Valerie and Her Week of Wonders is a 1970 Czech surrealist film directed by Jaromil Jireš based on a 1935 novella by Vítězslav Nezval.
Thirteen year-old Jaroslava Schallerová stars as Valerie, with a supporting cast of Helena Anýžová, Karel Engel, Jan Klusák, Petr Kopriva, among others. It was filmed in the Czech town of Slavonice and surrounding areas.
The film portrays the heroine as living in a disorienting dream, cajoled by priests, vampires, men and women alike, and blends elements of fantasy and horror films.
New 4K digital restoration, with uncompressed monaural soundtrack on the Blu-ray
Three early shorts by director Jaromil Jireš: Uncle (1959), Footprints (1960), and The Hall of Lost Footsteps (1960)
New interview with Czechoslovak film scholar Peter Hames
Interviews from 2006 with actors Jaroslava Schallerová and Jan Klusák
Alternate 2007 psych-folk soundtrack to the film by the Valerie Project, with a new video piece on the music’s origins
New English subtitle translation
An essay by critic Jana Prikryl
Reviews:
“A sensuous, often suspenseful fable saturated with shades of Sigmund Freud, Lewis Carroll and the Marquis de Sade, the horror comes in the form of actual, traditional fanged vampires who can shape-shift and cause all kinds of deadly mischief. When Valerie is burnt at the stake as a witch — the story is just getting underway!” Horror.com
Buy: Amazon.co.uk
Original Czech title:
Valerie a týden divů
