Barry Lyndon
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Movie Reviews of Barry Lyndon
Movie Review: definitely top ten movie of all time
Summary: 5 Stars
excellent just excellent. This is a long movie- 3:04. But really just goes by so fast. I've seen a few people say that this is in their opinion the greatest movie of all time, I think I'm starting to agree.Movie Review: Best Movie Ever
Summary: 5 Stars
This is an utter masterpiece. Every single frame of this movie looks like a perfect painting. It's beautiful. The story is very interesting. I love this film.Movie Review: MASTERPIECE
Summary: 5 Stars
YES ONE OF THE GREATEST FILMS EVER. AFTER ALL ITS KUBRICK. THE ONLY FLAW EVIDENT IS THAT ITS NOT IN BLU-RAY...YET.Movie Review: Revisiting The 18th Century Through A 20th Century Master
Summary: 4 Stars
When Stanley Kubrick's film BARRY LYNDON was released at the end of 1975, many people were probably expecting either something along the lines of DR. ZHIVAGO, or a raucous period piece in the manner of TOM JONES. But giving people what they expect was never the stock-in-trade of this particular director, and instead he delivered a very clinical 18th century period study that, initially, was deemed a failure by critics. And this being the dawn of the "Blockbuster" age in Hollywood, it failed to do particularly well at the box office, either in England or in America (making most of its money in Europe).
But as with so many of Kubrick's films, BARRY LYNDON has, over the years, come to be seen as a striking piece, worthy of the four Oscars it won in 1975 (Set Decoration; Musical Adaptation; Cinematography; Costume Design). Ryan O'Neal stars as the title character, a charming but scheming kind of rake who goes up the ladder of 18th century society by fighting, lying, cheating, and being more or less a gold digger by the time he marries Lady Lyndon (Marisa Berenson). He finds out what the limits are to what he is doing when he is confronted with a stepson, Lord Bullingdon (Leon Vitali), who knows about his stepfather's cruelty.
Based on William Makepeace Thackeray's somewhat obscure 1847 novel, BARRY LYNDON, along with EYES WIDE SHUT, is probably the most misunderstood film in Kubrick's entire oeuvure. This is perhaps because this study of 18th century manners, complete with jaw-droppingly gorgeous nighttime candelight scenes shot by Kubrick's favorite cinematographer John Alcott, is fused with a deeply clinical, and even cynical, attitude about human nature. Such was the way with Kubrick, at least in the eyes of the critics, particularly after 1960, when he left America to live and work in England (much of BARRY LYNDON was filmed in Ireland in 1973 and '74). And as the cold and clinical way Kubrick made this film turned off one too many critics, so too did the extreme length of the film itself turn off audiences. Even in 1975, attention spans were starting to shorten ever so gradually; and a three hour-plus film like BARRY LYNDON was likely to try even the most patient filmgoers.
But as mentioned before, time has given us a new perspective on this arguably odd duck in the Kubrick canon. Though the casting of O'Neal in the title role was considered a misjudgment on Kubrick's part, in retrospect it now seems like the right one. Berenson is also tremendous as Lady Lyndon; and Kubrick regulars Leonard Rossiter and Philip Stone turn in very professional performances as well. The whole period atmosphere is shot through with a typical Kubrick touch in terms of the music--some of it is by the Chieftains, but most of it is by Baroque and Classical-era composers like Mozart, Vivaldi, Schubert, and Handel. In particular, the adaptation of the D Minor "Sarabande" of Handel is used to grand and sometimes sinister effect. For this, much of the credit must go to the late and often underrated Leonard Rosenman, who won one of this film's four Oscars for his adaptations.
Four stars may seem curiously low for a Kubrick film, but this is not to imply that BARRY LYNDON is a far lesser piece than 2001: A SPACE ODYSSEY or THE SHINING. But it is a vastly different kind of film from this enigmatic and often controversial filmmaker; and like any of his films, it requires repeat viewings--a tall order here, admittedly, given its length. In the end, though, the rewards are considerable.
Movie Review: Verisimilitude
Summary: 4 Stars
By this point in time everyone knows that Stanley Kubrick spent the 1970s wanting to make an epic about Napoleon. It stands to reason, therefore, that Barry Lyndon was a warm-up to that project where he would work out his visual techniques and stately portrayal of European history. He said as much on numerous occassions, and never could give a good answer as to why this material appealed to him otherwise.
What Kubrick succeeded in doing was faithfully recreating the 18th Century and its environs in absolutely stunning detail, at times even repurposing the imagery of oil paintings into cinematography. It is a magnificent film in this respect; Barry Lyndon works on a "big idea" level exceptionally well, as an unrelentingly singular vision of creating the art film to end all art films. Some of the scenes are absolutely perfectly played, and it's like witnessing a bygone era firsthand. Few directors have ever had the discipline, humor, and visual acuity to pull this off so well.
Unfortunately, its greatest strength is also its greatest weakness. It would seem that many of the reviewers who disliked the film in the early 1970s were onto something when they criticized the overall flat tone of the exercise. Kubrick treats his main characters as little more than marionettes, and whenever he lets the audience in on an intimate, revelealing moments, it seems calculated for the grand dramatic sweep of the vision, and never lets the film get energized by its performances. The narration only reinforces the effect.
Some of this is the result of having such unremarkeable actors for the two main roles. While the British cast do excellent jobs in their relatively small parts, and Harvey Kruger lights up the film as a Prussian Officer, Ryan O'Neal and particularly Marisa Berenson are complete bores. O'Neal does have some charisma, but it is rather restrained and it is a stretch to see him as a schemeing Irishman, charming his way across the European continent. Marisa Berenson leaves almost nothing to say about her performance -- because there is little for her to do other than stare listlessly into the distance and look pretty. No matter how "stately" or ironic the film, it is not a good thing to have your main characters be wooden props. Lord Bullingdon comes across as the most dynamic of the Lyndons, but he is a rather unlikeable person and Leon Vitali was wise to choose a career behind the scenes after the completion of the shoot.
So it all seems a bit much when the ending title card appears with a heady Thackerian statement about indomitable role of fate in human life. As another Amazon reviewer pointed out (back in 2001!), this does not seem to square with Kubrick's decidedly different emphasis on people getting their "just desserts", but I suppose it could also be read as an ironic and bleak statement on the social mobility, or lack thereof, of the 18th Century. Still, the message is more than a bit muddled and only undermines the rather dull and uninspired denoument. It would seem that in fetishizing all things European, Kubrick has fallen prey to the cliches of the overeager enthusiast, crafting a gorgeous although imitative piece of Anglophilia that is ignorant of just what it's trying to say.