The known galaxy has been peaceful for centuries. The word 'weapon' is an archaic expression referring to a time long ago when we still practiced war and "neurotic irresponsibility". But of course, the potential to have great power over others still corrupts, and a mad-genius/scientist named Duran Duran develops a killer-ray, a Positronic ray to be precise, capable of great destruction, upsetting the ebb & flow of tranquility which prevails among our stars. Who can save us before Duran Duran and his immoral patron, The Great Tyrant, enslave the entire galaxy?
Barbarella, that's who. And she'll do it with love, and only love.
Barbarella is the 5-Star Astro-Navigatrix assigned to demoralize the evil-doers, and she's determined not to let anything stop her. She's a space-age hippie version of Emma Peel, though unlike Emma, Barbarella has difficulty not losing part of her outfit all the time oh well, all the better for us. Along with her blind, and amazingly useless companion, the Angel Pygar, she'll fight off lumbering, leather robots, nasty monsters, sex-crazed perverts, lecherous lesbians, homicidal children, and even briefly join a bumbling insurgency, all to save us from becoming a violent society once again. Oh, Barbarella how can we ever thank you enough? (But what part of herself will Barbarella use to save us when the darkest hour is nigh? Hmmmm I'll let you find out.)
Produced and released in 1968, the film Barbarella was first an incredibly successful '60s French comic-strip written by Jean-Claude Forest. Like the Barbarella character in the movie, the Barbarella of print is equal parts resourceful and naïve, sexy and unaware, determined and self-doubting, which all make for a wonderful character. And even though Jane Fonda was a replacement for Italian sex-kitten Virna Lisi, she obviously relishes this colorful part. She didn't want to make another film with her then husband, Roger Vadim, having already made two, but she stepped in and saved the day thank you Jane! Over the previous eight years, Jane had done her handful of body-centric performances, and some serious work too, but she wanted to start excluding the sexy stuff and concentrate on serious roles only. Thankfully she squeezed out one more camptastic film before getting all political (her next film after Barbarella was the brilliant, Depression-era downer They Shoot Horses, Don't They?, for which she was awarded her first Oscar nod.)
Some say that nakedness was just Jane's natural state though. For there exists a fabulous urban legend that while attending then-ultra-conservative Vassar College, Jane refused to follow the ages-old tradition of having to wear white gloves and pearls in the tearoom on campus. When asked to leave for not doing so, she obliged, but returned a short time later wearing the gloves and pearls, but nothing else. This behavior was said to be the beginning of 25 years of pushing buttons and challenging authority. Even if the story is untrue, you have to admit, it's fierce; it also sounds like something Barbarella would do under the influence of the Matmos
Roger Vadim, the Hugh Hefner of cinema if there ever was one, is a much under-appreciated filmmaker. He had been married to or at least romantically linked to not only Jane, but also Brigitte Bardot, and Catherine Denevue. He'd been directing films since 1956, writing films since even before that, and kept making movies up until his death 5 years ago, although his best work is from 1956-72. He followed Barbarella with Pretty Maids All in a Row, an unfortunately forgotten film that you should see, that is if you want to see Rock Hudson be a serial killer mutilating young girls, and I bet you do.
Terry Southern, despite writing the immortal films Dr.Strangelove, The Loved One, The Cincinnati Kid, and Easy Rider, may have written some of his wittiest dialogue in Barbarella; the discourse between Barbarella and the President alone is worth your price of admission, as is every word uttered by Anita Pallenberg.
How can I forget Miss Pallenberg? For those of you who aren't aware, Anita Pallenberg was the dark, feminine energy behind the chaos that was Swinging London. A then-practicing witch, and supposedly not always from the North, Anita Pallenberg was the muse for some of the most powerful songs and films of the whole last half of the Sixties. She was the lover of Brian Jones, Keith Richards, and for a short spell, Mick Jagger; many Stones songs are about her. She co-wrote Performance with Donald Cammell, and inspired Kenneth Anger to create his opus, Lucifer Rising.
So all these people came together and helped to make the film you're about to see. This film truly belongs to Jane Fonda though, as it was meant to I'm sure. I wish there were more films about beautiful, lusty, and brainy dames from outer-space, saving the world from destruction by evil forces. And doing it not with muscle, guns, yelling & screaming, or having to be a man in a man's world, but instead using love, and her insatiable capacity for truly orgasmic sex.
