Capsule reviews.

Valerie and Her Week of Wonders, A Thread of Violence, Speak Now (Taylor's Version)

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This is my 100th little newsletter post! Crazy.

Valerie and Her Week of Wonders (Jaromil Jireš, 1970)
Valerie and Her Week of Wonders (Vítězslav Nezval, 1935)

Valerie has turned thirteen, she’s just had her first period, and the adult world into which she has taken her first step views her as fair game to exploit. Since she is officially no longer a child, she is now a target of sexual and physical violence. Priests give lewd speeches from the pulpit about her virginity. She’s betrayed by her grandmother, who is her only living relative. (Well, as far as Valerie knows.) The adults want her body, they want her youth, and they want her future. Did I mention some of them are vampires?

Jireš’s gauzy, sinister movie is a surprisingly literal adaptation of the original 1935 novel, with a handful of changes. The most significant is that in both Nezval’s book and Jireš’s movie, the story starts when Valerie gets her first period. But while in the book Valerie is seventeen, in the movi…