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Thursday, March 5, 2015

Barbarella (1968)

A female cosmonaut (Jane Fonda) is given an assignment by the President Of Earth (Claude Dauphin) to locate a scientist who has invented a weapon (though the universe has been at peace for centuries) that may have the power to start warfare again. All indications are that he has fled to an uncharted part of the galaxy. BARBARELLA is one of those films that didn't do well either critically or at the box office on its initial release but in the ensuing years has attracted a huge cult following and its influence on pop culture from the pop group Duran Duran to fashion (Jean Paul Gaultier) to name just two has been significant. I've been a fan of it since day one. It's a sci-fi Alice In Wonderland with Fonda's sensual yet innocent "Alice" taking an odyssey through a kinky and evil Wonderland. Though seven writers are credited for the script I'm assuming most of the film's wit is courtesy of Terry Southern (CANDY). Mario Garbuglia's clever production design, Paco Rabanne's costumes and Charles Fox's pop underscore all contribute to the film's kitschy fun but it's Fonda's first rate comedic timing that keeps the movie floating. Directed with an assured hand by Roger Vadim. With David Hemmings, John Phillip Law, Milo O'Shea, Marcel Marceau, Ugo Tognazzi and Anita Pallenberg (dubbed by Joan Greenwood).

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