Peter Viney's Blog

Barbarella
1968

Directed by Roger Vadim
Screenplay by Terry Southern
Based on Barbarella, by Jean-Claude Forest

The 60s films revisited series continues… .

The film poster that I remember best

CAST:

Jane Fonda – Barbarella
John Philip Law – Pygar, The Angel
Anita Pallenberg – The Great Tyrant aka The Black Queen
Milo O’Shea – Concierge, Durand Durand
Ugo Tognazzi- Mark Hand, the Catchman
Marcel Marceau – Dr Ping
David Hemmings – Dildano, revolutionary leader
Claude Dauphin – President of Earth

Science fiction in 1968? It was the year of 2001 (the highest grossing film of the year) and the year of Barbarella. We were pretty innocent of space science fiction on the big screen, but on TV we remembered Lost in Space fondly and we still had Dr Who (though that wasn’t in outer space), and Star Trek was just beginning to boldly go.  

Barbarella was a comic book story, which would be played by live actors. What an absurd idea, we thought! No one in the future would ever do that with Popeye or The Flintstones let alone Asterix, and wouldn’t it be weird to put Flash Gordon, Superman, Batman, Spider Man, The Incredible Hulk, Thor, The Avengers, The X-Men, Captain America, Iron Man, Conan The Barbarian, Flash, Ant Man, The Joker, The Fantastic Four in a major feature film with live actors? It couldn’t happen. And having females as comic book heroines like Wonder Woman or Supergirl? No!  Even setting it in an alternate universe far into the future? Why, the next thing they’d be remaking classic Disney animations like Aladdin and Cinderella with real people! Crazy.

It wasn’t the first comic book heroine to arrive on film with real people. That might be The Adventures of Jane in 1949, based on The Daily Mirror comic strip (1932 to 1959). The film adaptation of the British comic strip Modesty Blaise was done in 1966. Modesty Blaise was a girl spy in The Evening Standard.  They took “strip” literally. Barbarella was syndicated to the US Evergreen Review:

Barbarella cartoon strip

The (Barbarella) strip (was) invented by Jean-Claude Forest, a Parisian born in 1930 (and) first appeared in the French magazine V in 1962. His heroine is a combination of Jane and Modesty Blaise projected into the future and interplanetary space. Like Jane, she has the same difficulty in retaining her clothes; like Modesty she is mistress of every situation. A fantasy for grown-ups with liberal doses of eroticism.
The Penguin Book of Comics, George Perry & Alan Aldridge, 1967 (before the film)

I had Barbarella on VHS tape and then on laser disc before I had it on DVD, my third version. I was really seeking Bob Crewe’s soundtrack which was hard to find on audio alone … I eventually got an LP reissued on bright red vinyl.

Jane Fonda got the starring role … she’d proved she could do tongue-in-cheek comedy with Cat Ballou The film was Dino de Laurentis’ brainchild, and it was Fonda who insisted that her husband, Roger Vadim, direct. It was filmed in Rome in mid-1967, but released everywhere in October 1968.

Marcel Marceau appeared as Professor Ping. And spoke! Anita Pallenberg deserted the Rolling Stones ongoing soap opera to play The Great Tyrant. David Hemmings turned up to play a revolutionary leader.

Terry Southern wrote the initial script … following on from Dr Strangelove, Casino Royale and The Cincinatti Kid. Many others continued to tweak the story.

The UK was its best market …it had  the second highest gross of the year. I’m trying to recall initial 1968 reaction (the point of these retrospectives). I think I was under-whelmed, mainly because I thought the plot confusing. We’ve become used to less linear narrative in this kind of film since. It’s grown in stature to cult movie status. In 1968, it must have had some of the “Wow! Far out!” appeal of Fantasia re-runs, and 2001. Not that the smoke a joint / drop a tab / watch a far out film audience in the UK in 1968 would have been anywhere near sufficient to propel it to second highest gross.

