Barbarella (1968)
Average Rating: 6.3/10
Reviews Counted: 42
Fresh: 31 | Rotten: 11
Unevenly paced and thoroughly cheesy, Barbarella is nonetheless full of humor, entertaining visuals, and Jane Fonda's sex appeal.
Average Rating: 5.8/10
Critic Reviews: 6
Fresh: 3 | Rotten: 3
Unevenly paced and thoroughly cheesy, Barbarella is nonetheless full of humor, entertaining visuals, and Jane Fonda's sex appeal.
liked it
Average Rating: 3/5
User Ratings: 32,782
Movie Info
A voluptuous outer space agent travels to another galaxy in search of a missing inventor in this science fiction send-up. Barbarella (Jane Fonda), an interstellar representative of the united Earth government in the 41st century, is dispatched to locate scientist Durand Durand, whose positronic ray, if not recovered, could signal the end of humanity. Outfitted in an array of stunning Star Trek/Bond girl outfits and cruising around in a plush, psychedelic spaceship, Barbarella travels to the Tau
PG,
Action & Adventure, Science Fiction & Fantasy
Vittorio Bonicelli, Claude Brule, Tudor Gates, Terry Southern, Roger Vadim
Oct 10, 1968 Wide
Jun 22, 1999
Universal Pictures
Watch It Now
Cast
-
Jane Fonda
Barbarella -
John Phillip Law
Pygar -
Anita Pallenberg
Black Queen -
Milo O'Shea
Durand-Durand The Co... -
David Hemmings
Dildano -
Talitha Pol
Pipe-smoking girl -
Marcel Marceau
Prof. Ping -
Ugo Tognazzi
Mark Hand -
Antonio Sabato
Jean-Paul (uncredite... -
Joan Greenwood
The Great Tyrant [un... -
Maria Theresa Orsini
Suicide Girl (uncred... -
-
Catherine Chevallier
Stomoxys -
Marie Therese Cheval...
Glossina -
-
Claude Dauphin
President of Earth -
Serge Marquand
Captain Sun -
Véronique Vendell
Captain Moon -
-
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Barbarella Trailer & Photos
All Critics (42) | Top Critics (6) | Fresh (31) | Rotten (11) | DVD (13)
The film is ugly on so many levels -- from art direction to human values -- that it's hard to know where to begin.
Despite a certain amount of production dash and polish and a few silly-funny lines of dialog, Barbarella isn't very much of a film.
Terry Southern's dialogue occasionally sparkles, and the imaginative designs, as shot by Claude Renoir, look really splendid.
Top CriticThroughout the movie, there is the assumption that just mentioning a thing (sex, politics, religion) makes it funny and that mentioning it in some offensive context makes it funnier.
It's fun in a 'What were they smoking?' kind of way.
Fonda looks sensational and glides through this romp like a dazed, ripe-to-the- touch innocent.
One of the most memorable of comic book adaptations ever conceived...
Roger Vadim's ultra-kitsch sci-fi classic somehow improves with age.
...like a lot of truly terrible things from the '60s, Barbarella has acquired the patina of the cult classic, which means that as the cultural context has changed we are able to enjoy it for reasons other than those intended by the filmmakers
"Barbarella" is the 1968 sci-fi that made Jane Fonda a household name. The opening credits feature a striptease that takes Fonda from a cumbersome space suit to her birthday suit. Her sex kitten looks were enough to drive young men crazy.
Barbarella couldn't exist in any era but the 1960s and its delightful over-the-top qualities find an ideal expression in the ridiculous excesses of the time.
Clearly inspired by 1960s Batmania, the hunka hunka burning camp that is Barbarella adapted French science-fiction comic books into gleefully oversexed cinematic pop art. [Blu-ray]
Without Jane Fonda, there isn't much to talk about. Yet with her, the film is enjoyable to watch, not only because she is so appealing to look at but because she has such a flair for the role.
Emblematic of a freewheeling, free love culture that never really existed, it's a true camp classic, a unique amalgamation of pulp themes and a pseudo-historical treasure.
Cheerfully catch-all.
A kitsch cult classic.
Most of this is soft-core nonsense, but snappy dialogue and design -- as well as the striptease routine that Fonda performs behind the opening credits -- have made it something of a cult favorite.
I just couldn't take my eyes off the screen.
An awful film, certainly, but also undeniably watchable.
Why did Jane make a film like this? Even she does not know herself.
A camp classic.
Audience Reviews for Barbarella
Super Reviewer
Barbarella is basically a bubbly female James Bond who wears a number of different skin tight space outfits, and somehow usually finds a way to lose varying degrees of said outfits throughout the course of her adventure.. In fact, the movie gets kicked off by having our title character float around in zero gravity and strip her clothes off as the opening credits "try" to cover up some of her more naughty bits.
This is not really a good movie, and it is quite campy, silly, and dumb, but even then, it is quite entertaining, and reasonably fun. The set and costume designs are really cheeky, the music is typical 60s poon palace music, and, despite not doing that great of an acting job, Jane Fonda definitely has a wonderful, likable, and certainly memorable presence as the title character. I also loved the hardly subtle dirty humor and sexual undertones here, definitely making this a product of its time.
If you're bored and want to kill some time (and maybe a couple of brain cells), and don't mind settling for dopey crap, then this would be a wise choice for viewing. It's not great, but it does at least put forth a little bit of effort, even if it ultimately comes up short.
Super Reviewer
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- Barbarella: What are you smoking?
- Pipe-smoking girl: Essence of man, darling.
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- Pygar: An angel doesn't make love; an angel is love.
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- Dildano: A life without cause is a life without effect.
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Foreign Titles
- Barbarella (UK)
- Barbarella (1968) (CA)
