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Product Description
The definitive, remastered edition. With elements of horror, fairy-tale, folklore, surrealism and Freidian symbolism, Valerie and Her Week of Wonders is a surreal tale in which love, fear, sex and religion mingle into one fantastic world in the mind of an adolescent girl. This is a new digital transfer with restored picture and sound. Also included is an interview with Valerie star Jaroslava Schallerova, a booklet containing an essay on the film by Peter Hames and a new introduction/interview by film historian Michael Brooke. ''Valerie crystallizes a sense of the mystical, the ethereal and captures it to celluloid'' Diabolik DVD.
Product Description
United Kingdom released, PAL/Region 2 DVD: LANGUAGES: Czech ( Dolby Digital 2.0 ), English ( Subtitles ), SPECIAL FEATURES: Booklet, Cast/Crew Interview(s), Commentary, Interactive Menu, Remastered, Scene Access, SYNOPSIS: Valerie [Jaroslava Schallerová] has just come of age with her first bleeding. Babischka [Helena Anyzová] says that it's time to put away her magic earrings and attend to the missionaries who are coming to town. Valerie, however, is more interested in the performers who have arrived for Hedvica's wedding. As the celebrators pass below her dining room window, Valerie sees a 'monster,' a masked man whose face changes from human to a nosferatu-like vampire. Even Babischka pales when she sets eyes on him.Now Valerie begins to see the vampire everywhere. He is the Bishop, he is the Constable, he is her boyfriend Orlik's guardian, he is the Weasel, he is Babischka's lover Richard. Babischka wishes to be young again so that Richard will find her beautiful, so she signs away her house (Valerie's inheritance) in return for a drink of Hedvica's blood on her wedding night. Babischka then shows up as Valerie's second cousin Elsa, young, beautiful, and vampire. When Valerie learns that the Vampire is dying and must have blood, she steals a chicken and feeds him the blood off her lips.A visiting priest, another of Babischka's lovers, tells Valerie that her father was also Orlik's father, which greatly disturbs Valerie to find that she and Orlik are brother and sister, but she is more disturbed when the priest attempts to seduce her, so upset in fact that she kills herself with her magic earrings. The priest then kills himself but comes back to life. The priest convinces the town that Valerie bewitched him, so the townsfolk tie Valerie to a stake and set her on fire, but her magic earrings save her.Suddenly, Babischka is back. S...Valerie and Her Week of Wonders ( Valerie a týden divu ) ( Valerie a týden divo )
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
35 of 35 people found the following review helpful
Format:DVD
This gorgeous masterpiece from Czechoslovakia - a haunting, dream-like fable of a girls awakening to womanhood - is one of the most striking, beautiful and disturbing films i've ever seen. It's a film i've often heard about and seen referenced, but never saw - it's a shame because this movie is amazing. Like a nightmareish Grimm's fairytale with added naughtiness.
And Lubis Fiscer's perfect music is some of the most beautiful ever committed to film.
And Lubis Fiscer's perfect music is some of the most beautiful ever committed to film.
28 of 29 people found the following review helpful
Format:DVD
It is very confusing, even annoying, when Amazon 'bundle' reviews.
These reviews may be for the same film, but often they are for different DVD productions from different countries. These DVD productions can vary greatly depending on the quality of the source material.
So, firstly, let me state that my comments relate to the Second Run version in the UK.
I have two points.
1] The print source is pristine and looks absolutely magnificent, so if you read anything to the contrary, it's from a different DVD label.
2] The film is not cut, it is entire and complete. It's amazing that confusion, or should I say a lack of insight, over the narrative structure can lead to several paragraphs of wholly unfounded, ignorant and elaborate assertions about the films length, it's fate and supposed damage.
So make sure you are reading a review for the actual DVD version that you are thinking of buying.
These reviews may be for the same film, but often they are for different DVD productions from different countries. These DVD productions can vary greatly depending on the quality of the source material.
So, firstly, let me state that my comments relate to the Second Run version in the UK.
I have two points.
1] The print source is pristine and looks absolutely magnificent, so if you read anything to the contrary, it's from a different DVD label.
2] The film is not cut, it is entire and complete. It's amazing that confusion, or should I say a lack of insight, over the narrative structure can lead to several paragraphs of wholly unfounded, ignorant and elaborate assertions about the films length, it's fate and supposed damage.
So make sure you are reading a review for the actual DVD version that you are thinking of buying.
6 of 6 people found the following review helpful
Format:DVD
I'm not at all familiar with Czechoslovakian new wave cinema, let alone films from that country, so this was a real awakening on my part as well as Valerie in the film. It's a wonderful film, more like a painting come to life than just a film. Imagine Nosferatu if directed by Jodorowsky and you're only halfway there. The plot as such concerns the sexual awakenings in 13 year old Valerie, as she experiences life through a waking dream, various authority figures and family members encounter Valerie, either threatening her, seducing her or appearing as vampires. Her only salvation appears to be a young man called Eagle, who could either be a dashing hero, or Valerie's brother, who tells her she is in possesion of magical earrings, that will protect her from danger. Whilst the film does leave the viewer with the question of how much if any of the film was Valerie's reality rather than her dream, it is a magical, very surreal piece of cinema, with lush visuals and a wonderful musical score, and is altogether an astounding film, that will leave the viewer happy and content. 5 out of 5.
A wonderful DVD too, with a booklet and nice extras.
A wonderful DVD too, with a booklet and nice extras.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
Valerie is exceptional.
Before I purchased this film I had honestly never seen a film like it, and I have yet to see a film like it again. Read more
Published 12 months ago by Belphoebe New
Brilliant
First of all it is not common to have a so young character play the main role in an erotic film. Nudity is not its main content but something rather scarce. Read more
Published 15 months ago by Afonso
Valerie and her week of wonders
I purchased this film on the strength of still images and reviews I found on line and I have to say, it was not quite what I expected, especially from my experience of other Czech... Read more
Published 18 months ago by eligius
Valerie and Her Week of Wonders
I purchased this film on the strength of the reviews it got on this page. A week of wonders??? I have to say, after watching this film, I spent a week wondering, "What was THAT all... Read more
Published 21 months ago by cyberdonblue
Beautiful, surreal and dream like...
A beautiful, surreal and dream like fantasy...
Other reviews here have covered it well, but I can confirm the remastered edition looks stunning (and there are a few... Read more
Other reviews here have covered it well, but I can confirm the remastered edition looks stunning (and there are a few... Read more
Published 22 months ago by numpty
Alice meets Nosferatu
Valerie and Her Week of Wonders opens to the haunting sound of a flute, the white screen with purple titles punctuated by fragmented images of Valerie heralding the beginning of a... Read more
Published on 25 May 2010 by Mr. R. J. Wilkes
valerie
A surreal world brought to life that only a film made in the sixties or in this case early seventies could conceive the music is sublime and is worth the cost just for that I... Read more
Published on 12 Mar 2010 by polly40
ken russell in czech
An amazing kaleidoscope of symbolic imagery, beautifully shot and lit, but far too much to take on board with just one viewing, immediately reminded me of what a Czech Ken Russell... Read more
Published on 17 April 2009 by dylan
Bizarre but Beautiful
This has to be one of the most original films of the Czech new wave. The amazing cinematograhy and wonderful soundtrack create a dreamlike vision. Read more
Published on 25 Jan 2009 by Richard Allen
A Slightly Edited Dream Movie
If you bought a 500 page book with pages missing here and there for a total of 75 pages, you probably would have a hard time following the story. Read more
Published on 4 Jan 2009 by Artist & Author
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