Jane Fonda stars as Barbarella in Roger Vadim's 1960s sci-fi adventure.
This film was based off the comic series of the same name by Jean-Claude Forest, and has garnered a reputation as a cult classic since its release. I think it somewhat justifies that with its over-the-top and campy presentation.
The story is very straightforward as Barbarella is called upon by the President of Earth to locate the scientist Durand Durand, who has created a dangerous weapon. Whilst this aspect is hardly that investing, the production has more noteworthy elements.
Particular attention must be paid to the visual effects, set design and costuming which is all immensely creative. These aspects are all dated of course, but retain a lot of charm and keep all the locations interesting. The city of Sogo, where most of the film takes place, is a great example of that creativity as it is endlessly inventive in its design.
Jane Fonda's performance also suits the tone of the film perfectly, as do the performances across the whole cast. Anita Pallenberg as 'The Great Tyrant' is suitably overly-dramatic whilst Milo O'Shea as Durand Durand demonstrates great bombast. David Hemmings also pops up as an underground resistance member called Dildano who is quite entertaining for the one scene he's in.
To top it all off the score is appropriately vibrant to fit the tone of the space adventure serial.
However, these stronger aspects do have to contrast with a weak story. There are eight writers who are credited as having worked on the screenplay, and it shows in the narrative's scattered and aimless progression. It's quite messy for how straightforward it should really be.
The dialogue as a result is nonsensical and weightless most of the time. However, the actors give the appropriate hammy delivery of these lines, which is its saving grace.
Surprisingly I did find it to be dull for large portions of the first act, as aside from the odd fun moment of camp there was little to grab my attention. It felt like more of an excuse to send Barbarella to a variety of unique locations without any real hold on moving the story forward.
Once Barbarella gets to Sogo the film picks up in pace, but it ends up leading to a very sudden conclusion with a villain who is given little reason for why he's turned to this sort of life. He ends up putting his plan into action before being defeated literally within the space of about five minutes. None of it really feels earned.
Final Verdict
Whilst I really enjoyed the production side of this film, the writing is so weak and insubstantial it makes it difficult to enjoy, even with the deliberately campy tone it's going for.
Commentaires