Barbarella was originally a French science fiction comic book created by Jean-Claude Forest, who originated the character for serialisation in the French magazine V-Magazine in 1962. Barbarella is a young woman who has numerous adventures and a good deal of sex while journeying around the galaxy.

A movie adaptation was made in 1968 starring Jane Fonda as Barbarella, with David Hemmings, John Philip Law, Anita Pallenberg, Milo O'Shea, and Marcel Marceau. The film was produced by Dino de Laurentiis and directed by Roger Vadim, Fonda's husband at the time.

It is famous for a sequence in which the title character performs a striptease in zero gravity during the opening credits. Barbarella is one of the few science fiction erotica films.

The whole film is played in a very tongue-in-cheek manner - especially when it comes to the frequent (but non-explicit) sex scenes. The special effects look cheaply-made and unconvincing, but there is a suggestion that they are meant to look that way in order to reinforce the film's camp atmosphere.

The film was simultaneously shot in French and English. In the French version, Fonda performs her own lines in French. In the English version Pallenberg's lines are dubbed by Fenella Fielding. Marceau's lines are also dubbed into English.

De Laurentiis returned to camp science fiction (but without the erotica) with 1980's Flash Gordon.

Trivia

The band Duran Duran takes its name from Dr. Duran Duran (O'Shea), a mad scientist who appears in the film as one of the villains. O'Shea repaid the compliment by appearing in one of the band's videos as the original Duran Duran. Some of the band's early appearances were at a nightclub called Barbarella's, in their home town of Birmingham, England.

Musical

A musical based on the movie and written by Dave Stewart is due to premiere in Vienna, Austria on March 11, 2004.

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