Valerie and Her Week of Wonders

Valerie and Her Week of Wonders

1970

Director- Jaromil Jireš

Cast- Jaroslava Schallerová, Helena Anýzová, Petr Kopriva, Jirí Prýmek, Jan Klusák, Libuse Komancová, Karel Engel, Alena Stojáková, Otto Hradecký

From Czechoslovakia

            

This film isn’t really about the Devil or witchcraft. Given that its surrealist, it isn’t really about anything, I guess, but fans of the genre will find lots of interesting imagery and themes. About twenty minutes into the movie, the protagonist, Valerie, tells us this is all a dream, and its best just to take her at her word.

            Valerie (Jaroslava Schallerová) lives with her very young looking grandmother. A troupe of actors as well as missionaries are coming into town. The town’s maidens have to attend a lecture about virtue by a black skinned, white fanged clergy that looks like a Drow from Dungeons and Dragons and seems way too interested in protecting the girls’ virtues. Valerie seems to be in love with a boy who also seems to be her brother that she keeps finding tied up. Meanwhile her grandmother is striking a bargain with a Mephistophelian figure for the gift of eternal youth. One of the town priests tries to put the moves on young Valerie, is rebuffed, and hangs himself. Then a woman who is Valerie’s grandmother and also cousin and who seems to be a vampire tries to capture Valerie and take her power. The rebuffed priest returns to life, accuses Valerie of witchcraft and has her burned at the stake. Valerie uses a pair of magic ear rings to escape.

            I think that’s a pretty good summary of the plot but the plot is irrelevant. This film is presented as a dream and feels like it. Scenes transition from one setting to another without much explanation. Likewise, there are no hard and fast rules governing the various characters’ supernatural attributes. In a dream things make sense within the dream but if you try to retell it when you are awake, it all seems bizarre. Where this movie succeeds is that it possesses the dreamlike juxtaposition of different imagery and plots, but it’s seems natural, as if in a dream. It’s not jarring or unnerving.

            I hesitate to assign meaning to anything in a surrealist film, but I think it’s safe to say that the story revolves around a young girl’s emerging awareness of sex. There is some nudity but not as much as you would see in a Jean Rollin film of the same era, I think, and certainly not as much as a 70s Franco film. Sometimes the sexuality seems innocent and sometimes menacing as various characters try to have their way with Valerie. Ironically, I think a modern audience will have a much harder time with the film than probably a contemporary one did. Jaroslava Schallerováhas has some nude scenes and was only 13 when the film was shot. One has to remember this was 1970 and social mores were very different (look at the career of Brooke Shields as a great example). Regardless, there is nothing here even approaching pornographic.

            If you are into surrealist stories, there is a lot to recommend in this film. It’s well put together, has a strong performance by its leading actress, and since there is no longer a Czechoslovakia on the map, it’s a piece of art from a forgotten era.