Line #35 Film/ValerieAndHerWeekOfWonders


1	[[quoteright:300:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/valerie_wonders_1670.jpg]]
2
3	->''"It's nothing, only a man hanging."''
4	-->-- '''Orlík'''
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6	''Valerie and Her Week of Wonders'' (the original title is ''Valerie A Týden Divů'' -- "Valerie and a Week of Wonders") is a Surrealist Czech New Wave horror/fantasy film from 1970, directed by Jaromil Jireš and based on the novel of the same name by Vitezslav Nezval. The plot, as far as can be discerned, concerns young teenage Valerie, who lives with her severely prim grandmother. Her earrings are stolen one night and then returned the next day, after which a strange and sometimes disturbing phantasmagoria commences.
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8	This CultClassic has garnered an alternative soundtrack courtesy of the band The Valerie Project who perform their score over the film at screenings, and has been referenced by other artists including Music/OfMontreal and Broadcast.
9
10	----
11	!!Valerie and Her Tropes of Wonders:
12
13	* AdultsAreUseless: Consistently, Valerie's only protector is Orlík. All the adult authority figures are, at best, weak and at worst, utterly corrupt.
14	* AdaptationalSexuality: In the film Valerie and Hedvika are [[HideYourLesbians heavily hinted]] to be bisexual, the novel portrays them as totally straight, even when they share a bed. In the novel Orlík confesses to Valerie [[spoiler: that he was raped by Tchoř]], but there is no mention of that in the movie.
15	* AgeLift: Although usually when a screen adaptation deals with sex scenes, underage characters tend to be aged up, however Valerie is 17 in the novel (just like Orlík) and 13 in the film.
16	* AllJustADream: It's not super obvious, but given the film's surrealist nature and the fact that it starts and ends with Valerie sleeping, you can safely assume that the film is a Valerie's dream.
17	* AnimalThemeNaming: Tchoř ("Polecat") and Orlík ("Eaglet").
18	* ArchnemesisDad: Tchoř enslaves, tortures and harasses his offspring.
19	%% * ArrangedMarriage: Hedvika and her groom.
20	%% * BadBoss: Tchoř.
21	* BigBad: Tchor the Polecat, the vampire who keeps trying to steal Valerie's youth.
22	* BrotherSisterIncest: Orlík is in love with Valerie, who admires but rejects him [[spoiler:until she kisses him in the final scene.]]
23	* BurnTheWitch: Gracián tries to have Valerie burned to death, lying that she seduced him.
24	* CharacterNameAndTheNounPhrase
25	* ComingOfAgeStory: That blatantly starts with Valerie's menarche.
26	* CorruptChurch: The film shows an uncomfortable size of corrupt churchmen and nuns.
27	%% * CourtlyLove: Orlík for Valerie.
28	%% * CreepyCathedral: During the sermon.
29	* DamselInDistress: Valerie on several occasions. One some occasions she escapes using a magic pearl, alternately she is rescued by her brother.
30	* DancePartyEnding: That's not even the weirdest thing about it.
31	%% * DarkWorld: Arguably.
32	* DistressedDude: Orlík is rescued three times by his sister.
33	%% * DownTheRabbithole
34	* DysfunctionalFamily: Valerie and Orlík are constantly under threat from their older relatives.
35	* EtherealWhiteDress: Many girls (including Valerie) wear it.
36	* EvilMakesYouUgly: Mostly played straight with Tchoř (though he sometimes turns into his younger self/Valerie's father) and Babicka (becoming a vampire grants them crooked teeth). Inverted when they consume blood of Hedvika, Valerie or chicken as their blood rejuvenates them (for some limited time). Ironically enough, as a vampire Babicka looks much less like a corpse than when she is a human.
37	%% * EvilMatriarch: Babicka.
38	* EvilOldFolks: Babicka and Tchoř want to [[spoiler:drain the youth of]] Valerie and Orlík.
39	%% * EvilRedhead: Rejuvenated Elsa
40	* ExploringTheEvilLair: Tchoř takes Valerie into his underground room, where she proceeds to touch everything.
41	%% * TheFantasticTropeOfWonderousTitles
42	* FlowerMotifs: The daisy with Valerie's blood sprinkled on it.
