Barbarella is a 1968 science fiction film directed by Roger Vadim, based on the French comic series of the same name by Jean-Claude Forest.
The film stars Jane Fonda as the title character, a space traveler and representative of the United Earth government sent to find scientist Durand Durand, who has created a weapon that could destroy humanity.
Vadim attempted to cast several actresses—in the title role before choosing Fonda, his then-wife: Brigitte Bardot, who was not interested in a sexualized role, and Sophia Loren who was pregnant and felt that she would not fit the role. Fonda was uncertain about the film, but Vadim convinced her by saying that science fiction was a rapidly-evolving genre.
The film was particularly popular in the United Kingdom, where it was the year’s second-highest-grossing film. Contemporary film critics praised Barbarella’s visuals and cinematography but found its storyline weak after the first few scenes.
Jane Fonda married her first husband, French film director Roger Vadim, on August 14, 1965, at the Dunes Hotel in Las Vegas. During their marriage Vadim would accompany her back to the US periodically while she made movies there. The couple had a daughter, Vanessa, born on September 28, 1968, in Paris, France, and named after the actress and activist Vanessa Redgrave.
On 21 December 1952, aged 18, Brigitte Bardot married director Roger Vadim in Paris. The couple met after the bourgeois Bardot appeared on the cover of a magazine and the director Marc Allégret, who Vadim was assisting, invited her to do a screen test. When her family forbade the teen from seeing the much older Vadim, she attempted suicide.
In the sixties, Bardot paved the way for the off-the-rack, no-fuss, leg-exposing bride. On her weddding to Vadim she wore a high-collared, bustled dress accessorized with muff and veil. According to the groom:
“Brigitte designed and chose the material for the white, handsewn wedding dress from Madame Ogive, the dressmaker on the Rue de Passy.” (source)
The couple divorced in 1957, but remained friends and collaborated in later work.
Brigitte Bardot and Roger Vadim’s wedding, 1952 via
Brigitte Bardot and Roger Vadim’s wedding, 1952 via
Brigitte Bardot and Roger Vadim’s wedding, 1952 via
Brigitte Bardot and Roger Vadim’s wedding, 1952 via
Brigitte Bardot and Roger Vadim’s wedding, 1952 via
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