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. ( )