Français
Erzsébet Báthory est une comtesse hongroise, mariée au Comte Ferenc Nadasdy. Lors de la guerre menée contre les Turcs et en l'absence de son époux, Erzsébet gère à merveille l'administration de son château et de ses terres. Entre un mari doté d'un talent inné en stratégie militaire et une femme de la trempe d'Erzsébet, le couple est extrêmement respecté. Mais Nadasdy meurt et sa veuve devient de plus en plus puissante, la rendant redoutable aux yeux de tous, y compris ceux du roi Matthias.
Lors d'un bal, Erzsébet rencontre Istvan Thurzo, un jeune noble âgé seulement de 21 ans avec qui elle entame une liaison brève et passionnée. Le père de celui-ci, Gyorgy, qui convoitait lui aussi la Comtesse Báthory, décide de les séparer en lui envoyant une lettre signée du nom de son fils annonçant qu'il en aime une autre plus que tout. Inconsolable et persuadée que c'est son âge avancé qui l'a éloignée d'Istvan, Erzsébet Báthory reste recluse dans ses appartements du château de Čachtice. En blessant une servante, elle découvre que le sang des jeunes vierges la rajeunit et rend sa peau plus douce et fine ; du moins, s'en persuade-t-elle. La machine infernale est pourtant en marche et de nombreuses jeunes filles disparaissent après avoir nourri les noirs desseins de la Comtesse...
English
In 1560, Erzsébet Báthory is born to Hungarian general George Báthory of Ecsed. From an early age, Erzsébet's parents raise her to accept hardness and cruelty. As a teenager, Erzsébet is impregnated by a young peasant lover and is forced to watch as he is brutally tortured and executed before her eyes; Erzsébet's mother takes the child away from her directly after its birth, ensuring that she never sees it again. Erzsébet is later married to the Hungarian baron Franz Nádasdy, with whom she has three children. After Nádasdy's return from the Ottoman-Hungarian Wars, he succumbs to a disease he contracted abroad and dies.
Erzsébet, now the sole heir of her husband's estate, seeks recognition from the Hungarian Habsburg, King Matthias II. Matthias consents reluctantly due to his considerable debt to the Countess. At a ball, she meets Count György Thurzó's son, István, and falls in love with him. After a night together, István is forced by his father to end the relationship and marry the daughter of a wealthy merchant in Denmark. Erzsébet believes that age difference is to blame for the failure of the relationship. After an incident in which she is splashed with blood after striking a female servant, Erzsébet starts to believe that the blood of virgin girls can help her to reach eternal youth and beauty. To this end, her staff capture and brutally kill peasant girls to obtain their blood.
It is only when Erzsébet starts to kidnap aristocratic
girls that the authorities begin an investigation. Count Thurzó is
asked to investigate the incidents and he thus sends István, now a count
himself, to visit Erzsébet. István is reluctant to believe the
allegations and is seduced once more by the countess. Only when he and
one of his companions discover evidence of her crime do they arrest her.
During the trial, Erzsébet is found guilty and, due to her noble
origin, she is convicted to spend the rest of her life walled into her
room in Čachtice Castle
in total isolation. Erzsébet's staff is also found guilty and executed.
All of Erzsébet's property were awarded to the Count Thurzó with the
exception of Čachtice, which is given to her children.Driven by desperation after being walled in, Erzsébet Báthory commits suicide. She is then buried without a coffin in a humble grave, with no funeral ceremony. The film casts doubt on the sentence, suggesting that much of the happenings have been manipulated by Count Thurzó.
Русский
XVII век. После смерти мужа графиня Елизавета Батори становится владелицей большого родового поместья и солидного состояния. Будучи одной из самых влиятельных и могущественных женщин в Венгрии, она одновременно вызывает у окружающих восхищение, страх и ненависть. Однажды она влюбляется в соблазнительно молодого человека, который значительно моложе её. Однако, после непродолжительной интрижки, тот оставляет её. Уверенная в том, что всему виной более молодая и красивая соперница, Елизавета впадает в безумство и полагает, что кровь молодых девственниц способна вернуть ей молодость и красоту.