DVD Review "Valerie and Her Week of Wonders" Facets Region 0 NTSC

(aka "Valerie and Her Week of Wonders" )

directed by Jaromil Jires
Czechoslovakia 1970

This fantastical and somewhat inscrutable allegory took me by surprise. I'd heard mostly good things about it over the years, but was unprepared for its lovely ethereal nature and its ravishing imagery. The story, such as it is, is of secondary importance to the dream-like visuals that comprise each beautiful scene.

Valerie's first period is the catalyst for a dream/nightmare adventure that involves vampirism, incest, treachery, soul-robbing, and gentle eroticism. What in the end has been said, I'm not sure, but it's a wonderful experience.

Donald Brown

Theatrical Release: 1970

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DVD Review: Facets - Region 0 - NTSC

Big thanks to Donald Brown for the Review!

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Distribution	Facets Region 0 - NTSC
Runtime	1:13:27 (4% PAL speedup)
Video	1.31:1 Original Aspect Ratio Average Bitrate: 6.45 mb/s NTSC 704x480 29.97 f/s
Bitrate: NOTE: The Vertical axis represents the bits transferred per second. The Horizontal is the time in minutes.
Audio	Czech - Dolby Digital 2.0
Subtitles	English (burned in)
Features	Release Information: Studio: Facets Aspect Ratio: Fullscreen - 1.31:1 Edition Details: • (De) Flower Power - Maze by Rick Trembles DVD Release Date: January 13, 2004 Keepcase Chapters 14
Comments	If IMDB is correct, the running time of this film is 77 minutes, which means this DVD is either cut or is made from a PAL video source. The picture quality indicates the latter scenario; I suspected from its appearance that it was PAL sourced before I noticed the discrepancy in run-time. Nevertheless, I can't recommend this highly enough, as the film simply must be seen, and alternate opportunities of doing so are probably limited. At least rent it and hope that Facets' license for it is short lived and someone like Criterion steps in to give it the treatment it deserves. - Donald Brown