B.A.D. Movie of the Week: Barbarella

Barbarella (1968)

Directed by Roger Vadim

Screenplay by Terry Southern and Roger Vadim

Based on the comic book series by Jean-Claude Forest

Stars: Jane Fonda, John Phillip Law, Milo O'Shea, Anita Pallenberg, David Hemmings, Ugo Tognazzi, Marcel Marceau, and Claude Dauphin

This movie has been a cult classic since its debut. I wanted to check out what the fuss was all about. This movie cost between $4 to 9 million dollars to make. How? Where did it go?

In the very distant future, the astronaut Barbarella (Fonda) is contacted by the leader of Earth (Dauphin) to go find a person named Durand-Durand. Barbarella's mission takes a lot of bumps in her intergalactic journey.

First thing, I want to point out is that this movie is rated PG. Holy shit. In the opening credits of the movie, you see Barbarella's tits and ass. Barbarella answers the call of the leader of Earth buck naked. What? Tits were scattered throughout the movie. I was gobsmacked when I learned that. The comic books series was supposed to basically softcore porn. It was certainly that.

Where did the budget go for this movie? Barbarella's hair? Her dozen costume changes? The amount of plastic structures in the film? The green screen? The projections of "space matter?"

I get the appeal of this movie. It's a woman that is damsel in distress that needs a man to help her and then she has sex with them. I get it. I wonder if the actors knew what movie they were in. Seeing the acting made me question that, and the horrendous wigs.

Rating: 3/10

Pride Month Movie - Day Eight: Teorema

Teorema (1968) 

Written and directed by Pier Paolo Pasolini

Stars: Terence Stamp, Silvana Mangano, Massimo Girotti, Anne Wiazemsky, Andrés José Cruz Soublette, and Laura Betti

A YouTube channel that I followed mentioned this movie about a guy fucking the entire family. On the surface, it seems that what happens, but you have to look deeper into the movie to the true meaning of it.

A Milanese bourgeoisie family is visited a mysterious person called The Visitor (Stamp). Little by little, the people of the household are exposing to The Visitor in more ways than one until he leaves as quickly as he comes in. The family spirals in unexpected ways trying to go back to the normal.

I am unfamiliar with the works of Pasolini. It seems that his movies have a history drenched in symbolism and allegory. It was prevalent in this movie. 

If you don't know the hidden meaning behind what is happening onscreen, you will be bored out of your mind. There is not that much dialogue in the film. You have to read what is unsaid throughout the movie.

The one thing that bothered me is that the movie seemed to be spoken in English and dubbed in Italian. I was multitasking reading the subtitles and lip reading.

Rating: 9/10