Dystopias, time, freedom and sex: French vision of science fiction cinema in the 1960s

Abstract

The Franco-Italian film “Barbarella” (Vadim 1968) is one of the greatest references of science fiction genre in the popular culture of the 1960s. However, its French origin and its unique approach to the genre are striking, but it shares similar traits with its science fiction contemporaries? This question will be addressed through an analysis of the films “Alphaville: une étrange aventure de Lemmy Caution” (Godard, 1965), “Fahrenheit 451” (Truffaut, 1966) and “Je t’aime, je t’aime” (Resnais, 1968). The search for freedom, the setting of dystopian realities and the presence of contrasting characters in the set of films are the elements of analysis but the approach is from personal vision of each author.