Valerie and Her Week of Wonders

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Valerie and Her Week of Wonders

1970

1h 25m

Drama

Fantasy

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Popcornmeter

81%

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21 Reviews

79%

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1,000+ Ratings

Valerie (Jaroslava Schallerová), 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 (Jan Klusák), a vampire-like stranger and otherworldly carnival folk.

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Derek Malcolm

Guardian

Some may find it weird and wonderful. I just found it weird. But a sight for sore eyes just the same, if you can keep them open.

Oct 7, 2020

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Mike D'Angelo

AV Club

What matters most is whether one finds Valerie's seemingly random episodes of lyrical grotesquerie mesmerizing or enervating.

Rated: C-

Oct 7, 2020

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Patrick Gibbs

Daily Telegraph (UK)

Style, I can safely say, perfectly suits this view of the subject.

Oct 7, 2020

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Eddie Harrison

film-authority.com

…one of the most unusual horror/fantasy films ever…a visually stunning folk tale…

Rated: 5/5

Jul 10, 2024

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Soham Gadre

Vague Visages

As much as I love a good story, the best movies always transport me, in an intangible sense, through the base elements.

Jan 9, 2024

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Christopher Hudson

The Spectator

Valerie and her Week of Wonders, a Czech film about an adolescent girl and her fantasies about vampirism, is so fey and kitsch as hardly to be retained upon the retina, let alone survive in the memory.

Oct 7, 2020

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Alec B

Like all the best dream movies it has an intricate internal logic to the narrative. You may not always know what is happening but the filmmakers certainly do.

Rated 4.5 out of 5 stars

10/24/24

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Adam P

I saw this film when I was an impressionable 17-year-old yoot at the Academy Cinema in London's Oxford Street (long since gone). It was a bewildering and enchanting fantasy then, and I've just watched it again after an intervening 53 years, and it is just as beautiful, confusing and magical now, as I remembered it being. You need to actively engage and be prepared to leave comprehension behind, but truth can sometimes transcend understanding, and if you suspend preconceptions, you will discover a sprinkling of true cinematic magic.

Rated 5 out of 5 stars

09/21/24

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Audience Member

There's some incredibly beautiful imagery on display here but the narrative is dream-like to the point of confusion. All sorts of psychosexual metaphors going on but it doesn't coalesce into a great whole. Best viewed as a kind of surrealist fantasy without trying to read too much into it I think.

Rated 3 out of 5 stars

02/16/23

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Audience Member

24.05.2021 ---------

Rated 2.5 out of 5 stars

02/08/23

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Lanngeax .

Valerie and Her Week of Wonders can be confusing, but it's a complete pleasure to eyes and ears, with its delightful score and its cinematography that mixes bright colours perfectly. The result is a perfect dreamlike blend of fantasy and horror. And the word "dreamlike" is an accurate word to describe this masterpiece. Director Jaromil Jires demonstrates his talent with this film and now I see why he's considered as one of the directors that changed Czech films.

Rated 4 out of 5 stars

03/29/21

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david h

If you can imagine Nosferatu invading a Pre-Raphaelite painting, you may connect to this imagery laden dark fairy tale. The characters meander around in a flowing, yet condensed arena that pulled me in and had me the whole way.

Rated 4.5 out of 5 stars

03/31/23

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Jaromil Jires

Director

Jaroslava Schallerová

Valerie

Petr Kopriva

Orlík

Jirí Prýmek

Tchor-konstábl

Jan Klusák

Gracián

Helena Anyzova

Babicka

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Synopsis

Valerie (Jaroslava Schallerová), 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 (Jan Klusák), a vampire-like stranger and otherworldly carnival folk.

Director: Jaromil Jires
Screenwriter: Ester Krumbachová, Jaromil Jires
Production Co: Filmové studio Barrandov
Genre: Drama, Fantasy
Original Language: Czech
Release Date (Streaming): Jun 2, 2015
Runtime: 1h 25m

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