daniel Brühl's German-American accent is so ridiculous that one expects him to pronounce 'I vont tu sukk ur bluhd' any second. William Hurt, being the seasoned pro that he is, smoothed his own accent to fit into his morose, cunning character, making him sound more European than the Europeans. Anamaria Marinca obviously had some serious vocal training, which elevates her performance, whereas Delpy and Brühl's romance scenes give off a feeling of unbalance and weirdness.
Reason Two: Daniel Brühl. Well, this is a French-German co-production, so I guess that, as the unwritten rules of Eurofilm prescribe, there has to be a German lead. And Brühl could be considered a star. Yet he does not have the stamina to carry such a part; he mostly acts as a bystander. He's not even pretty, as he looks quite sick. And according to an interview I've read, Delpy isn't totally innocent of Brühl's look, since she mentioned that she didn't want him to shape up.
Reason Three: German production values. The main production company involved in this project is Tom Tykwer's X-Filme, so this movie feels very German. If you've watched The Perfume, you know what that means for dramas like this one: a certain stiffness in tackling emotional content and rather Spartan set design. The Iron Maiden, which the Countess uses to bleed her virgin victims dry, is about the only visually interesting detail. The continuity is muffled, too; for instance, the escape scene of a little girl, one of the rare moments of suspense, is almost instantly killed off, quite literally, not allowing for goosebumps to build.
It's OK that Julie Delpy makes a clear departure from the romantic fluffy stuff of her past. It's impressive how versatile she's become as a film maker. But given her talent for intelligent comedy, I wonder if a less serious subject wouldn't have benefited her versatility more. This not-really period piece and not-really horror flick will satisfy nobody and keep audiences wonder how much more it could have been with another approach.