Barbarella often get knocked for being a bad movie as if it was supposed to be taken seriously. The movie is a campy, sci-fi, sex romp that takes equal shots at the conventions of both the 60s Sci-Fi and sex romp films. Don’t take it seriously. You probably shouldn’t watch it sober, but it is worth watching for the wide-eyed innocent wantonness that Jane Fonda manages to project in the lead role.
Now first off, I’ve never really been a fan of Jane Fonda’s acting ability. She single-handedly wrecks On Golden Pond, and is shrill and unfunny in Monster-in-Law. Fonda’s limited acting abilities actually work for her in this movie. Her then soon to be ex-husband, Roger Vadim, didn’t ask for her to do deep method acting, but used her stilted line delivery to his advantage. He also uses the hammy performances of the other actors to the movies advantage. Barbarella walks a very fine balance of camp and crap and slips on each side at points along the way, but manages to keep that balance for much of the movie.
The plot doesn’t really make much sense and is really only an excuse to get Barbarella from one psychedelic set piece to the surreal next one. Milo O’Shea plays Durand Durand, a scientist who has left Earth for a distant planet where they will let him build the ultimate weapon. Barbarella is sent by the president of Earth to bring him back. She crash lands on the planet Lythion and is attacked by tiny toy doll robots with snapping jaws that manage only to destroy her clothes (a common occurrence in this movie). She is rescued by a hunter who, after they have sex, takes her to meet Professor Ping, who along with all the other good people are slowlybeing turned to stone. Ping sends Barbarella onto the evil city of Sogo with a blind angel. There she meets the Great Dictator, the ineffective resistance leader and Durand Durand.
The climax comes (so to speak) when she is put into a giant orgasm-inducing organ (the musical kind) to be pleasured to death.
This movie is truly a product of its times. It hasn’t aged well from the perspective of fashions and style. It is all done in high 1960s counter culture psychedelia. Despite this, there is a certain charm to the unique visual style that feeds into the humorous aspects of this movie. For example, Barbarella's spaceship has the exterior design of a beach toy and the interior decoration of the Playboy mansion. (You'll never see anything like this in Star Trek!)
Many people complain that the movie is antifeminist because Jane Fonda spends a lot of the movie with little clothing on and what clothes she does manage to wear are equally parts ridiculous and revealing.
What I find truly revolutionary is that the movie celebrates women’s sensuality. Barbarella never pays any kind of moralistic price for enjoying sex. In fact, her enjoyment of sex is what saves her in the end. Also she is able to defeat the villains of the movie without any real help from the men who constantly surround her in this movie.