Barbarella: The Glitterhouse, US single

Listen to the theme song, Barbarella, and the lyrics are ‘Barbarella psychedella …’  Then the matmos, the liquid lake under the city in the film, is like a Pink Floyd light show as are some of the pictures of space, and The Chamber of Secrets. It’s definitely got “Wow! Far out!” appeal. The standard Earth greeting is ‘Love!’  Then when Barbarella reaches Sogo, she encounters people smoking hookahs … one woman  is smoking “Essence of Man.” The makers were certainly aware of the hippy cool references. This is from the Laser Disc sleeve:

Enjoy the spectacle of the huge sets, from the giant multi-level streets of Sogo with their plastic staircases and transparent travel tubes, to the Dante-esque living walls of the Labyrinth. We can also enjoy more of the bizarre and colourful special effects instead of the usual starfields consisting of points of light against black. Barbarella’s bubbly visions of outer space resemble the colourful liquid contents of a lave lamp! Large scale front projection was used for the airborne battle with the Leathered Men and the shifting walls of the Chamber of Dreams.
Laser disc sleevenotes, 1996

I’d class it as an erotic space comedy. Jane Fonda’s surprised innocent reactions throughout are very funny, and the sex scene with David Hemmings is hilarious … he’s called Dildano, probably a deliberate joke (dildo). The spaceship has three pulsating breasts and the door is a sphincter.

Opening credits: zero gravity striptease

It’s set in the year 40,000 (though I don’t think the film ever says that … the DVD sleeve does). It opens with a zero gravity striptease as Jane Fonda as Barbarella divests herself of her space suit over the credits. I’ve no idea how they did this. It looks as if she is genuinely floating inside her furry-lined spaceship with its great works of art.

Then Barbarella is given a mission. Earth gave up war, violence and sex millenia ago. Now Durand Durand has some sort of positronic or polytonic space ray (references differ). Then again we have all based names on hearing not spelling, as the group Duran Duran took their name from the film, just dropping the Ds. She has to go to Tau Ceti (which I heard as Tao City to maintain the hippy references) and get it back. She is shocked to hear such savagery still exists.

Barbarella: You mean they could still be living in a state of neurotic irresponsibility!

The President of Earth has no option but to send her, as the only troops he has are the presidential band. He sends her a couple of weapons from the museum by transporter … OK, we had seen Star Trek we knew how it worked.

The boob adorned spaceship crash lands on the planet. She meets two cute little girls ‘What marvellous little girls!’ she gushes, (Barbarella finds dangerous things cute initially) who knock her out, tie her up and take her to a wrecked spaceship, Alpha One,  full of feral children. They set razor tooth dolls on her. The dolls bite and rip her fishnet tights leaving bloody marks around her upper thighs … did I mention her husband directed this?

Barbarella and The Catchman (Ugo Tognazzi), lobby card

She is saved by The Catchman, Mark Hand (Ugo Tognazzi). His job is rounding up the kids. Barbarella has a Tongue Box, a universal translator which she tries after English and French fail. (I assume French was added in deference to Vadim, her husband … given a universal translator you’d hardly start working through languages).   The alien language of the children and The Catchman sounds amusing too.

Barbarella and The Catchman discuss having sex. In 40,000 this is done by taking an Ecstasy Transference Pill and holding hands, but Mark suggests doing it the old savage way, which leaves Barbarella singing in ecstasy. He gives her furs to wear, though his revealed chest looks like fur in itself. Off she flies in The Three Boob.

The next planet sees her in a stone labyrinth populated by the good people, who have been ejected from the city of Sogo (so it goes) where evil rules. They are transparent, or half rock. She meets Pygar, a bind angel (John Philip Law – who got co-star billing).

The first encounter with Pygar (John Philip Law). Being blind there’s only one way to find out what she’s like.

Pygar finds Dr Ping (Marcel Marceau ) who will repair the stabilisers on her ship. This may be inspired by Scotty mending The Enterprise’s hyperdrive with a hammer and screwdriver. However in spite of his great renown as a mime artist, Marceau isn’t going to mime mending it and he speaks!

Marcel Marceau as Dr Ping

They go to Pygar’s nest where a healthy old-style sex session with Barbarella returns Pygar’s ability to fly, and it leaves Barbarella singing in ecstasy again. He flies her to the city of Sogo. On the way they are attacked by aircraft which she shoots down, and I wouldn’t be surprised, looking at their shape, if this sequence inspired Space Invaders. This was all done on wires and front projection, creating a first in SFX. Like green screen, the actors couldn’t see what they were doing. But …

The flying scene. I detect tension on The Angel’s face.

