Red-Barracuda This extremely beautiful film was a latter day entry from the Czechoslovakian new wave. This cycle of highly personal films came out of the country during a period of change and turmoil, a fertile time for artists which was essentially curtailed after a clamp-down by the communist authorities. Interestingly Valerie and Her Week of Wonders was actually made and released in the early years of this regime. Quite surprising given the very artistic content, although having said that it is worth remembering that the legendarily creepy children's fantasy film The Singing Ringing Tree (1957) was produced in East Germany under another highly oppressive communist regime; so perhaps the communists had a blind spot when it came to bizarre cinematic fairy-tales. Whatever the case, both those productions benefited hugely from their central European ambiance. Valerie is a pretty singular bit of work though, and doesn't seem to borrow very much from anything else nor is there too much after it that is all that similar. The nearest equivalent from the Czechoslovakian new wave being the Gothic horror-melodrama Morgiana (1972) which also shares a dark fairy-tale aesthetic and highly stylized surrealist approach to its period-set material.The first thing you will notice straight from the get-go with this one is that it is a very visually beautiful film indeed. The photography and editing are exquisite, with many images that stay locked in the memory. Scenes of night-time menace combine with days of pastoral sunshine to create a world of…well…wonder, quite frankly. The story is quite elusive and not always clear but given that it compromises of dreams and the like this is quite understandable. Set some undisclosed time in the past, it focuses on a teenage girl called Valerie who lives with her grandmother. The story begins with her experiencing her first menstruation – beautifully indicated by a drop of blood falling on a daisy as she walks on by. Her subsequent sexual awakening coincides with the arrival of a carnival and from here many strange fantastical things occur including magic earrings, vampires, a predatory priest and a boy who sends her magical letters.Jaroslava Schallerová in the role of Valerie is a revelation. This young performer is thoroughly engaging as the innocent girl at the heart of events. It's definitely a pretty adult story for such a young performer to appear in, given the sexual nature and some of the disturbing scenes. But it is executed in a way that is true to the material without ever going too far. The story is essentially about her coming-of-age, told in the style of a dreamlike fantasy. The way things are told feels very true to its central European roots and events retain a very enigmatic feel, far removed from the narrative certainty the material would no doubt have had it been made in Hollywood. It's one of those films that it is really best just to dive into and not to worry so much about the reasons why and to simply embrace the feel of the thing. There are some aspects that seem to be making a more clear point, such as the criticism of organised religion, what with the character of the predatory priest and the witch-burning scene. But on the whole, this is more of a phantasmagorical, highly sensory experience. It is also quite unusual in its combination of fantasy with horror, of the latter there is the unforgettable character of Weasel who is a Nosferatu-like figure who navigates events with supreme malevolence…sometimes while carrying a small pampered dog. Such unpredictability is par for the course here. It isn't a surrealist film per se but it certainly contains surreal elements punctuated throughout its run-time. Lubos Fiser and Jan Klusák add a considerable amount also with the haunting, organic score which complements the visuals really quite perfectly.Valerie and Her Week of Wonders is a heady concoction of true creativity. It makes you realise what cinematic invention truly is. It's one of those films which genuinely can be described as a one off master-work.

Johan Louwet I was thinking this movie was going to be a lot like "The Company of Wolves", a movie I love. It turned out pretty differently.The Company of Wolves. Despite having symbolism and much of it being a dream/fantasy of a adolescent girl it also had a storyline and an incredible fairy tale setting.Valerie and her Week of Wonders. From the moment I saw pretty main character Valerie I knew I was in for a visual treat. The only thing in a narrative way that I'm really sure of is that she got her periods for the first time. The rest of the movie looks much like a dream. Fairy tale esque village and woods, fountains, pretty girls in white dresses, vampires, high level of sensuality, kissing, touching (not shying away from things that looked incestuous and lesbianism) even a bit of nudity.The story it didn't make much sense, I think it was after all a dream (and how often does a dream make sense?) and the viewer is free to give its own interpretation to it. Even though I usually like a pretty clear storyline I did like this movie. For some reason whatever Valerie did, experienced or observed it was never boring. I'm sure on a re-watch I'll gain even more from it.

pcsarkar A potent mix of straight sex, lesbianism, incest, pedophilia, vampirism, paganism, wiccan practices and other assorted deviancy. A lot of symbolism is used, so that reality merges with fantasy and the material world merges with the virtual. As the film progresses, it is never very clear as to who the villain is, and who is the virgin. However, one premise is obvious: almost everyone lusts after the female protagonist, and although she appears angelic, she is also no stranger to the wiles of men, including lustful priests, vampires and even her own father or brother. Watchable, at least once, for the waif-like beauty, Valerie, and her forays into a mystical, magical and surreal world, where corpses converse with the living, and brothers lust for their sisters.

jonathan-577 This came to me yclept "The Valerie Project" as a buncha Yank musicians turned down the soundtrack and cranked up their own (it's got subtitles, so why not?) This made it an Event, and a highly enjoyable event it was. But what counted was the movie itself, which ain't no tractor movie although it was made under the watchful eyes of Soviet occupation in late sixties Czechoslovakia. What it is is a surrealist pedophile vampire movie, with that inimitably Czech edge of absurd creepiness. The rhythms are all angular, the camera placements gratuitously audacious, and the acting is as bizarrely theatrical as the makeup, with a bad-toothed road company Max Schreck scooting around town and helping Valerie's unconvincingly aged grandmother rediscover her lost and horny youth. The imagery is so compellingly sensual that you don't really get too worried about the fetishization of the 13-year-old protagonist - it's more Alice in Wonderland than Stealing Beauty, and anyway everything else is so utterly upside-down, you don't have time to think about it. It's totally nuts, and a great time was had by all. Before the screening a Czech diplomat came out to assure everyone that "Not all people from our country are vampires"!