Themes: Heroic Mission, Space Travel, Evil Children
Main Cast: Jane Fonda, John Phillip Law, Anita Pallenberg, Milo O'Shea, David Hemmings, Joan Greenwood, Maria Theresa Orsini, Catherine Chevallier, Marie Therese Chevallier
Release Year: 1968
Country: FR/IT
Run Time: 98 minutes
Plot
A voluptuous outer space agent travels to another galaxy in search of a missing inventor in this science fiction send-up. Barbarella (Jane Fonda), an interstellar representative of the united Earth government in the 41st century, is dispatched to locate scientist Durand Durand, whose positronic ray, if not recovered, could signal the end of humanity. Outfitted in an array of stunning Star Trek/Bond girl outfits and cruising around in a plush, psychedelic spaceship, Barbarella travels to the Tau Seti system and promptly crash-lands. She then spends the rest of the film discovering the joys of interstellar sex with a keeper of feral children (Ugo Tognazzi), a blind, beatific angel (John Phillip Law), and an inept revolutionary named Dildano (David Hemmings). Slowly but surely, she also finds her way to Durand Durand by moving from one exotic, Wizard of Oz-style locale to another. Along the way, she meets the kindly Professor Ping (a surprisingly verbal Marcel Marceau), a Eurotrash dominatrix named the Great Tyrant (Rolling Stones gal pal Anita Pallenberg), and the Concierge (Milo O'Shea), a strangely familiar lackey of the Great Tyrant who tries to destroy Barbarella with his great big organ of love. Jean-Claude Forest, who created the character Barbarella in 1962 for V-Magazine, served as visual advisor on the adaptation. The film's missing scientist character famously inspired the band name of '80s pop stars Duran Duran (who altered the spelling slightly). Almost two decades later, the film also inspired electronic act Matmos, which was named after the aqueous personification of evil unleashed by the Concierge at the movie's climax. ~ Brian J. Dillard, All Movie Guide
Review
A coy European sex comedy with space-opera trappings and an American accent, this frothy Roger Vadim/Jane Fonda collaboration reads like a grown-up, sci-fi update of Alice in Wonderland. Although it often pops up on "Worst Movies Ever" lists, it's actually something of a treat if one approaches it with the right attitude. From the eye-popping plasticity of the production design to the gentle grooviness of the Bob Crewe Generation's campy lounge soundtrack, Barbarella is a defiantly trivial film. But Fonda's studied vacuity, Anita Pallenberg's kinky glamour, and John Phillip Law's bronzed pecs and hippie truisms keep things sexy, sweet, and funny. Fonda has spent more than three decades trying to live down the zero-gee peep show that opens the film, but besides a few bare breasts and countless double entendres, nothing here crosses the line between erotic comedy and pornography. (In fact, the MPAA bizarrely let the film off with a mere PG.) The gender roles aren't particularly progressive, especially given the running gag about Barbarella getting her first few tastes of physical copulation after a lifetime of "advanced" virtual sex. But unless you're a humorless dogmatist, a puritan, or a holdover from the anti-"Hanoi Jane" school of patriotism, it's hard to be anything but amused and entertained by this campy classic. ~ Brian J. Dillard, All Movie Guide
Marcel Marceau - Prof. Ping; Talitha Pol - Pipe-smoking girl; Antonio Sabato - Jean-Paul (uncredited); Ugo Tognazzi - Mark Hand; Franco Gula; Giancarlo Cobelli; Claude Dauphin - President of Earth; Serge Marquand - Captain Sun; Veronique Vendell - Captain Moon; Umberto DiGrazia; Nino Musco
Credit
Enrico Fea - Art Director, Charles Fox - Conductor, Jacques Fonteray - Costume Designer, Carlo Lastricati - First Assistant Director, Roger Vadim - Director, Victoria Mercanton - Editor, Bob Crewe - Composer (Music Score), Charles Fox - Composer (Music Score), Bob Crewe - Musical Direction/Supervision, Mario Garbuglia - Production Designer, Claude Renoir - Cinematographer, Dino de Laurentiis - Producer, David Hildyard - Sound/Sound Designer, Vittori Bonicelli - Screenwriter, Claude Brule - Screenwriter, Brian Degas - Screenwriter, Jean-Claude Forest - Screenwriter, Tudor Gates - Screenwriter, Terry Southern - Screenwriter, Roger Vadim - Screenwriter, Clement Biddle Wood - Screenwriter, Uberto Campagna - Assistant Art Director, Jean-Claude Forest - Book Author, Maurice Binder - Title Design
