Barbarella (1968)

 

Man, the 60s were damn trippy.

Science fiction went from being usually apocalyptic and concerning nuclear radiation in the 50s to balls-to-the-wall insane at times during the 60s. That being said, it's hard to think of a film beside this one that is so quintessentially 60s it's almost silly. 

It's also a lot of fun in all its campy glory, so there's that.

Also also: Jane Fonda was hot. Dayum.

'Barbarella' is based on a book, but if the film is anything to go by, I'm fairly confident the book is less trippy. Visual medium and so on, you know. Anyway, Barbarella is the best space navigatrix in the known universe and she gets the assignment to rescue a missing scientist named Duran Duran (yes, that is where the band got its name from) who invented a weapon of mass destruction called the 'positronic ray'. So off she goes to a planet in the Tau Ceti-system, where she constantly is in need of rescuing or the like. 

Seriously: she crashes her ship two times and gets captured almost incessantly. Although to be fair: she is not a soldier or a special agent. She is just very good at navigating, which begs the question why the authorities thought she was the best choice for this mission, but what do I know?

The adventure is just an excuse to show off the funky visuals and cool sets and Barbarella simply moves from one location to another whilst meeting interesting people and oftentimes has sex with them. Yes, that is a thing, seeing as in the future, Earthlings have sex by taking pills, so once Barbarella is introduced to the physical variant, she does seem to prefer the latter. 

She also shorts out what is basically an orgasm organ. The musical instrument, not the fleshy kind. Yes, I know it sounds weird. That's only because it is. 

Along the way she comes across an angel (a real one), finds Duran Duran in a city that thrives on sin because there is an entity below the city called the Mathmos that feeds on negative energy; has a run in with the Tyrant who happens to be an SM-Queen and so on and so forth. 

See, there isn't much to the story, but that is not the reason to watch this. Instead, you will be flabbergasted by the abundance of flashy visuals, bizarre yet compelling set designs and the wide-eyed Jane Fonda, who on occasion lets on that she knows this is a bit silly and does semi-fourth wall breaks. The special effects are very lava lamp-like and must look even more funky when you're about as stoned as you can get. But it's the set design that always gets me. I mean: the inside of Barbarella's spaceship is lined wall to wall with brown fur. 

Yes, you read that correctly. 

The city of sin is also intriguing in its design choices and every time I watch this, I discover new things I haven't noticed earlier. Also, the labyrinth beneath the city is actually pretty awesome, in that the more time you spend there, the more a literal part of the scenery you become. It's beautiful in a gruesome kind of way. 

And through it all, there is our young Jane Fonda, wide-eyed and innocent and often scantily clad. Heck, the opening five minutes is a song about her while she undresses, supposedly in zero G, but you can see the reflection in the glass plate she is lying on. Is it functional nudity? Absolutely not, but there are worse ways to start a film. Is it lecherous? Yes, at times. But after the opening, miss Fonda doesn't show all her assets that often any more. She just gets skintight outfits (oh, there are a lot of costume changes...).

The point where you start to fully realize that this is actually a funny film, is when Barbarella gets rescued by a character called Dildano. This segment goes pure for comedy and it works. 

Well for me, it does. I crack up every time. But then again, it does feature a character called 'Dildano', that in itself is funny enough. 

There are good reasons why this is considered a cult classic. It makes absolutely no sense, it's trippy as balls, and it's not even that good. But it is a lot of fun to watch though, precisely because it just goes all-out insane and doesn't care. You either love it or loathe it, so it's up to you to discover which of those it will be.