Rating 15
Length 1h38
Release 18.10.1968
Director Roger Vadim
About Barbarella, an astronaut from the future, is sent on a mission to find and stop an evil scientist whose invention could spell the destruction of the galaxy.
Moon: no moon sighting
Where to Watch: Now TV
Trailer:
The Good
Jane Fonda to many will be known for this “sex kitten” era. For me, she’s a political activist and my main experience is Jean Luc Godard’s Tout Va Bien (1972), the amazing 9 to 5 (1980) and the powerful The Newsroom (2012 – 2014).
This was new, but I can see why this is a stand out role. She’s the Margot Robbie of the 60s and boy does she get a Barbie-esque wardrobe to play with over 90 minutes of screen time and at least 7 costume changes. Good job too, the character also has the Kirk affliction in that the clothes never remain on for long.
It is, intentional or not, funny as fuck! From style, to dialogue and even the plot. It’s Flash Gordon meets Buck Rogers by way of Idiocracy. Add some friends and some booze and I’d imagine it would be even funnier.
The Bad
It’s a bad porn, with cutaway sex scenes and a semblance of a plot? I add the question because that plot, is bad. So so bad. I was incredibly disappointed because for this being such an iconic film, I was expecting so much more.
The Ugly
Obviously there is all of the sex Barbarella has. It’s what gives the tone of porn with plot, 50 Shades of Psychadelic technicolour as it were. It just cheapens what could be an incredibly powerful film.
The other part is the torture and death by sexual assualt. Okay, so it’s call something else to soften the sinister implications but that is what the device, and final act, is. Barbarella is placed in the contraption without consent. Hell, she’s fucking unconscious. The fact that the device brings her pleasure is not the point, and is what makes the scene quite unwatchable because of the underhandedness of the assault. Yes, she also survives, but that again does not diminish the horror.
Final Thoughts
The ending too brutal for me to watch again, even to test my theory that friends and drink will make it funnier. I am also getting very tired of rape being the butt of a joke in films of the 60s and 70s; pretty certain that wasn’t what was meant by “Free love”.
The Queens of Geekdom 