Review of Barbarella (1968) by Eric H — 27 Dec 2012

In the year 40,000 delectable hottie space nymph Barbarella (flawlessly embodied by the beautiful Jane Fonda at her most cheerful, yummy and desirable) goes to the planet of Lythion in search of missing renegade Earth scientist Duran Duran (a marvelously hammy Milo O'Shea) and his lethal ray gun.

During her search Barbarella encounters rugged hirsute primitive Mark Hand (the charming Ugo Tognazzi), kindly blind angel Pygar (the excellent John Phillip Law of "Danger: Diabolik"), vicious fanged killer dolls, daffy Professor Ping (an amusingly quirky Marcel Marceau), cute, but deadly little birds, the predatory lesbian Black Queen (a deliciously wicked Anita Pallenberg), and inept revolutionary leader Dildano (an extremely funny David Hemmings).

Director Roger Vadim, working from a witty script co-written by Terry Southern, concocts a delightfully silly, lightweight and playful piece of total sci-fi kitsch, maintaining a bubbly, carefree and infectiously sprightly tone of complete frivolity throughout.

Jane Fonda portrays Barbarella with a fresh, dewy, wide-eyed naivetà (C) and sweet innocence which makes the character that much more sensuous, alluring and irresistible. Claude Renoir's lavish, vibrant, strikingly garish cinematography, the wonderfully catchy'n'fizzy soundtrack of groovy 60's rock tunes, Fonda's eye-popping opening credits anti-gravity striptease, the outlandishly colorful sets (Barbarella's spaceship has plush shagrug carpeting!), and a fantastic sequence with Barbarella shorting out Duran Duran's pleasure organ machine all add immensely to the blithely inane merriment.

A real hoot.