In the 40th century, Barbarella (Jane Fonda) is assigned by the President of Earth (Claude Dauphin) to retrieve Doctor Durand-Durand (Milo O'Shea) from the planet SoGo in order to save the earth. On her quest, Barbarella is seduced by a human resident of SoGo (David Hemmings), who introduces her to penetrative intercourse, something she is unaware of, since civilized people of Barbarella's society find their sexual release through pharmaceuticals. In turn, she seduces an angel named Pygar (John Phillip Law), and overloads a torture device called the Excessive (or "Ex-sex-sive") Machine, which kills through sexual pleasure.
Jane Fonda has lamented the fact that she turned down starring roles in two major hit films, Bonnie and Clyde and Rosemary's Baby to stay in France and star in Barbarella, which was being directed by her then husband Roger Vadim.
Barbarella is noted for a sequence in which the title character, played by Jane Fonda, undresses in zero gravity during the opening credits.
The whole film is played in a tongue-in-cheek manner; especially when it comes to the frequent (but not explicit) sex scenes. The most controversial of those scenes involves Barbarella being tortured by the use of an organ-like instrument that delivers sexual pleasure in doses that can be lethal, although Barbarella survives the ordeal and is visibly disappointed when it is discovered she has overloaded the machine.
The film was simultaneously shot in French and English. Some characters' lines were performed by the same actors in both languages; others were not. For instance, Fonda was fluent in French and performs her own lines for the French version, while Marcel Marceau's lines are dubbed for the English film.
De Laurentiis returned to camp science fiction, but with far less erotica, with the 1980 cult classic Flash Gordon.
Soundtrack
The songs in the film were written by Bob Crewe and Charles Fox. During his first European tour in 1967, Frank Zappa had flown from Copenhagen to Italy to meet Vadim and Fonda in order to discuss the possibility of composing the music for the film, but this did not happen.
Special effects
The psychedelic "blob" patterns that form much of the special effects in the film were created using an oil wheel projector, a popular visual effects device which was widely used for psychedeliclight shows at rock concerts in the late 1960s and was also used in many other '60s movies, as well as in many anti-drug educational films.
Reception
The film was both a box office and critical failure on its release. Variety's review stated that "Despite a certain amount of production dash and polish and a few silly-funny lines of dialogue, Barbarella isn't very much of a film. Based on what has been called an adult comic strip, the Dino De Laurentiis production is flawed with a cast that is not particularly adept at comedy, a flat script, and direction which can't get this beached whale afloat."[1] Despite this, in the years since its initial release, Barbarella has garnered a cult following.
In popular culture
Duran Duran
The band Duran Duran, one of the most influential British music bands of the 1980s, took its name from the mad scientist in the film, Dr. Durand-Durand. Milo O'Shea, who played the part, repaid the compliment by appearing as an older version of the characater in Arena, the band's 1985 concert film.
Some of the band's early appearances were at a nightclub called Barbarella's, in their home town of Birmingham, England. The band has frequently used sound clips from the film in their songs, most notably 1989's "Burning the Ground" and the remixes for 1990's "Violence of Summer (Love's Taking Over)". The band continued the homage to its roots with their 1997 US single, "Electric Barbarella" (released in the UK in 1998).
