Watch Valerie and Her Week of Wonders For Free

Waste of time

That was an excellent one.

Boring

Beautiful, moving film.

This extremely beautiful film was a latter day entry from the Czechoslovakian new wave. This cycle of highly personal films came out of the country during a period of change and turmoil, a fertile time for artists which was essentially curtailed after a clamp-down by the communist authorities. Interestingly Valerie and Her Week of Wonders was actually made and released in the early years of this regime. Quite surprising given the very artistic content, although having said that it is worth remembering that the legendarily creepy children's fantasy film The Singing Ringing Tree (1957) was produced in East Germany under another highly oppressive communist regime; so perhaps the communists had a blind spot when it came to bizarre cinematic fairy-tales. Whatever the case, both those productions benefited hugely from their central European ambiance. Valerie is a pretty singular bit of work though, and doesn't seem to borrow very much from anything else nor is there too much after it that is all that similar. The nearest equivalent from the Czechoslovakian new wave being the Gothic horror-melodrama Morgiana (1972) which also shares a dark fairy-tale aesthetic and highly stylized surrealist approach to its period-set material.The first thing you will notice straight from the get-go with this one is that it is a very visually beautiful film indeed. The photography and editing are exquisite, with many images that stay locked in the memory. Scenes of night-time menace combine with days of pastoral sunshine to create a world of…well…wonder, quite frankly. The story is quite elusive and not always clear but given that it compromises of dreams and the like this is quite understandable. Set some undisclosed time in the past, it focuses on a teenage girl called Valerie who lives with her grandmother. The story begins with her experiencing her first menstruation – beautifully indicated by a drop of blood falling on a daisy as she walks on by. Her subsequent sexual awakening coincides with the arrival of a carnival and from here many strange fantastical things occur including magic earrings, vampires, a predatory priest and a boy who sends her magical letters.Jaroslava Schallerová in the role of Valerie is a revelation. This young performer is thoroughly engaging as the innocent girl at the heart of events. It's definitely a pretty adult story for such a young performer to appear in, given the sexual nature and some of the disturbing scenes. But it is executed in a way that is true to the material without ever going too far. The story is essentially about her coming-of-age, told in the style of a dreamlike fantasy. The way things are told feels very true to its central European roots and events retain a very enigmatic feel, far removed from the narrative certainty the material would no doubt have had it been made in Hollywood. It's one of those films that it is really best just to dive into and not to worry so much about the reasons why and to simply embrace the feel of the thing. There are some aspects that seem to be making a more clear point, such as the criticism of organised religion, what with the character of the predatory priest and the witch-burning scene. But on the whole, this is more of a phantasmagorical, highly sensory experience. It is also quite unusual in its combination of fantasy with horror, of the latter there is the unforgettable character of Weasel who is a Nosferatu-like figure who navigates events with supreme malevolence…sometimes while carrying a small pampered dog. Such unpredictability is par for the course here. It isn't a surrealist film per se but it certainly contains surreal elements punctuated throughout its run-time. Lubos Fiser and Jan Klusák add a considerable amount also with the haunting, organic score which complements the visuals really quite perfectly.Valerie and Her Week of Wonders is a heady concoction of true creativity. It makes you realise what cinematic invention truly is. It's one of those films which genuinely can be described as a one off master-work.

