valerie and her week of wonders
Valerie and Her Week of Wonders. Jaromil Jireš, Czechoslovakia, 1970.
A screen adaptation of Vítězslav Nezval’s short novel of the same name, Valerie and Her Week of Wonders is a buried treasure of Czech surrealist/erotic/horror cinema.
A baroque, surrealist folk tale of a teenage girl’s dreams and hallucinations as she experiences her first menstruation, the film includes repeat encounters with witchcraft, vampires, the living dead, perverted monks, and doppelganger distant cousins. Each encounter punctuates her journey into womanhood as the truth about her family’s dubious past unfolds before her weeping eyes.
Performing along with the film is The Valerie Project—a ten-plus-member collective so inspired by the film they created an entirely new soundtrack.
Viewable in its entirety (for now), with the original soundtrack, on youtube. Parts: 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9
