Review of Barbarella (1968) by Henry W — 09 Mar 2016

Not great, but not that bad either.

Set sometime in the distant future, a young Earth woman, Barbarella (played by Jane Fonda), is sent on a mission to find and stop the evil Durand Durand, who has developed a weapon capable of destroying the world. In her quest to find him, she encounters some weird and wonderful people and creatures and has some interesting adventures...

Has all the ingredients of a b-grade movie: random, weird plot; haphazard direction; hammy acting. Yet somehow it is reasonably entertaining. The sheer energy and pace of the movie keep it from falling apart. Jane Fonda's looks and nonchalant-yet-effervescent performance help too.

I imagine it worked even better when it was released. The movie was made at the height of psychedelia and it has the right ingredients to capture that zeitgeist: bright-colour-filled, fantastical, trippy sets and plot and free love. I would think that being high would be useful when watching this movie..

Probably its most enduring legacy is that it gave the English New Romantic-genre band Duran Duran its name.