Written by Ester Krumbachová on the basis of Vítězslav Nezval’s 1935 gothic novel, Valerie and Her Week of Wonders sees post-‘68 Czech cinema move firmly into surrealism, spiritualism and the occult. Jireš—whose 1969’s The Joke encountered the iron fist of censorship—was somehow allowed to direct after Barrandov Studios sacked their in-house agent provocateur Jan Němec after his Oratorio for Prague caused international uproar. Thirteen years young at the time of filming, Jaroslava Schallerová embodies the titular protagonist with intrigue and wisdom, anything but childlike in the array of violent, disturbing incidents she is forced to endure. Made during Czechoslovakia’s era of repressive normalization after the shock and promise of 1968, Valerie retains a steadfast commitment to imagination and the transformative powers of fantasy, even as it abandons this world for the higher domains of faith, ecstasy and the supernatural.