Jane Fonda: A huge rotating steel pole stuck out horizontally from a cycloramic gray screen. The pole had large hooks and screws at the end, on which two metal corsets were attached. One corset had been made to fit John Phillip Law and one was for me, and they were skintight because our costumes had to fit over the metal and not look bulky. We got all suited up, first the cold metal corsets, then the costumes, and then John’s wings were strapped onto his back with wires running from the wings to a remote-control machine.

Than a crane hoisted us up and we stood on the platform while John was hooked up to the end of the pole. Then my metal corset was screwed to the front of his, putting me into a position that made it look as though he were carrying me … After we had been suited up, hoisted up, and screwed up, the moment of truth arrived. The crane, which until then had been supporting us, was moved away, leaving us suspended in air. With the weight of our bodies jamming our hipbones and crotches into the metal corset. It was sheer, utter agony. And with all that, we had to remember our dialogue, look dreamy, and occasionally be funny. The muted sounds of misery I could hear from John (who was bearing the added weight of his wings) told me that his pain was worse than mine, and mine was nearly unbearable. No one had taken our poor crotches into consideration! John was convinced his sex life would be brought to a premature demise.
Jane Fonda: My Life So Far (2006)

Crucifying the angel: lobby card

Surviving that, they arrive in Sogo, where Pygar is captured by The Great Tyrant (Anita Pallenberg) whose lisping address of ‘Pretty … pretty’ stuck in my mind over the intervening fifty years.

Anita Pallenberg as The Black Queen aka The Great Tyrant

From Barbarella- The Graphic Novel. The dialogue is from the film

The concierge (Milo O’Shea) is Durand Durand in disguise. The city is above the Matmos a liquid (psychedelic) lake that draws its energy from the evil people do above it. Keeping up the evil, they start to crucify The Angel. Barbarella is placed in a cage which fills with birds (Oh, how darling!) is her initial reaction. These are no Hitchcock seagulls, but blue and yellow budgerigars (lovebirds), an unusual aggressor, though the green one I had as a child had a vicious peck.

Oh, no! Not the killer budgerigars!

The lovebirds and wrens got cold feet over the scene, so Vadim got this big fan to blow them at Jane. Then they put birdseed in her costume, on the theory that once the birds landed they’d be ready for a meal. But by the time the birds got blown through the fan, they had lost their appetites, as well as most of their control over natural body functions, so it was all a little messy. To complicate things, the birds all got together and huddled on the downwind side of Miss Fonda, who was afraid she might squash a couple of hundred. After two weeks of this, she got a fever and was hospitalized. I can’t reveal here how they finally did the scene.
Roger Ebert, Interview with Jane Fonda, 15 October 1967

Barbarella and Dildano have it off.

She is rescued (spotted with pinpricks of blood) via an escape chute which propels her to the revolutionary, Dildano (David Hemmings). This is played for straight comedy … none of the apparatus in his HQ works without a thump on the side. Dildano wants sex the new way, and has some pills. A brilliantly funny scene by Fonda and Hemmings, made funnier by the arrival of a discombobulated observer.

The big dark green pleasure machine

Barbarella is re-captured and Durand Durand tries to kill her with an Excessive Pleasure machine that creates such sexual ecstasy that you die. However, Barbarella wears the machine out rather than vice versa.Her ordeal was not over:

Vadim wanted us to look natural, so he didn’t tell us what a big explosion there would be. When the machine blew up, flames and smoke were everywhere, and sparks were running up and down the wires. I was frightened to death, and poor Milo was convinced something had really gone wrong and I was being electrocuted
Jane Fonda, Roger Ebert, Interview with Jane Fonda, 15 October 1967

Durand Durand takes her to the hyper-psychedelic Chamber of Dreams (Wow! Really far out!) and locks her in with the Great Tyrant, while he seizes control. The Great tyrant releases the Matmos to destroy Sogo (Freak out!) and they find the Angel who rescues both of them and they fly off, no doubt for a ménage à trois somewhere.

It has stood up really well. I thought it better than the last time I saw it. Fonda is so good, so funny in what was clearly an arduous role. She has said that it was especially hard doing so many nude and scantily clad scenes when at the time she was bulimic and suffering from horror of her body image. It is incredibly hard to see what problem she had over her body image, but it is all in the mind.

