Vadim kicks off his adaptation of Jean-Claude Forest's 'adult' comic strip by stripping Fonda starkers. From there on it's typically vacuous titillation as Barbarella takes off for the mysterious planet Sorgo in 40,000 AD, there to survive attack by perambulating dolls with vampire fangs, receive her sexual initiation from a hairy primitive, fall in love with a blind angel, be whisked off to an alarming Lesbian encounter with the tyrannical Black Queen, etc. But Terry Southern's dialogue occasionally sparkles, and the imaginative designs, as shot by Claude Renoir, look really splendid.
Details
Release details
Duration:
98 mins
Cast and crew
Director:
Roger Vadim
Screenwriter:
Terry Southern, Roger Vadim
Cast:
Jane Fonda John Phillip Law Anita Pallenberg Milo O'Shea David Hemmings Claude Dauphin Marcel Marceau Ugo Tognazzi
At
the very beginning of the movie, Jane Fonda is chosen to save all of space from
a looming evil and at that point she’s already naked…
Barbarella
then gets in all kind of troubles (remember Earth has been at peace for
centuries, hence why she’s probably bad at her job) and everyone she encounters
wants to kill and/or have sex with her (we’re in the 60s after all). Extra
kinky, this movie is also incredibly kitsch, camp and cheesy. A weird piece but
that will weirdly captivate and entertain you with its psychedelic soundtrack,
pop-art visuals and inherent cheerfulness. A must watch cult-classic.
