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Title: Valerie and Her Week of Wonders (Valerie a t (2004)
Format: DVD
Score:
Starring: Jaroslava Schallerová, Helena Anýzová, Petr Kopriva, Jirí Prymek, and Jan Klusák
Director: Jaromil Jires
Rating: NR (Not Rated)
Runtime: 73 minutes
Hits: 119
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Review of Valerie and Her Week of Wonders (Valerie a t

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Comments for Valerie and Her Week of Wonders (Valerie a t

• Posted on 2009-11-09
  quality of subtitles and format
  
  The movie was brilliant, although it left me wishful. I wish that it was in wide screen and that the subtitles were properly synchronized. If anybody can tell me if it was possible to get wide screen copy, PLEASE, with a hard on, let me know!
  
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• Posted on 2009-06-22
  Strangely beautiful, strangely repelling...
  
  The title of my review sums up my feelings for this movie. I checked it out from my local library on a day when I was feeling up to a strange foreign film. I have to admit that if I hadn't been in the mood to watch it I would not have liked it at all. A warning to anyone who wants to see this film- if you do not like strange arthouse flicks or if you are not ready to think during an entire film, you will not like this film. You will also not like it if you are at all squeamish about taboo subjects, especially those in the sexual vein.
  
  The film surrounds a young girl named Valerie who prior to her first menstruation has had a seemingly normal life. After that first ruby red drop of blood lands on a meadow flower though... strange things begin to happen. The world of sexuality opens up to the young girl as does a world of supernatural happenings.
  
  This film was one that stuck in my memory for quite a while afterwards. I have to admit that I was a bit squeamish at times due to some of the subject matter such as pedophilia (Valerie is a mere 13 years), incest (her grandmother, father & supposed brother all have an interest in her) & rape. Yet at the same time those elements are an integral part in the story. The real meat of the film lies in Valerie discovering sex and her sexuality for the first time in her life. Things that were previously benign now take on different contexts. The cinematography is also worth mentioning- the film is incredibly beautiful visually with all sorts of wonderful imagery. Some of the imagery is lovely yet some of it is also grotesque looking, giving the suggestion that not all life is beautiful- some parts of it can get very ugly. I could go on about all of the allegories & subtexts in the film, but this is a review- not an essay paper!
  
  Again, if you aren't a fan of the strange "make you think" arthouse flicks, you are better off staying away from this one. If you don't mind the strange films or if you are simply a fan of films where the cinematography takes your breath away, you want to watch this film.
  
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• Posted on 2009-03-24
  This film is totally overrated
  
  There are some very pretty scenes in this film, like the scene where Valerie, dressed in white, puts her hands together and stares into the camera. These pseudo-mystical scenes are mesmerizing no doubt, but the majority of the film is a true waste of time. There is also a disturbing element in the fact that the little actress is actually nude in the film from time to time; I'm beginning to wonder if this is why there is a cult following of the film on YouTube. This really creeps me out.
  
  I also did not like all the abuse and killing of animals in this film. Chickens, mostly, and then the poor weasel getting shot by a shotgun. Just really gross. I expect more from an art film than this sort of garbage.
  
  If you want to see a really excellent film that's about young girl's coming of age, combined with Gothic horror and surrealism, then I heartily recommend Neil Jordan's The Company of Wolves, which is based on the stories of Angela Carter. That film is also a dream within a dream, but it actually has a story and a point behind it.
  
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• Posted on 2009-03-10
  What everyone needs is a good WITCHING!!!!!
  
  Well after watching V.A.H.W.O.W. I came out scratching my head???
  This is a very well made film and has some fine directing but BABY
  throw plot right out the window! We follow the very young but not
  naive Valerie in her dream like world through out the film and we the viewer see incest,infacticide and witchcraft. I really cannot explain
  this film but say if you love Terry Gilliam and David Lynch than this is
  for you. There is some horrific moments in this film like the priest with the NOSFERATU like teeth but this is more Alice in Wonderland than Allison
  in Nightmareland. I may need to see this again but will be awhile for I have some catching up to do with some very dear friends.
  
  
  
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• Posted on 2008-10-24
  Shifting dreamscape
  
  When I read Nezval's 1930s novel, I was sure it would work well in a visual medium. The book didn't so much narrate a story as align images against each other, creating a series of vivid visual impressions. This movie captures that sense beautifully.
  
  Like the book, this movie offers little in the way of linear story line. Instead, sequences of event show the effect that Valerie's emerging womanhood has on those around her, including men tempted by her young beauty and older women jealous of it. Wantons around her foretell the love life that she'll have some day, and other young beauties reflect her temptation back at her. But, under it all, vampiric beings and shapeshifters carry out rituals with inscrutable purpose.
  
  Part of this movie's quirky charm comes from its low-budget effects, part comes from the fresh-faced Valerie. Another part comes from analogies to a very strange Alice in Wonderland, in which the girl seems more of a spectator to a world with an inner logic that escapes her. If you're willing to trade plot for mystery and magic in a movie, give this one a shot.
  
  -- wiredweird
  
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