Years before seeing my first Czech movie I had heard of Valerie as a famous Horror title,which led to me picking up the DVD,but for some reason never getting round to watching it! Deciding to spend April watching one Czech film a day,I decided it was time experience a week of wonder.The plot:Waking up,Valerie finds that her earrings have been stolen.Searching around town for the thief,Valerie runs into a strange looking man with a mask.The next day Valerie discovers that the robber has returned her earrings.Due to the earrings belonging to her mum,Valerie (who is having her first period) decides to ask her grandmother Elsa about the earrings and her parents (who left her with Elsa years ago.)Learning some mysterious family history,and getting told that a group of actors are going to visit the town,Valerie gets ready for a week of wonder.View on the film:Complementing the movie with interesting extras,Second Run give the film a transfer whose audio and picture quality shines like crystals.Making her debut after beating 1,500 other actresses in the auditions, Jaroslava Schallerová gives a spellbinding performance as Valerie,with Schallerová wrapping Valerie in a delicate innocence which crumbles as she explores her womanhood.Showing a masterful touch well beyond her years, Schallerová expresses Valerie's sensuality in an expertly subtle manner,by making Valerie's naïve girlhood belief transform into something much more mature.Taking on multiple roles,the stylish Helena Anýzová gives incredibly distinctive performances as Babicka ,Elsa , Matka and Rusovláska!,each of whom are given unique qualities by Anýzová,which are carefully threaded round the entwining tale.Backed by a mythical score from Lubos Fiser,co-writer/(along with Ester Krumbachová and Jirí Musil) director Jaromil Jires & cinematographer Jan Curík spend the week soaking the screen in wondrous images.Covering pure white flowers in the blood of Valerie,Jires conjures Valerie's world with a hauntingly magical atmosphere,where the lavish,ultra-stylised vibrant colours of Valerie's childhood are overcast by rugged vampires, betraying weasels and decaying nightmares.Whilst not making an overtly political spell over their adaptation of Vítezslav Nezval,the screenplay by Jires/Krumbachová & Musil does rub an abrasive shoulder against the Soviet Union's idea of unity,due to Valerie battling to explore her most individualistic features.Weaving their fairy tale with transformations and sharp- toothed vampires,the writers weave Valerie's horrors with a fascinating psychological nightmare,thanks to the writers displaying an expert eye for each scene to be seen in two ways,from the eerie Gothic Horror shine being a canvas for a Freudian exploration in Valerie's loss of pure white flowers into being surrounded by the long,engulfing shadows of adulthood,as Valerie starts a new week of wonder.

A potent mix of straight sex, lesbianism, incest, pedophilia, vampirism, paganism, wiccan practices and other assorted deviancy. A lot of symbolism is used, so that reality merges with fantasy and the material world merges with the virtual. As the film progresses, it is never very clear as to who the villain is, and who is the virgin. However, one premise is obvious: almost everyone lusts after the female protagonist, and although she appears angelic, she is also no stranger to the wiles of men, including lustful priests, vampires and even her own father or brother. Watchable, at least once, for the waif-like beauty, Valerie, and her forays into a mystical, magical and surreal world, where corpses converse with the living, and brothers lust for their sisters.

Beautiful, disturbing, erotic, dreamlike... These are a few words that can sum up Jaromil Jires' deliriously bizarre fairy tale "Valerie and her Week of Wonders". Just like Richard Blackburn's sinister "Lemora, a Child's Tale of the Supernatural", "Valerie" is a 'coming of age' tale told through a monstrous metaphor: vampires, who prey on the young to drain their innocence. Despite similarities theme-wise, these two films are quite different, and "Valerie" is clearly superior - a film that will definitely haunt you for life, with images so shocking today as they were back in 70's when it was released. It is 'horror' of rare ethereal beauty and poetry, and definitely one of it's kind - perfectly capturing the fear, the curiosity and the pleasure of a little girl's sexual awakening. Jaroslava Schallerová is spellbinding as the title character - a combination of Lewis Caroll's Alice and Vladimir Nabokov's Lolita, and manages to convey both the purity and the sensuality that the role requires. Kudos for her doing such 'depraved' scenes involving incest and lesbianism, that are surely unthinkable today. Helena Anýzová also gives a harrowing performance in the role of the grandmother, and her gradual transition from repressed Catholic old lady to a seductive, sex-crazed vampire is exquisite. Last but not least, Jires' excellent direction and Jan Curik's lush cinematography that highlights the film's "fever dream" tone help create this brilliant work of art that captures the essence of the ethereal and lyricism on celluloid unlike any other.