Valerie and Her Week of Wonders a.k.a. Valerie a týden divu
(1970) 73 Min.
Rated: NR (Nudity and sex)
Country: Czech Republic
Director: Jaromil Jires
Stars: Jaroslava Schallerová, Helena Anýzová, Petr Kopriva
Links: IMDB | Wikipedia
Rating: ★★★★☆
One girl’s fantastical dreamlike week as she enters puberty.
Synopsis:
Valerie is having her first menstruation. She’s blossoming into womanhood. She is fond of a pair of pearl earrings which she has come to own from her mother.
A young man named Orlík (which means Eaglet) is in love with her and helps her on her journey. Valerie is fond of him as well, though they might be siblings, which deters her.
Her grandmother is strict and has raised Valerie telling her that her mother was sent to a convent and got pregnant from a bishop and that is how she came to be. She also tells Valerie that both her parents are dead.
Meanwhile a man known as Tchoř (Meaning Polecat) is both a priest and a vampire presence. He is able to make Valerie’s grandmother young again through a contract leaving the house to Polecat.
Grandmother becomes young again and keeps Valerie locked up and tries to seduce Eaglet, which he rebuffs.
Valerie is almost molested by a priest who comes to stay at her home, but her earrings save her.
Polecat is almost dying at one point and Grandmother denies him chicken blood. Valerie, meanwhile, gives him chicken blood from her mouth and he seems reborn.
Valerie, seeing how vicious he is, slips an earring in Polecat’s drink and he dies and becomes a real polecat.
The priest who tried to molest Valerie hangs himself, but later returns to life. He accuses Valerie of being a witch and burns her at a stake, but she swallows an earring and survives.
Without Polecat, Grandmother returns to her old elderly self. She is dying in bed. Valerie visits her, but alas it’s too late.
She hears coaches outside and it seems that her real parents arrive! They’re not at all dead. Her mother remarks on how she wishes her mother could forgive her and at this moment Grandmother comes out and tells her daughter she forgives her.
All seems well. Eaglet seems to be just an actor on the street who plays a lute for money. Valerie goes off with her parents into a nice meadow full of people enjoying themselves. The crowd then circles around a bed in the field which is Valerie’s. She climbs inside and they disappear as the film ends.
Review:
There is a bit of a narrative here, but it’s filmed in such a fantastical and visually rich way that it would take multiple viewings to glean what exactly is going on.
It’s obviously a coming of age tale. A sexual awakening, a fairytale and some of it is gothic horror. It’s slightly surreal and very much dream-like. There’s no way to know what’s really real in a world where dead people come back to life.
Despite that, it is a wonderful film full of imagination, charm and escapism. Valerie deals with each of her issues in a clever way. She seems to solve most problems with love and good intentions.
