Barbarella - One of the cheesiest films ever made

To enjoy ‘Barbarella’ you probably better put the ‘feminists’ arguments’ against this film to one side and simply enjoy it for what it is... something totally silly.  Does it degrade and/or exploit women?  I don’t know.  I can see both sides of the story; I just choose not to think of it.

Basically, if you don’t know, it’s a science fiction film with more than a few shades of ‘soft p*rn’ added for... well, good measure?  Our heroine is the scantily-clad titular Barbarella – a member of Earth’s space police who is given the task of hunting down a rogue scientist on a desolate planet.  Along the way she encounters all manner of weird and wonderful characters, all of which are dressed equally provocatively as our fair maiden.

If you’re going to be totally realistic then you have to admit that Barbarella is a pretty awful film.  The dialogue is terrible, the plot is wafer-thin and the special effects aren’t that special (not including the costumes – as most guys may consider the costumers pretty special).  But then it knows it’s not a great film.  It doesn’t try to be.  And, the reason it’s still talked about today is because there will always be an audience who can appreciate ‘bad’ films and take delight in them.

Don’t go into this expecting anything other than a daft, slightly saucy, space adventure (and I’m told that the real ‘hard scenes’ were left on the cutting room floor).  As long as you know what you’re in for you should enjoy this film.  It’s not meant to be viewed as a great, intellectual work of art.

Also, kudos for the genuinely creepy ‘doll scene’ – it’s pretty nasty.

7/10 if I woke up on Groundhog Day and had to watch this again, I could live with that