Barry Lyndon
by Stanley Kubrick
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DVD Cover Information
Actor: Hardy Kr?ger, Marisa Berenson, Patrick Magee, Ryan O'Neal, Steven BerkoffDirector: Stanley Kubrick
DVD: Region Code 1
Audio: English (Original Language), Dolby Digital 5.1
Format: Closed-captioned, Color, Dolby, DVD-Video, Full Screen, Letterboxed, NTSC, Original recording remastered, Widescreen
Picture Format: 1.66:1
Running Time: 183 minutes
DVD Release Date: 2001-06-12
Audience Rating: PG (Parental Guidance Suggested)
Studio: Warner Home Video
Movie Reviews of Barry Lyndon
Movie Review: Another Kubrick film that manages to leave a visual impression
Summary: 5 Stars
Stanley Kubrick's Barry Lyndon is a spectacle, full of luscious visuals, extraordinary costumes, and a very aggressive underlying theme of cheating, and losing at life. This is not a contender for Kubrick's top five films of all time, and for good reason, but regardless, this film put me in a trance from beginning to end. I had not read William Makepeace Thackeray's novel beforehand, so I honestly cannot add to the discussion of whether or not this is a proper adaptation, or if O'Neal's performance was right for the character. I will however say what I saw, and that is a movie with Kubrick's visual style stamped on every single shot.
The story is a rise to riches tragedy revolving around the life of an Irish lad by the name of Redmond Barry. As a teen we are first introduced to his character as one who shares a romantic relationship with his cousin, Nora Brady. When Nora is set to marry British military Captain John Quin, the naive Barry retaliates confronting the captain to a duel, which ultimately drives him away from his town, mother, and Nora.
This starts Barry's long adventure to "becoming a gentleman". Along the way he shall be robbed, enlist in the British army, serve in the Seven Year War, and become a professional gambler. He'll finally acquire wealth beyond his wildest dreams when he manages to court Lady Lyndon, after her husband, Sir Lyndon, finally dies from years of crippling disease. This starts a vengeful relationship between him and his acquired stepson, Lord Bullingdon. From here on out Barry's ultimate demise becomes inevitable as his life falls apart into tragedy, mostly due to his own actions.
As stated earlier by myself, Barry Lyndon is one of the most expertly shot films I have ever seen. The visuals alone make this one of the best movies I've ever seen, but it is not at all a perfect movie. Sadly none of Kubrick's films are "perfect", but that's intentional by the director, and no one comes closer to making perfect movies than Stanley Kubrick. Though he's never really made a film with truly captivating human characters, his stories, and underlying messages have always been the strongest aspects of his films.
Kubrick's dislike for humanity is as present as it ever was in his other films, even if not as strong as say `2001 - A Space Odyssey'. Barry is always displayed as being a character that seems to be...well, he's hollow. Barry is a man who hardly ever shows emotion, and once he is at the top you can't help but feel as though his mannerisms are that of a spoiled child. You never really grow attachment to this character, and the narrator makes sure of that, which makes it apparent that Kubrick never intended you to grow truly fond of Barry, so when he ultimately is left poor and crippled you can't truly feel for him.
That being said, Ryan O'Neal's Barry is not to be confused with a "cardboard character", like what you see in 80% of summer action films. He's actually quite complicated, the only thing he ever shows passion for being the well-being of his son, Bryan. The way he takes everything for granted, from Lady Lyndon, to his wealth, he just seems to not care about anything, other than his young son, who he spoils by treating him to whatever he desires. This makes it apparent that the thing Barry loves most will be taken away from him in a cruel fashion.
I'm not spoiling anything, because the ultimately, tragic ending of Barry's life is given away by the Narrator's first few comments over the course of the first hour of the film (and if you don't catch it there he'll announce it bluntly in the last forth of the film).
When going into this film you shouldn't expect for something truly compelling, nor should you expect Barry to be an average Joe, whom you can relate to. The movie is in no way intended for you to leave it with a smile on your face. Don't go to a Kubrick film and expect a film that's intended to leave you happy (Even Dr. Strangelove, one of the best comedies of all time, had an ending that made you speculate the future of the human race).
If you are new to Kubrick, these negative plot points may drive you away, but if you are familiar with his work Barry Lyndon will not surprise you in its underlying themes. That being said, for people who are fond of period pieces, there are few movies that I've seen that can match the visual style of Kubrick's film. While watching it you will feel swept away by the Academy Award winning cinematography of John Alcott and the costumes, which also earned one of the films four Academy Awards.
Leonard Rosenman's winning score must also be acknowledged, for it also makes this film an attention grabber. The music is never overused, and if feels perfect for the film. It is full of elegance, something that could stand for the upper class which Barry tries so hard to be a part of, but beneath its beauty you can feel a sense of treachery, and corruption, which perfectly reflects the ruthless behavior Barry tries so hard to conceal beneath a fa?ade of grace, but ultimately fails to keep it suppressed.
The film is a must see for Kubrick, and fans of period pieces, but if you don't fall into one of those two categories Barry Lyndon may be hard for you to stomach, with its running time of about three hours. You may enjoy this film, but it seriously depends on how you take in Kubrick's other work. If time's a problem you can watch this film in intervals, because there are plenty of chances throughout to pause and take a break. If you want to watch Barry Lyndon you'll need to pay it full attention. It is better to watch it in intervals than watch it straight through while being distracted. It needs full attention for you to take in its full impact.
Not Kubrick's best, but I give it a solid 9 out of 10.
Summary of Barry Lyndon
In 1975 the world was at Stanley Kubrick's feet. His films Dr.?Strangelove, 2001: A Space Odyssey, and A Clockwork Orange, released in the previous dozen years, had provoked rapture and consternation--not merely in the film community, but in the culture at large. On the basis of that smashing hat trick, Kubrick was almost certainly the most famous film director of his generation, and absolutely the one most likely to rewire the collective mind of the movie audience. And what did this radical, at-least-20-years-ahead-of-his-time filmmaker give the world in 1975? A stately, three-hour costume drama based on an obscure Thackeray novel from 1844. A picaresque story about an Irish lad (Ryan O'Neal, then a major star) who climbs his way into high society, Barry Lyndon bewildered some critics (Pauline Kael called it "an ice-pack of a movie") and did only middling business with patient audiences. The film was clearly a technical advance, with its unique camerawork (incorporating the use of prototype Zeiss lenses capable of filming by actual candlelight) and sumptuous production design. But its hero is a distinctly underwhelming, even unsympathetic fellow, and Kubrick does not try to engage the audience's emotions in anything like the usual way.Why, then, is Barry Lyndon a masterpiece? Because it uncannily captures the shape and rhythm of a human life in a way few other films have; because Kubrick's command of design and landscape is never decorative but always apiece with his hero's journey; and because every last detail counts. Even the film's chilly style is thawed by the warm narration of the great English actor Michael Hordern and the Irish songs of the Chieftains. Poor Barry's life doesn't matter much in the end, yet the care Kubrick brings to the telling of it is perhaps the director's most compassionate gesture toward that most peculiar species of animal called man. And the final, wry title card provides the perfect Kubrickian sendoff--a sentiment that is even more poignant since Kubrick's premature death. --Robert Horton
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