43	%% * ForDoomTheBellTolls
44	* GainaxEnding: [[spoiler: Was it all a dream? Is Babicka dead? And Valerie's parents? The ending is ambiguous at best.]]
45	%% * GothicHorror
46	%% * GorgeousPeriodDress: Particularly Babicka.
47	* TheHecateSisters: Valerie fills the Maiden role, Valerie's mother is the Matron and Babicka is the Crone. Alternatively, all the characters played by Helena Anýžová can be used as an example: rejuvenated Elsa (Maiden), Valerie's mother (Matron) and Babicka (Crone).
48	* HeroicBastard: Orlík and Valerie too, since she is the daughter of a bishop and a young nun.
49	%% * IncestSubtext: Well, where do we start?
50	%% * IncorruptiblePurePureness: Valerie.
51	%% * LesbianVampire: Played with in case of Elsa/Babicka, inverted with Hedvika [[spoiler: as Valerie's kisses treat her vampirism.]]
52	%% * LightFeminineAndDarkFeminine: Valerie and rejuvenated Elsa.
53	%% * LongLostRelative: Tchoř and Orlík to Valerie. Subverted with Elsa since after her rejuvenation she pretends to be Valerie's cousin.
54	%% * LooksLikeOrlok: Tchoř.
55	* LukeIAmYourFather: "Her father was the Bishop." "''I was'' the Bishop!"
56	%% * MacGuffin: The two magic pearls.
57	%%* MagicRealism
58	* MeaningfulName: Valerie means "brave", Tchoř turns into a weasel and Orlík guards and watches over his sister.
59	* MercifulMinion: Beginning with returning her earrings, Orlík constantly and furtively disobeys Tchoř in favour of protecting Valerie.
60	%% * OminousLatinChanting
61	* OnlyOneName: There's no character with a known last name.
62	%% * OminousPipeOrgan: In the church.
63	* OrphansOrdeal: Valerie. Orlík suffers from the reverse.
64	* OurVampiresAreDifferent: Vampires transform into weasels and have a taste for chicken blood. Tchoř appears as a bald, white-faced monster with pointed ears. Also, they do not seem to care about avoiding sunlight (except Tchoř).
65	* ParentalAbandonment: Valerie's mother died long time ago, and since her father was a bishop she never met him.
66	%% * SceneryPorn: Worthy of a Pre-Raphaelite painting.
67	%% * SecretIdentity: Tchoř and Orlík, at various points.
68	%% * SexForSolace: Implied between Hedvika and Valerie.
69	* SexIsEvilAndIAmHorny: Babicka and Gracián are straight examples of this. Babicka is introduced as a rather conservative and religious matriarch, howerer Tchoř reveals her lust and masochism to Valerie, shattering her aforementioned image. Gracián is a priest, so celibacy is pretty much expected from him. In the first scene he appears two villagers are having sex. He covers the sight of a young nun so she wouldn't see that, looking quite displeased as well. But he himself has no problem having sex with Babicka or [[PedophilePriest even Valerie]]. Some time later [[BurnTheWitch he publically executes Valerie under a pretence that she is a witch, who seduced him]].
70	* ShapeshifterModeLock: Tchoř is trapped in his polecat/weasel form by Valerie's magic pearl. [[spoiler:A farmer shoots the polecat.]]
71	%% * SinisterMinister: The sleazy Gracián and, as eventually revealed, [[spoiler: Tchoř.]] Borderlines on PedophilePriest.
72	%% * SurrealHorror: It is surreal (through editing mostly) and it is a horror.
73	%% * UndeathlyPallor: Tchoř. Conversely, Babicka is this in life but not undeath.
74	* UnexplainedRecovery: [[spoiler:Gracián, Tchoř and Babicka]] all die and later mysteriously reappear alive.
75	%% * UnnamedParent: The parents of Orlik and Valerie.
76	%% * UnresolvedSexualTension: Between Orlik and Valerie.
77	%% * VillainousCrush: Tchoř [[spoiler:for Valerie.]]
78	* WanderingMinstrel: Orlík is often carrying a lute, playing or singing to Valerie. He is also seen with a guitar on his back and playing a flute.
79	%% * WeirdnessMagnet: Valerie.
80	%% * WorldOfSymbolism
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Context Film / ValerieAndHerWeekOfWonders