I do not think I have ever cheered when I watched a beautiful woman leave, that is until I saw the Jane Fonda A Doll's House, directed by Joseph Losey and based on Henrik Ibsen's 1879 play.
I feel sorry for all of the people that had to pay money to view this train wreck of a film. This work alone is enough to earn Jane Fonda Razzy Lifetime achievement award. Some say that Jane Fonda is like a cat with nine lives; I would compare her more to a monster one just cannot kill, as she continues to leave a trail of bad films and workout tapes in her wake, but enough of my rant and on to the film.
Fonda's one redeeming quality is she looks the part of Nora. She is very delicate and pretty in appearance; and, had the she stayed true to Henrik Ibsen's original intention with the story, she could have produced a fine film. However that would not be the Jane Fonda we have come to know and despise. Instead she uses a story about a woman's repressed feelings and dark secrets to further push her own (I AM WOMAN HEAR ME ROAR!) beliefs in a place they simply do not belong corrupting an otherwise great story as shown in the Claire Bloom version, directed by Patrick Garland also in 1973.
There was at least one good piece of acting to be found in this film. I still not know how David Warner's Torvald kept himself from doing cartwheels when Jane Fonda left him. One can only assume that director, Joseph Losey, was able to make his actor recall his childhood puppy dying or by telling him that, if he did not get it right, that Jane was coming back to do the scene again.
It is amazing how much damage Barbarella can inflict on an otherwise good film.