Valerie and Her Week of Wonders (1970)

  This is a weird one, folks.  Did you know there was a Czech New Wave film movement?  Because I did not.  I like to think I'm fairly conversant in the major shifts within film and then I get thrown for a loop.  This fairy tale from hell comes to us from the distant land of 1970.  Content warning:  animal death (on-screen), suicide, attempted rape of a minor

Valerie (Jaroslava Schallerová) is attempting to navigate the stormy waters between girl- and womanhood while fending off advances from a horny priest (Jan Klusák), a literal vampire (Jirí Prymek), and her jealous, youth-obsessed grandma (Helena Anyzová).  Her only friend and ally is her brother/love interest (Peter Kopriva) who gives her magic pearls to keep her from harm.

There was A Lot to unpack here.  Symbolism all over the damn place.  Lots of ruminations on guilt and pleasure, organized religion vs paganism, the role of women in the home and in society, the unfair and frankly treacherous concept of purity.  The societal comment that a woman's worth resides in her youth and especially in her sexual inexperience feels very modern, because we keep having to have that stupid conversation every decade.  In one of the scenes, a bride is shown on her wedding night being drained of vitality by a vampire.  Literally the moment of her deflowering, she becomes used and lesser.  Not exactly subtle, but effective.  

That could be the tagline for the whole film, really.  Not Subtle, But Effective!  It would be an insane double-feature with The Company of Wolves, and if you wanted to go for the hat trick of batshit vampires, werewolves, and witches, you could throw in Häxan as well.  You may want to schedule some time off afterwards for self-care, watch something bland and soothing.

Valerie and All Her Bullshit is streaming on Criterion.