Review of Barbarella (1968) by Paul M — 01 Aug 2008

Forty years after itsâ?? original release, director Roger Vadim and producer Dino de Laurentis â??s take on Jean-Claude Forestâ??s risque comic strip still has much to offer to those who like their science-fiction with a big fat dollop of flair.

While it couldnâ??t be more of itâ??s time if Jane Fondaâ??s Barbarella stopped midway through her galaxy quest to read out the newspaper headlines from 1968, it is all also never less than entertaining, thanks largely to a procession of eccentric cameos (from Ugo Tognazzi dressed in King Kongâ??s pyjamas, to David Hemmings as a bumbling revolutionary and, most famously of all, John Phillip Law as blind angel Pygar), not to mention the remarkable sets and costume.

The action is extraordinarily episodic (as if the eight credited screenwriters all worked on a separate chunk in isolation with no subsequent attempt being made to marry the results into a cohesive whole), and Vadim never comes up with anything as graceful or striking as his opening scene - Barbarella removing her spacesuit in zero gravity, the credits covering her lady bits - but it is undeniably bright, inventive and handled with a finely-judged levity of touch.