Valerie and Her Week of Wonders - full movie

Valerie and Her Week of Wonders (original Czech title: Valerie a týden divů) is an artistic, taboo-breaking and visually stunning vampire fairy tale, co-written and directed by the quirky Czechoslovakian filmmaker Jaromil Jireš. First released in 1970, the film was part of the so-called Czechoslovak New Wave (which started in the early sixties).

Based on the 1935 novel of the same name by the surrealist Czechoslovakian writer Vítězslav Nezval, and merging gothic horror with folk horror, Valerie and Her Week of Wonders bursts with surrealist symbolism referring to the conflicting emotions of the young maiden Valerie (played by the then 13-year-old Czech starlet Jaroslava Schallerová), who gets her first monthly period (watch her menstrual blood drip on a daisy) and who experiences a (probably imagined) coming-of-age drama, continuously thrown back and forth between her curiosity and diffidence, obedience and rebellion, romance and embarrassment, erotic desires and religious guilt, hope and fear.

The convoluted and somewhat inconsistent plot revolves around Valerie's complex relationships with the other main characters: Valerie's strict and secretive grandmother (played by Helena Anýzová), the sympathetic youngster Orlík (Petr Kopriva), a mysterious vampire called the Constable (played by Jirí Prýmek), the two-faced priest Gracián (Jan Klusák) and the sad village girl Hedvika (Alena Stojáková), who is forced into an arranged mariage with a middle aged man.

But forget the plot and just enjoy the enchanting images, the lyrical soundtrack and the timeless, fairy-tale atmosphere that vibrates between dream and nightmare. Literally a dreamy film, Valerie and Her Week of Wonders should essentially be understood as a feverish dream of the young and impressionable title character. 

If you are a true cinephile, then you'll certainly appreciate this rather obscure gem in the history of cinema.

Genre: fantasy / horror / drama / erotica

The original Czechoslovakian film poster from 1970.