Valerie and Her Week of Wonders

Valerie and Her Week of Wonders (1970) is one of the last films of the Czechoslovak New Wave, a movement shut down by political pressure shortly afterwards. Valerie is thirteen, lives with her grandmother, and is entering puberty. She puts on a pair of magic earrings and the world around her starts to slide: vampires, priests, relatives who change identity. What is real and what is dreamt is never resolved and the film has no interest in resolving it. It runs on fairy tale logic rather than narrative logic. Instead of describing what happens to an adolescent girl in her own body, and how the adults around her begin to look at her, it turns all of it into image. Visually it was far ahead of its moment: soft light, countryside, water and flowers in almost every frame. Its influence is still visible in music video and fashion photography. It runs 73 minutes. Good for: art cinema, the Eastern European New Wave, gothic fairy tale, and dream logic. Less good for: sexuality circles constantly around a very young character and that is uncomfortable now. Anyone wanting a followable plot will not get one.