Rent Valerie and Her Week of Wonders (1970)
3.5 of 5 from 128 ratings
1h 13min
- General info
- Available formats
- Synopsis:
- With its stunning visuals and transcendent score, 'Valerie and Her Week of Wonders' is a potent mix of fairy tale, horror and surrealism, drawing the audience into the fantastical world inhabited by a young girl on the threshold of adulthood. Caught between waking and dreaming, Valerie's enchanted realm is inhabited by vampires and phantasmagorical creatures evoked in a marvellous kaleidoscope of intoxicating imagery. Haunting and poetic, the film casts a powerful spell. Recognised as one of the most enduring and influential fantasies ever made, it has become a cult classic.
- Actors:
- Jaroslava Schallerová, Helena Anýzová, Petr Kopriva, Jirí Prýmek, Jan Klusák, Libuse Komancová, Karel Engel, Alena Stojáková, Otto Hradecký, Martin Wielgus, Jirina Machalická, Michaela Klocová, Zdenka Kovárová, Bedriska Chalupská, Robert Nezval, Josef Abrhám, Jana Andresíková, Alice Auspergerová, Karel Belohradský, Nina Divísková
- Directors:
- Jaromil Jires
- Producers:
- Jirí Becka
- Voiced By:
- Josef Abrhám, Nina Divísková, Miroslava Hozová, Viola Zinková
- Writers:
- Vítezslav Nezval, Jaromil Jires, Ester Krumbachová, Jirí Musil
- Aka:
- Valerie a týden divu (
- Studio:
- SECOND RUN DVD
- Genres:
- Classics, Sci-Fi & Fantasy
- Collections:
- A Brief History of Lesbian Cinema, A Brief History of Film..., Top 10 Czech Films, Top Films
- Countries:
- Czechoslovakia
- BBFC:
- Release Date:
- 27/01/2020
- Run Time:
- 77 minutes
- Languages:
- Czech LPCM Stereo
- Subtitles:
- English
- Formats:
- Pal
- Aspect Ratio:
- Full Screen 1.37:1
- Colour:
- Colour
- BLU-RAY Regions:
- (0) All
- Bonus:
- Three short films by Jaromil Jireš: Uncle (1959, 6 mins), Footprints (full version) (1960, 21 mins), The Hall of Lost Footsteps (1960, 12 mins)
- A newly-recorded Projection Booth audio commentary with Mike White, Samm Deighan and Kat Ellinger
- Audio commentary with Peter Hames and Daniel Bird
- A filmed introduction by Michael Brooke
- A filmed interview with Jaroslava Schallerova (Valerie)
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Reviews (2) of Valerie and Her Week of Wonders
Wonders, Sure. But Whose? - Valerie and Her Week of Wonders review by griggs
There's a point watching this where you realise the dreamlike quality isn't quite covering for the film underneath — it is the film. Jaromil Jireš frames Valerie's puberty as waking nightmare: part fairy tale, part horror, soaked in dread and meadow light. The images Jan Curík shoots are often beautiful. The trouble is they keep being beautiful at a 13-year-old girl in ways that sit badly.
I wanted to give it more credit. Ester Krumbachová co-wrote it, which matters — though it doesn't quite let the film off the hook the way some people argue it does. The male gaze isn't challenged here so much as lit beautifully and left running. Wonders, sure. But whose?
Worth a look if Czech New Wave surrealism is your thing — but for me the discomfort was more ethical than artistic.
1 out of 1 members found this review helpful.
Beautiful, disturbing, uncomfortable and charming. - Valerie and Her Week of Wonders review by NP
This Czechoslovak film is described as ‘surrealist, fantasy horror’ by Wikipedia. Directed by Jaromil Jireš, it uses the coming of age of young Valerie (Jaroslava Schallerová) to display the adult world as being full of vampires, lechers and monsters.
An acquired taste certainly, but beautiful and charming as well as uncomfortable and disturbing, this is a memorable adult fairy tale whose connotations are often left in the mind of the audience. My score is 9 out of 10.
0 out of 0 members found this review helpful.