Barbarella (1968)

Director:

Roger Vadim

Writers:

Jean-Claude Forest (comic "Barbarella") and
Claude Brulé (collaborating writer) ...
(more)

Release Date:

10 October 1968 (USA)

Genre:

Adventure | Sci-Fi | Fantasy

Tagline:

Who seduces an angel? Who strips in space? Who conveys love by hand? Who gives up the pill? Who takes sex to outer space? Who's the girl of the 21st century? Who nearly dies of pleasure?

Plot:

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.

Plot Keywords:

Evil | Planet | Sex | Lesbian | Torture

Awards:

1 nomination

Cast

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
Ugo Tognazzi	...	Mark Hand
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Honey Autumn	...	Bald handmaiden at Sogovian court (uncredited)
Loriana Bartella	...	(uncredited)
Marina Bartella	...	(uncredited)
Diane Bond	...	(uncredited)
Carla Cassola	...	(uncredited)
Tania de Paolis	...	(uncredited)
Sadre Girodani	...	(uncredited)
Gara Granda	...	Girl (uncredited)
Joan Greenwood	...	The Great Tyrant (voice) (uncredited)
Beatrice Lanscat	...	(uncredited)
Katiuska Lanvin	...	(uncredited)
Janet McLeod	...	Girl in Sogo (uncredited)
Gabriella Morganti	...	(uncredited)
María Teresa Orsini	...	Suicide Girl (uncredited)
Talitha Pol	...	Pipe-smoking girl (uncredited)
Fred Robsahm	...	Dildanos assistant (uncredited)
Antonio Sabato	...	Jean-Paul (uncredited)
Kitty Swan	...	Girl in Sogo (uncredited)
Silvana Venturelli	...	(uncredited)
Barbara Winer	...	(uncredited)

Directed by
Roger Vadim

Writing credits
Jean-Claude Forest		comic "Barbarella" (as Jean Claude Forest) and
Claude Brulé		collaborating writer (as Claude Brule)
Terry Southern		(screenplay) and
Roger Vadim		(screenplay)
Vittorio Bonicelli		(writer) and
Clement Biddle Wood		(writer) and
Brian Degas		(writer) and
Tudor Gates		(writer) and
Jean-Claude Forest		(writer) (as Jean Claude Forest)

Produced by
Dino De Laurentiis	....	producer

Original Music by
Michel Magne
James Campbell		(uncredited)

Cinematography by
Claude Renoir

Film Editing by
Victoria Mercanton

Production Design by
Mario Garbuglia

Costume Design by
Jacques Fonteray
Paco Rabanne		(as Paco Rabane)

Production Management
Guy Luongo	....	production supervisor

Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
Alberto Cardone	....	second unit director
Carlo Lastricati	....	first assistant director

Art Department
Umberto Campagna	....	assistant art director
Jean-Claude Forest	....	artistic consultant (as Jean Claude Forest)

Sound Department
David Hildyard	....	sound engineer

Special Effects by
Gérard Cogan	....	special animation effects (as Gerard Cogan)
Augie Lohman	....	special effects supervisor (as August Lohman)
Thierry Vincens-Fargo	....	special animation effects

Visual Effects by
Charles Staffell	....	optical effects

Camera and Electrical Department
Wladimir Ivanov	....	camera operator: second unit (as Vladimir Ivanov)

Costume and Wardrobe Department
Gloria Musetta	....	wardrobe supervisor (as Gloria Mussetta)

Music Department
Bob Crewe	....	music supervisor
Charles Fox	....	conductor
The Glitterhouse	....	music performers: songs
Michel Magne	....	conductor (uncredited)

Other crew
Maurice Binder	....	title designer
Suzanne Durrenberger	....	continuity (as Suzanne Durramberger)
Lucilla Mussini	....	production assistant (uncredited)
Chuck Painter	....	unit publicist (uncredited)

Production Companies

• Dino de Laurentiis Cinematografica
• Marianne Productions

Distributors

• Paramount Pictures (1968) (USA) (theatrical) (dubbed)
• Fotomat (Drive-Thru Movies) Video (1979) (USA) (VHS) (pan/scan)
• Fusion Video (199?) (USA) (VHS) (pan/scan)
• CIC-Taft Home Video (199?) (Australia) (VHS) (pan/scan)
• Paramount Home Video (199?) (USA) (VHS) (pan/scan)
• Argentina Video Home (????) (Argentina) (VHS)

Other Companies

• Atlas Copco  compressed air for special effects
• Ditta Maggi  wigs
• Le Terrain Vague  best seller "Barbarella" published by
• Rocchetti  wigs
• Sartoria Farani S.t.L.  costume house
• The Bob Crewe Generation Orchestra  music performed by

Also Known As:

Barbarella (USA)
Barbarella: Queen of the Galaxy (USA) (promotional title)
Barbarella (Argentina) (Spain) [es]
Barbarela (Portugal) [pt]
Barbarella (Greece) [el]
Barbarella (Austria) [de]
Barbarella (Poland) [pl]
Barbarella (Turkey: Turkish title) [tr]
Barbarella (Finland) [fi]
Barbarella, la Venus del espacio (Spain) [es]
Barbarella, rumpigen og den sorte tyran (Denmark) [da]

Runtime:

98 min

Country:

France | Italy

Language:

English

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (Westrex Recording System)

Certification:

New Zealand:R16 | Argentina:13 | Singapore:NC-16 | Australia:M | Canada:13+ (Quebec) | Canada:14 (Nova Scotia) | Canada:G (Quebec) (cut US version) | Canada:PG (Manitoba/Ontario) | Finland:K-16 | France:-16 | Norway:15 | Sweden:15 | UK:15 (video rating) (1986) | UK:X (original rating) | USA:Approved | USA:PG (re-rating) (1977) (cut) | West Germany:16 | Iceland:L

Filming Locations:

Dino De Laurentiis Cinematografica Studios, Rome, Lazio, Italy

Company:

Dino de Laurentiis Cinematografica

Trivia:

This film is listed among The 100 Most Amusingly Bad Movies Ever Made in Golden Raspberry Award founder John Wilson's book THE OFFICIAL RAZZIE® MOVIE GUIDE.

Goofs:

Continuity: After Barabarella faints from being attacked by the "tooth dolls," several wounds on her legs and arms are visible. When she gets into the iceboat immediately after being rescued, the wounds have disappeared.

Quotes:

Barbarella: I suppose you realize you saved my life.
Dildano: A life without cause is a life without effect.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in "The Janice Dickinson Modeling Agency: Designer Cracks the Whip (#4.6)" (2008)

Soundtrack:

Barbarella

Essential Sci-Fi

This is eye candy from start to finish-- *including* one of the most baroque title sequences ever concocted (long before digital technology made this kind of playful titling standard). It's Franco-Italian design all the way through, a celebration of petroleum products and the best of the lava lamp aesthetic. Hard to tell if it's a parody of sci-fi or a parody of porn, or same difference is probably the point. There are some very stylized, sadomasochistic uses of Jane Fonda's long legs, at the same time that Fonda delivers the wittiest lines, in a very witty screenplay by Terry Southern (of Doctor Strangelove fame): "Decrucify my angel immediately!" (Kids, see if you can spot the Chucky in this 1968 precursor.) Skeptics should stay the course to learn what Duran Duran has to do with Barbarella. And Barbarella with the Black Queen. And the Black Queen with the Rolling Stones. And if you don't know what camp is, then you have to see Barbarella: even if the film is more sublime than camp, a kind of psychedelic Brechtian fantasia. (If that's not a contradiction in terms, then this isn't on my sci-fi shortlist.) One to own, to watch again and again.