In a Nutshell. Mini reviews of movies old and new. No fuss. No spoilers. And often no sleep.

Sunday, 25 December 2016

Barbarella (1968)

Jane Fonda is magnificent as the sexually liberated titular character, based on Jean-Claude Forest's comic book of the same name. Her innocence may be equal parts naïvety, but her sincerity balances it out beautifully. Her introduction is an unforgettable slice of 60s cinema. We're then invited into a fur-lined cockpit wherein she cements her place in counterculture history.
The psychedelic FX are often badly scaled and at times plot is almost non-existent, but the playful self-awareness that both mocks and celebrates its own cheapness seduces the part of me that can fully embrace that sense of fun; somehow it makes it all the more lovable.
It seems inappropriate to judge Barbarella by conventional criteria because it plays by its own rules from beginning to end, but I guess I should try:

4 exaltation transference pellets out of 5

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