Inspired by fairy-tales such as Alice in Wonderland and Little Red-Riding Hood, Valerie and her Week of Wonders is a surreal tale in which love, fear, sex and religion merge into one fantastic world.
The 1970 film adaptation of Valerie a týden div? was shot in 1969 starring the then 13-year-old Jaroslava Schallerová as Valerie, with a supporting cast of Helena Anýžová, Karel Engel, Jan Klusák, Petr Kopriva, among others. It was filmed in the Czech town of Slavonice and surrounding areas. The film portrays the heroine as living in a disorienting dream, cajoled by priests, vampires, men and women alike, and blends elements of fantasy and horror films.
The Plot:
The plot centers entirely around thirteen year old Valerie and her first day of being a woman. She loves flowers, birds, and fruit, and her safety and security are connected to her magic earrings given to her by her mother, whom she knows to be deceased along with her father.
She lives with her Grandmother, and frequently consoles with a boy named Orlik, whose creepy father, the Weasel, a boogeyman and one of the antagonists of the story, is a dead ringer for Nosferatu. Her world is like that of a fairytale, and her innocence and purity as well as her own wellbeing are threatened by a lecherous religious leader, Gracián, and vampires.