An advantage is that the stylisation of the art, background and costumes, including a sense of OTT humour, gets you over the difference between 1968 SFX and 2020 SFX, so that it doesn’t look as creaky as (e.g.) early Star Trek TV episodes from the same period.

THE SOUNDTRACK

The soundtrack: original US LP soundtrack

The soundtrack is by the Bob Crewe Generation with the addition of Long Island psych band, The Glitterhouse.

COMMENTS

21st century …

Sometimes films are famous way our of proportion with their merits, sometimes they’re much more important than they are good, and sometimes really bad films are tremendous fun. Barbarella ticks all three of these boxes. Though Jane Fonda regretted starring in it, especially as she missed out on important roles to do so, there’s no doubt that it made her name. Through its cult status, it also promises her immortality.
Jennie Kermode, Eye for Film, 14 April 2012

This is all parody. Barbarella is too pure and virtuous to be true, like that other campily incorruptible 60s do-gooder, the Adam West Batman. After a fling in the nest with Barbarella, angels regain the will to fly. When our heroine falls into the Mathmos, a lake of pure evil, it creates a bubble around her to protect itself from her innocence. “You are so good you made the Mathmos vomit!” the evil tyrant shouts. “That’s nice,” Barbarella replies. Fonda gets just a hint of archness into the delivery, letting the viewer know that she’s aware of how ridiculous it is to cheerfully approve of her own miraculous saintliness.
Noah Berlatsky, The Guardian 5 October 2016

Set beside Barbarella, the staid 2001: A Space Odyssey and the sexless Star Wars seem pretty stuffy; actually, when Jane Fonda’s orgasm blows all the fuses of an “excessive pleasure machine,” Barbarella makes Flesh Gordon seem pretty stuffy. Jean-Claude Forest’s original comic strip, to which the multi-authored film is surprisingly faithful, was a witty, teasing homage to Alex Toth’s famous Flash Gordon strips, replacing the iron-jawed space pilot Flash with a blonde “five star double-rated astro-navigatrix.” The Frenchman Forest based his heroine on the cinema’s reigning sex kitten, Brigitte Bardot. De Laurentiis signed up Bardot’s ex-husband/sometime Svengali to direct his expensive Barbarella, and he brought along his current wife as star.
Kim Newman, Empire 1 January 2011

But back in 1968 …

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. Based on what has been called an adult comic strip [by Jean Claude Forest], the Dino De Laurentis production is flawed with a cast that is not particularly adept at comedy, a flat script, and direction which can’t get this beached whale afloat. Jane Fonda stars in the title role, and comes across as an ice-cold, antiseptic, wide-eyed girl who just can’t say no. Fonda’s abilities are stretched to the breaking point along with her clothes. In key supporting roles, John Phillip Law is inept as a simp angel while Anita Pallenberg, as the lesbian queen, fares better because of a well defined character.
Variety 31 December 1967 (preview?)

JANE FONDA
Cat Ballou (1965)
Barbarella (1968)

THE 60s REVISITED REVIEWS …

A Taste of Honey (1961)
Sparrows Can’t Sing (1963)
Tom Jones (1963)
The Fast Lady (1963)
Cat Ballou (1965)
The Ipcress File (1965)
Darling (1965)
The Knack (1965)
Doctor Zhivago (1965)
Morgan – A Suitable Case For Treatment (1966)
Alfie (1966)
Harper (aka The Moving Target) 1966
The Chase (1966)
The Trap (1966)
Georgy Girl (1966)
Fahrenheit 451 (1966)
Modesty Blaise (1966)
The Family Way (1967)
Privilege (1967)
Blow-up (1967)
Accident (1967)
Bonnie and Clyde (1967)
I’ll Never Forget What’s ‘Is Name (1967)
How I Won The War (1967)
Far From The Madding Crowd (1967)
Poor Cow (1967)
Here We Go Round The Mulberry Bush (1968)
The Magus (1968)
If …. (1968)
The Devil Rides Out (aka The Devil’s Bride) (1968)
Work Is A Four Letter Word (1968)
The Party (1968)
Petulia (1968)
Barbarella (1968)
The Thomas Crown Affair (1968)
Bullitt (1968)
Deadfall (1968)
The Swimmer (1968)
Theorem (Teorema) (1968)
The Magic Christian (1969)
The Rise and Rise of Michael Rimmer (1970)
Performance (1970)