Rough Trade Friday: Barbarella
Camp classic alert! When ever I am down, nothing picks me up like a little Barbarella action. Based loosely on a French comics series, Barbarella is pure erotic fluff. Set in the year 40,000 A.D. (see I knew that BCE/CE crap would never catch on), Baraberlla is dispatched to stop Durand Durand, a scientist who has nefarious plans for the universe. Of course this means that she must have sex with many different people (channeling James T. Kirk anyone?) as that's what saving the universe revolves around. Though the special effect are quite chessy, they were quite ambitious by the standards of 1968, and the opening zero-gravity sequence still titillates. Also the orgasmatron makes an appearance!
To be honest there isn't much of a plot and I've always found it best to watch after a few shots of tequila with lots of friends. One interesting thing about the production however, is that it was filmed in both French and English, with Jane Fonda speaking her own lines in French. This is also in keeping with the times, as the spaghetti western paved a path to greater world wide revenue by filming and dubbing in serveral languages at once.
Allegedly a remake is in the works...I'm very worried.
The Boy Blunder
Posted to Hot Stuff, Trade Paperback on 6 July 2007
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