Barbarella

[yoloswegmaster]

Slip out of your spacesuit and into something more comfortable! It’s time to join Barbarella on a series of cosmic adventures in this Dino De Laurentiis production directed by Roger Vadim (And God Created Woman) and starring Jane Fonda as the intergalactic glamour puss created by comic book artist Jean-Claude Forest.

It is the year 40,000ad. When evil scientist Durand Durand (Milo O’Shea) creates a deadly weapon with the potential to cause mass devastation, the President of Earth dispatches Barbarella (Fonda) to hunt him down. Crash-landing in an icy wilderness somewhere within the Tau Ceti planetary system, Barbarella is rescued by Mark Hand (Ugo Tognazzi, La Cage Aux Folles) and guided by the blind angel Pygar (John Phillip Law, Danger: Diabolik) to Durand's lair in Sogo, a city of corruption and debauchery, where an encounter with the Great Tyrant Black Queen (Anita Pallenberg, Performance) and her minions throws her mission into jeopardy.

With an all-star cast including David Hemmings and Marcel Marceau, and glorious retro-futuristic costumes and art design dripping with 60s psychedelia, Barbarella defined an era and has never looked better than this brand new 4K restoration, with an HDR/Dolby Vision color grade so rich it can be seen from space, loaded with never-before-seen bonus features!

LIMITED EDITION CONTENTS

Brand new 4K restoration from the original negative by Arrow Films
Reversible sleeve featuring original and newly commissioned artwork by Tula Lotay
Double-sided fold-out poster featuring original and newly commissioned artwork by Tula Lotay
Six double-sided collector’s postcards
Illustrated collector’s booklet featuring new writing on the film by Anne Billson, Paul Gravett, Véronique Bergen and Elizabeth Castaldo Lundén, and select archival material

Disc One - Feature (4K Ultra HD Blu-ray)

4K (2160p) Ultra HD Blu-ray presentation in Dolby Vision (HDR10 compatible)
Original lossless English mono audio, plus remixed Dolby Atmos surround and lossless French mono (featuring the voice of Jane Fonda)
Optional English subtitles for the deaf and hard of hearing
Audio commentary by film critic Tim Lucas
Alternative opening and closing credits (in 4K with Dolby Vision)
Isolated score

Disc Two - Extras (Blu-ray)

Another Girl, Another Planet, an appreciation of Barbarella by film critic Glenn Kenny
Paul Joyce’s behind the scenes featurette, Barbarella Forever!
Love, a two-hour in-depth discussion between film and cultural historians Tim Lucas & Steve Bissette on the impact and legacy of Barbarella
Dress to Kill, a 30-minute interview with film fashion scholar Elizabeth Castaldo Lundén on Jacques Fonteray’s world-changing costume designs
Framing for Claude, an interview with camera operator Roberto Girometti
Tognazzi on Tognazzi, actor/director Ricky Tognazzi discusses the life and work of his father and Barbarella star Ugo Tognazzi
An Angel’s Body Double, actor Fabio Testi discusses his early career as a stuntman and body double for John Phillip Law on Barbarella
Dino and Barbarella, a video essay by Eugenio Ercolani on producer Dino De Laurentiis
Trailer
US TV and radio spots
Image gallery

[bearcuborg]

I saw the first 20mins of this movie for the first time ever a few weeks ago. The opening with her floating, and undressing reminded me a lot of the Sandra Bullock shot near the end of Gravity.

[Altair]

Almost worth getting this just for the production and costume design. Almost.

[colinr0380]

Not to mention John Phillip Law in a leathery, feathery jockstrap; the 'tortured by being brought to orgasm by a giant organ' scene; and the clothes-rending attack of the razor-toothed dolls!

Basically nobody can keep their clothes on for more than thirty seconds in this film, often by having them forcibly stripped off of them!

(And it works surprisingly well in a double bill with that other fantasy-thinly veiled S&M film Gwendoline (NSFW)! Or triple bill if you throw in the Flash Gordon film too)

[colinr0380]

It is also nice to see comic book artist Steve Bissette in a two hour discussion with Tim Lucas on Barbarella! That sounds worth picking up the set for entirely by itself.

(By the way, if you ever wished that the Criterion edition of Cronenberg's The Brood had a few more extra features and scholarly analysis on it, I would highly recommend Bissette's recent almost 700 page book dedicated to the film as a great companion piece)

[zedz]

By the way, nice to see comic book artist Steve Bissette in a two hour discussion with Tim Lucas on Barbarella! That sounds work picking up the set for entirely by itself.

(By the way, if you ever wished that the Criterion edition of Cronenberg's The Brood had a few more extra features and scholarly analysis on it, I would highly recommend Bissette's recent almost 700 page book dedicated to the film as a great companion piece)

Steve Bissette has done a few commentaries / extras recently (Arrow and Deaf Crocodile). Her could talk the legs off an iron pot, and he's great.

This film is pretty terrible, but I'm guessing it was on Arrow's wishlist since day one.