Valerie and Her Week of Wonders

Valerie and Her Week of Wonders (1970) is Jaromil Jireš's surreal fantasy drama, free to watch online on iFILM. A Czechoslovak landmark that drifts between gothic fairy tale and a dream of growing up.

Thirteen-year-old Valerie lives with her grandmother in a sleepy town until a pair of magic earrings tilts her world off its axis. Waking life and nightmare bleed together: a lecherous priest named Gracian, a pale stranger who moves like a vampire, carnival figures who seem to step out of nowhere. As her body changes, Valerie can no longer tell memory from hallucination. Jaroslava Schallerová, barely a teenager herself, carries the film in the title role.

Tied to the Czechoslovak New Wave and adapted from Vítězslav Nezval's novel, it works through imagery and symbol rather than plot. This one rewards patient viewers who want poetry and unease over conventional horror scares. Stream Valerie and Her Week of Wonders (1970) online on iFILM.