Barbarella wants to teach you the way of the future. She wants you to drop your weapons, get naked, roll around on faux-fur, and learn to embrace your mane of disheveled hair. Barbarella thinks war is stupid, and that lucite is the only thing ever worth fighting for, that and maybe a pair of green thigh-highs.
Barbarella is the 5-Star Astro-Navigatrix assigned to demoralize the evil-doers, and she's determined not to let anything stop her. She's a space-age hippie version of Emma Peel, though unlike Emma, Barbarella has difficulty not losing part of her outfit all the time oh well, all the better for us. Along with her blind, and amazingly useless companion, the Angel Pygar, she'll fight off lumbering, leather robots, nasty monsters, sex-crazed perverts, lecherous lesbians, homicidal children, and even briefly join a bumbling insurgency, all to save us from becoming a violent society once again. Oh, Barbarella how can we ever thank you enough? (But what part of herself will Barbarella use to save us when the darkest hour is nigh? Hmmmm I'll let you find out.)
Produced and released in 1968, the film Barbarella was first an incredibly successful '60s French comic-strip written by Jean-Claude Forest. Like the Barbarella character in the movie, the Barbarella of print is equal parts resourceful and naïve, sexy and unaware, determined and self-doubting, which all make for a wonderful character. And even though Jane Fonda was a replacement for Italian sex-kitten Virna Lisi, she obviously relishes this colorful part. She didn't want to make another film with her then husband, Roger Vadim, having already made two, but she stepped in and saved the day thank you Jane! Over the previous eight years, Jane had done her handful of body-centric performances, and some serious work too, but she wanted to start excluding the sexy stuff and concentrate on serious roles only. Thankfully she squeezed out one more camptastic film before getting all political (her next film after Barbarella was the brilliant, Depression-era downer They Shoot Horses, Don't They?, for which she was awarded her first Oscar nod.)
Some say that nakedness was just Jane's natural state though. For there exists a fabulous urban legend that while attending then-ultra-conservative Vassar College, Jane refused to follow the ages-old tradition of having to wear white gloves and pearls in the tearoom on campus. When asked to leave for not doing so, she obliged, but returned a short time later wearing the gloves and pearls, but nothing else. This behavior was said to be the beginning of 25 years of pushing buttons and challenging authority. Even if the story is untrue, you have to admit, it's fierce; it also sounds like something Barbarella would do under the influence of the Matmos
Roger Vadim, the Hugh Hefner of cinema if there ever was one, is a much under-appreciated filmmaker. He had been married to or at least romantically linked to not only Jane, but also Brigitte Bardot, and Catherine Denevue. He'd been directing films since 1956, writing films since even before that, and kept making movies up until his death 5 years ago, although his best work is from 1956-72. He followed Barbarella with Pretty Maids All in a Row, an unfortunately forgotten film that you should see, that is if you want to see Rock Hudson be a serial killer mutilating young girls, and I bet you do.
Terry Southern, despite writing the immortal films Dr.Strangelove, The Loved One, The Cincinnati Kid, and Easy Rider, may have written some of his wittiest dialogue in Barbarella; the discourse between Barbarella and the President alone is worth your price of admission, as is every word uttered by Anita Pallenberg.
How can I forget Miss Pallenberg? For those of you who aren't aware, Anita Pallenberg was the dark, feminine energy behind the chaos that was Swinging London. A then-practicing witch, and supposedly not always from the North, Anita Pallenberg was the muse for some of the most powerful songs and films of the whole last half of the Sixties. She was the lover of Brian Jones, Keith Richards, and for a short spell, Mick Jagger; many Stones songs are about her. She co-wrote Performance with Donald Cammell, and inspired Kenneth Anger to create his opus, Lucifer Rising.
So all these people came together and helped to make the film you're about to see. This film truly belongs to Jane Fonda though, as it was meant to I'm sure. I wish there were more films about beautiful, lusty, and brainy dames from outer-space, saving the world from destruction by evil forces. And doing it not with muscle, guns, yelling & screaming, or having to be a man in a man's world, but instead using love, and her insatiable capacity for truly orgasmic sex.
Barbarella wants to teach you the way of the future. She wants you to drop your weapons, get naked, roll around on faux-fur, and learn to embrace your mane of disheveled hair. Barbarella thinks war is stupid, and that lucite is the only thing ever worth fighting for, that and maybe a pair of green thigh-highs.