Stephen Duffy, an original member of Duran Duran, released a solo song titled "Barbarellas" on his 1998 I Love My Friends album.
1980s
When the 1980s girl group Fuzzbox could not get permission to use the Thunderbirds for the music video for their single International Rescue, they spoofed Barbarella, with the video's director Adrian Edmondson playing the Durand Durand character. They also featured their faithful cover version of the theme song on the single's B-side.
The American pop band The Bongos recorded a song called "Barbarella" on their RCA EP "Numbers With Wings". It became a college radio favorite and dancefloor hit in 1983.
From 1988 to 2002, a nightclub in downtown Orlando, Florida was called "Barbarella", inspired by the film.
1990s
Another famous singer to use the iconography of Barbarella in a pop video was Kylie Minogue, who recreated the infamous zero-gravity strip-tease in her award winning 1994 video for "Put Yourself in My Place". It was again recreated in the European video for Jem's 2005 single "They".
In 1998, front man Scott Weiland of the bands Stone Temple Pilots and Velvet Revolver released a solo album entitled 12 Bar Blues. The hit song from that album which spawned a music video was titled "Barbarella". The lyrics of the song pay homage to several science fiction television shows and movies.
The band Matmos takes its name from the underground fluid creature in the film.
The Finnish rock band The 69 Eyes also recorded a song called "Barbarella" released in Bump 'n' Grind album in 1992. The song's intro starts with Barbarella speaking; that was taken from the original movie.
The U.K. funk band Jamiroquai mentions Barbarella in the song "Cosmic Girl" on their Travelling Without Moving album, with the lyric "Like some baby Barbarella, with the stars as her umbrella, she'd asked me if I'd like to magnetize."
2000s
The manga artists collectively known as CLAMP parodied Barbarella in the TV no Kuni no Miyuki-chan (Miyuki-chan in TV Land) chapter of their Miyuki-chan in Wonderland. It shows several of the characters, including some female versions, trying to seduce the main character.
In 2008, the indie pop singer Lights made a Barbarella-themed music video for her song "Drive My Soul".
In the first episode of the anime F3: Frantic, Frustrated & Female, Hiroe finds herself strapped to a chair by a mad scientist in order to test out a sex machine, parodying Barbarella's situation with Durand-Durand.
Remake
A remake of Barbarella is planned. It will be penned by current James Bond writers Neal Purvis and Robert Wade, and produced by Dino and Martha De Laurentiis.[2] It was recently announced that Sin City director Robert Rodriguez is slated to direct the remake for Universal Studios.[2] The remake of Barbarella was originally planned in the 1990s with Roger Vadim as director, and actresses Sherilyn Fenn and Drew Barrymore were considered for the title role.[3] As of May 2007, it was announced that actress Erica Durance of the WB's Smallville was a front-runner for a 2008 remake. However, subsequent reports have identified British actress Sienna Miller as the favorite to take the role, along with Rodriguez's Grindhouse star Rose McGowan. According to Elle magazine, McGowan has been cast in the title role.[4]
According to the New York Observer, Universal Studios has backed out of funding the movie because of Rodriguez's insistence to cast McGowan in the title role. Executives reportedly do not think that she can carry a movie with a budget close to $100 million. Once Universal learned of Rodriguez's decision to cast McGowan they slashed the budget significantly. Rodriguez denies this, saying, "Universal had initially signed on for $60 million, but then when we were done with the script it wound up at closer to $82 million." The filmmaker is currently shopping the project around to other studios in the hopes of getting more money. He has cited the fact that most of the movie takes place in outer space as the reason for the rise in budget, and that "we don’t want the movie to look like the original."[5]
Rodriguez backed out of the project, and in June 2009, Entertainment Weekly reported that Robert Luketic will be directing the remake with a different studio. Screenwriter Joe Gazzam has been hired to write an entirely new draft -- taking the film in a different direction. [6]
