Valerie and Her Week of Wonders

1974
7| 1h13m| en| More Info
Released: 10 March 1974 Released
Producted By: Filmové studio Barrandov
Country: Czechoslovakia
Budget: 0
Revenue: 0
Official Website:
Synopsis

Valerie, a Czechoslovakian teenager living with her grandmother, is blossoming into womanhood, but that transformation proves secondary to the effects she experiences when she puts on a pair of magic earrings. Now seeing the world around her in a different light, Valerie must endure her sexual awakening while attempting to discern reality from fantasy as she encounters lecherous priest Gracian, a vampire-like stranger and otherworldly carnival folk.

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Filmové studio Barrandov

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Trailers & Images

  • Top Credited Cast
  • |
  • Crew
Helena Anýžová as Grandmother / Elsa / Mother / Redhead
Nina Divíšková as Grandmother / Elsa / Mother / Redhead (voice) (uncredited)

Reviews

ThiefHott Too much of everything
Keira Brennan The movie is made so realistic it has a lot of that WoW feeling at the right moments and never tooo over the top. the suspense is done so well and the emotion is felt. Very well put together with the music and all.
Roy Hart If you're interested in the topic at hand, you should just watch it and judge yourself because the reviews have gone very biased by people that didn't even watch it and just hate (or love) the creator. I liked it, it was well written, narrated, and directed and it was about a topic that interests me.
Brennan Camacho Mostly, the movie is committed to the value of a good time.
hellraiser7 Growing up can be a funny thing because of how it can truly change our perceptions of things that we thought we knew, only as we've came to a certain age we discover new and hidden things that shakes our early perception completely.This is one of my favorite films of all time, I'll admit it's one of the most bizarre fantasy films I've ever seen which is all the more why I love it. It's one of those films that really challenge your perceptions that it may take more than one watch to uncover more, which is part of what makes the world in the film fascinating and adventurous because there are just so many things going on.The music score is just beautiful it's one of my favorite scores of all time, it's a very calming and mysterious melody which perfectly fits the film.I really like the locale and the effects they used which were all practical, this was done on a modest budget but it was just used well and right just further showing you can make more with little. I really love the world that the film has constructed it's a bit reminiscent of Downworld in the TV show "The Odyssey" because its a very strange land as it seems like one that has no clear sense of time as we see most things from medieval, Victorian, or even a bit of the 1920's as we see some drives in a buggie not a carriage; so you never know where this is taking place almost like something out of a dream. It's grounded in reality but at the same time it isn't, wonderful things happen but also bad things as well which makes the place and the movie itself unpredictable.The story as it a Brother Grimm or "Alice in Wonderland" like fantasy that tells of Valerie growing up and her misadventures in her hometown as just a lot of crazy crap is happening all around her, as we as some really really confusing family drama that really put the twists to soaps to shame.This film is really made more for the visuals and the visuals are just beautiful and fantastic there is just so much that is interesting and so much that might make you say "What the Frak?" From the beautiful images like seeing Valerie swimming in a giant sized fountain as the sun is shining making both the water and her radiant as well as her room which is sort of her private sanctuary. Down to just Valerie herself the actress that plays her is just great, it's a shame she didn't have more, she really has a presence as her physically looks just radiate beauty and innocence. Even in some of the disturbing images from some sort of crypt. A Nosferatu like vampire character whom is creepy, mysterious, and nasty. a group of guys flogging themselves, it's just things you have to see to believe.In a way at times the movie is almost a Christian film as there are some allegories and symbols in places. Most notable the fruit that we always see displayed and Valerie eats which is an apple. And of course in the Adam and Eve story it's considered the forbidden fruit, as it is a symbol of not just knowledge but also metaphoric on sexual awakening. And of course Valerie boyfriend (or brother) name is Eaglet basically Eagle, he's sort of a angel figure as he constantly helps Valerie even from a distance. The Norsferatu like figure is sort of a version of The Serpent as he is constantly tempting and deceiving anyone to everyone around him.The film gets at many themes like our common curiosity and fear of what happens in adulthood and sexuality, the desire for darkness and corruption, the age old conflict motif of old vs. young, and disillusionment.This film is an experience that will keep you wondering about Valerie's wonders and our own.Rating: 4 stars
