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Jaromil Jireš (1935–2001)

Author of Valerie and Her Week of Wonders [1970 film]

8 Works 64 Members 5 Reviews

About the Author

Image credit: Jaromil Jireš

Works by Jaromil Jireš

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Common Knowledge

Birthdate
1935-12-10
Date of death
2001-10-24
Gender
male
Nationality
Czechoslovakia
Occupations
director

Members

Reviews

A strange and surreal fantasy that is beautiful to look at but is narratively virtually impenetrable. It is a Gothic fairytale and a "coming of age" story told using dream logic and poetic lyricism. The story sees 13 year old Valerie (Jaroslava Schallerová) experiencing her first period and falling into a fugue-like state where elderly, lustful vampires seek to prey on her youth and various strange and monstrous things begin to happen around her, all of which seem to have a quasi-religious meaning. The story doesn't have a traditional story arc, it doesn't really start anywhere and doesn't really go anywhere but despite that it is a riveting watch due to the superb images conjured up by director Jaromil Jires and cinematographer Jan Curík. The compositions are superb and the film looks ravishing throughout. It is the type of film that you would get just as much out of - perhaps more - by watching with the score isolated. Jaroslava Schallerova is fantastic as Valerie wandering through the film with a sense of wonder and innocence and giving at least a touch of coherence to the pictures and images. Overall it makes for a beautiful, evocative, dream-like fable - but one that requires a lot of effort to fully decipher.… (more)
½
1 vote
Flagged
calum-iain | Sep 12, 2018 |

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Statistics

Works
8
Members
64
Popularity
#264,968
Rating
3.0
Reviews
5
ISBNs
10
Languages
1

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