Barbarella (1968)

In the far future, a highly sexual woman is tasked with finding and stopping the evil Durand-Durand. Along the way she encounters various unusual people.

Director:

Roger Vadim

Writers:

Jean-Claude Forest (comic "Barbarella"), Claude Brulé (collaborating writer),

Stars:

Jane Fonda, John Phillip Law, Anita Pallenberg

1 nomination.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Jane Fonda	...	Barbarella
John Phillip Law	...	Pygar
Anita Pallenberg	...	The Great Tyrant
Milo O'Shea	...	Concierge / Durand-Durand
Marcel Marceau	...	Professor Ping
Claude Dauphin	...	President of Earth
Véronique Vendell	...	Captain Moon (as Veronique Vendell)
Giancarlo Cobelli
Serge Marquand	...	Captain Sun
Nino Musco
Franco Gulà
Catherine Chevallier	...	Stomoxys
Marie Therese Chevallier	...	Glossina
Umberto Di Grazia
David Hemmings	...	Dildano

Storyline

After an in-flight anti-gravity striptease (masked by the film's opening titles), Barbarella, a 41st century astronaut, lands on the planet Lythion and sets out to find the evil Durand Durand in the city of Sogo, where a new sin is invented every hour. There, she encounters such objects as the Exessive Machine, a genuine sex organ on which an accomplished artist of the keyboard, in this case, Durand Durand himself, can drive a victim to death by pleasure, a lesbian queen who, in her dream chamber, can make her fantasies take form, and a group of ladies smoking a giant hookah which, via a poor victim struggling in its glass globe, dispenses Essance of Man. You can't help but be impressed by the special effects crew and the various ways that were found to tear off what few clothes our heroine seemed to possess. Based on the popular French comic strip.

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Plot Keywords:

evil | queen | scientist | planet | mission | 

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Taglines:

See Barbarella do her thing!

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Genres:

Action | Adventure | Comedy | Fantasy | Sci-Fi

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Certificate:

Approved

Details

Country:

France Italy

Language:

English

Release Date:

10 October 1968 (USA)

Also Known As:

Barbarella: Queen of the Galaxy

Filming Locations:

Dino De Laurentiis Cinematografica Studios, Rome, Lazio, Italy

Box Office

Budget:

$9,000,000 (estimated)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Dino de Laurentiis Cinematografica, Marianne Productions

Technical Specs

Runtime:

98 min

Sound Mix:

Mono (Westrex Recording System)

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Lobby card stills and set photographs survive, showing footage of a seduction scene between Barbarella and the Black Queen on a bed. However this footage has never appeared in any print of the film.

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Goofs

When Barabarella and Pygar are being attacked by the leather guards in the labyrinth, Barbarella tells Pygar to shoot her gun. "To the right!" she calls out. Pygar, however, swivels left and shoots, hitting the guard dead on. Since Pygar is blind, he had only her instructions to go on.

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Quotes

[first lines]
videophone: Stand by for a message from Dianthus, President of Earth and Rotating Premier of the Sun System.

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Crazy Credits

In the opening credits, the letters in the words move around in an attempt to obscure Barbarella's nudity.

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Connections

Referenced in Harika Kiz Sahika Alf'e karsi (2005)

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Soundtracks

"Drag Me Down"
Written by Bob Crewe & Charles Fox
Performed by The Glitterhouse

User Reviews

The greatest psychedelic science fiction sex comedy ever made!

I first saw 'Barbarella' on TV as a small child in the 1970s and along with 'The Omega Man', 'One Million Years B.C.', and 'Jason and the Argonauts' the movie blew my tiny little mind! I think my interest in cult and bizarre began from seeing this classic slice of 1960s psychedelic trash for the first time. This is one of the silliest movies ever made, but still one of the most entertaining. Jane Fonda, then at the peak of her sex kitten period (history lesson - this was before "radical Jane" and "corporate Jane"), has never looked lovelier than in this movie, and manages to really pull off Barbarella's wide-eyed innocence. Anita Pallenberg (co-star of 'Performance' and then Keith Richards' "old lady") is stunning as The Great Tyrant, even if her voice is dubbed, and her handful of scenes with Fonda are unforgettable. The rest of the eclectic supporting cast includes cult favourites John Phillip Law ('Diabolik') as Pygar, the blind angel, David Hemmings ('Profondo Rosso') as Dildano a revolutionary, and Milo O'Shea ('Theatre Of Blood') as renegade Earth scientist Duran Duran. 'Barbarella' contains some of the most striking and surreal images of the 1960s (the doll attack scene is one of my all time favourites!), and is definitely one of the most bizarre science fiction movies ever made. Like many of the 1960s more excessive movies it is a real love it or hate it proposition. I love it of course, and think it, Russ Meyer's 'Faster Pussycat! Kill! Kill!', and Roger Corman's 'The Trip' are the three greatest 1960s trash classics. This is simply absolutely essential viewing for all 1960s buffs, science fiction or otherwise. Long live 'Barbarella'!