MartinHafer "Valerie and Her Week of Wonders" is much like if you'd told Ingmar Bergman to make a film about sex and puberty right after he finished making "The Seventh Sign"! This Czech movie is that strange...and it's clearly not your typical sort of movie about sexual awakening. I see no evidence of Judy Blume in this film!This movie is one giant string of metaphors involving Valerie and her ascent into adulthood--from her first menstruation to sexual urges to feelings of guilt. It's all very strange and I notice some compare it to "Alice in Wonderland"...though I see it as much more "Seventh Seal" inspired--with Angel of Death-like (and vampire-like) characters, incest, the death of innocence, bisexuality, guilt and more. None of it is said--instead it's all explored through odd symbolism. Overall, it's a film that some will no doubt like but others will be frustrated with. After all, if you're looking for either a skin flick (there is a fair amount of skin but it isn't particularly enjoyable or explicit) or a movie to show your daughter in order to explain sex education, you clearly do NOT want to see the movie. It's really only for those who love artsy films and don't get offended (and hopefully NOT turned on) by seeing an underage actress in such a highly sexually charged film.The cinematography was nice. But as for me, just give me "The Seventh Sign".
Coventry There exists a short but unique list that I cherish; only containing titles that are both incomprehensibly weird and inexplicably fascinating! This particular list exclusively features rare but elite cult gems, such as "Sweet Movie", "In a Glass Cage", "Eraserhead", "I Walk Like a Crazy Horse", "El Topo", "Singapore Sling" and maybe a small handful of others. Only seldom a new addition is made to this list, but if there's one title that truly deserves an honorary ranking, it has got to be "Valerie and her Week of Wonders"! Long ago, when Czechoslovakia was still just one country, writer/director Jaromil Jires fabricated what can arguably be considered as the most surreal and lyrical 'coming of age' movie ever. The narrative feels like a fairy-tale (hence my similar writing style thus far) but the themes are mature, provocative, erotic and controversial. Yet, in spite of the exploitative nature of the subject matter, the film never descends towards the depiction of perversion or even gratuitous sleaze. "Valerie and her Week of Wonders" remains playfully surreal and suggestive from start to finish and the whole film is literally a spitfire of absorbing images, intriguing characters, dreamy music and hypnotizing sets & scenery. The pivot character Valerie is a beautiful and cherubic 13-year-old girl. The events of the film illustrate her first ventures into adolescence. Triggered by her first menstruation – although she believes it's because of a new and magical pair of earrings – Valerie encounters new people and looks differently at people she already knows. Like her grandmother, who's jealous of Valerie's youthful purity, a perpetrator with multiple personalities (including a vampire and a religious zealot) and a geeky boy with more or less the same age and who may or not be her sibling. Suddenly Valerie exclusively witnesses tableaux around her that spark her curiosity in sex even more, varying from arousing to downright macabre. The power of films like "Valerie and her Week of Wonders" lies within the fact that all the imagery and content can be interpreted in various ways, by different viewers, but also by one and the same viewer depending on his/her state of mind. I, for one, don't even daresay that I understood all the things I saw and got confused on more than one occasion. It also doesn't matter too much, as the movie remains visually striking and haunting regardless of interpretation. The male adult protagonist is most frightening, what with his bad dental hygiene and resemblance to Max Schreck's Nosferatu, and also the many folklore rituals generate a strangely uncanny atmosphere. A must for avid cult collectors and offbeat cinema.
Prof-Hieronymos-Grost Valerie is a thirteen year old girl, orphaned at a young age and now living with her grendmother. One morning she tells her grandmother that she is no longer a girl and that with the onset of her period she has now become a woman and thus begins Valerie's surreal adventures in life, love, religion and just a little bit of horror. As a group of travelling players arrive in town, one of their leaders seems familiar, he reveals himself to Valerie's grandmother as her former lover and Valerie's long dead father. The grandmother is staggered at the youthful complexion of the man (actually a vampire), he offers her, her youth back in return for her home and Valerie's soul, she agrees. Thus develops the flimsy plot in this Alice in Wonderland like fantasy of a girls sexual awakening. The film is sumptuously filmed, in dazzling dreamscapes of innocence and horror, little of it makes any sense but the film never the less sweeps up the viewer in a hypnotic stream of consciousness that is hard to escape. Valerie though does escape unscathed from all her escapades, including vampires, attempted rape by a priest and a burning at the stake, all thanks to her special talismanic earrings, left to her by her mother. Amidst all this the film also boasts a beautifully evocative and even at times very twee score, that is just perfect for the visuals. The ending is wonderful and pure fairytale. I want to watch it again, right away.