In the 18th Century, the world did not have photography to record how the world and life was. In Europe, this was a period of social injustice and war. It was up to the great painters and writers of the period to let future generations know how people lived and felt during this important European period. Stanley Kubrick was not only a great photographer and director, but he was also a superb writer. In his masterpiece, “Barry Lyndon”, Kubrick absorbed himself into 18th century Europe using the period writings of William Makepeace Thackeray and the stunning artwork of William Hogarth as his guiding light. In doing so, he created not only one of the greatest windows into a long-gone world, but a stunning work of art in its own right.
The story concerns the life, rise to prominence and eventual downfall of a young ambitious man named Redmond Barry (Ryan O’Neal) who lived in the 18th century British Kingdom of Ireland. He starts off his adult life as a naïve romantic fool, who quickly learns the harsh reality of a relatively lawless life in the British Kingdom of the period. Forced to join the British Army while the seven Years’ War raged throughout Europe, he eventually, after being forced to join the Prussian army (an ally of Britain), and becoming a Prussian and then Irish spy, he escapes the military to England where he marries into Royalty and position. All of this is done with quite a bit of deceit and dishonesty, with a little bit of cruelty added for good measure. The movie is divided into two sections, with the first one following Barry from his Iris exile, various military adventures, his life as a gambling cheat, and until he meets and marries Lady Lyndon (Marisa Berenson in a thankless role), taking on her title and name. It is the name of her late husband, who was an invalid and alive when Barry started courting Lady Lyndon. The 2nd section of the film recalls Barry’s life as an aristocrat. Of the two sections, it is the first one which has the bulk of the stories adventure, however the 2nd section in its detailed accounting of the empty 17th century aristocratic life is equally fascinating.
“Barry Lyndon” is one of, if not the most beautiful looking movie I have ever seen. The cinematography of John Alcott and Kubrick’s direction are exquisite. Even without a story of depth and feeling, this movie is worth watching just for its images. By studying the paintings of Hogarth, Kubrick was able to create a window into Hogarth’s world. Considering that Hogarth drew various series of paintings that dealt with the same themes of the movie, (Life of a prostitute, life of a cheat and the disastrous results of an ill-considered marriage for money), making his movie with the same look as those paintings gives the movie a stunning epic allure. There are so many gorgeous and lengthy wide-angle long shots that start with the close shot of a character and then slowly pull back to reveal the stunning spacious surroundings, ending in a still scene that is very much like one of those great 18th century paintings we pay to see in famous museums. This is something that Kubrick played with in his previous film, “A Clockwork Orange”, but perfected it in an exquisite style that never fails to leave me in awe each time I watch the film. It is well known that Kubrick filmed most of the interior scenes without any artificial lighting, using lit candles instead. Even when he used film lighting, he did it in a way to replicate the way the candles reflect light. This had the stunning effect of giving me the feeling that I was watching scenes that happened in the long dead past with a realistic, elegant beauty that once again reflected the same tone as Hogarth’s paintings. When anyone wants to see an example of how cinema reflects and enhances the art of painting, I always point them to this great film.
The movie, in its skewered view of pride and nobility, goes into quite a bit of depth on the art of dueling for atonement. “Barry Lyndon” boasts three-gun duels and one duel of swords. In fact, the movie opens with a quick, fast duel that results in the death of Barry’s father. I was made to believe that Barry would have turned out differently if his father had been alive to raise him. That is the only one of the pistol duels that is quick. All the rest take their que from the Sergio Leone school of long-drawn-out ceremonies of sudden violence. Accompanied by the slow, elegant classical music from the same era, these duels were not only striking to look at but very suspenseful as well.
“Barry Lyndon” is a three-hour period work of visual splendor that is paced deliberately, slowly with an intent for the audience to feel and not just absorb the story. Kubrick used a third-party narrator in the film, giving the movie the feel of a classic novel. In almost all cases, this narration will tell the viewer what is about to happen to Barry before it occurs in the movie. Then the movie slowly, with beautiful scenery, moves the characters to this known conclusion, allowing me as the viewer to truly absorb the emotional beauty of the movie as I waited for the events to reach their conclusion. The duels are a great example of this. The narrator foreseeing what is going to happen also allowed me to truly absorb the beauty of the long wide-angle shots so expertly paced to the classic film score.
On first viewing, many people may be taken aback by the performance of O’Neal in the critical role of Barry. After seeing the movie more than once, I concluded that he was perfect for the role. O’Neal was more of a pretty boy in Hollywood and did not have a lot of charisma in his persona. Nor did he have the depth in acting to portray charisma. However, that is exactly what Barry is in the film. He is a pretty, intelligent young man with little charisma and even less morals. He understood that he needs to take advantage of circumstances when they appear and how to use his looks to his advantage, but in most cases, he just lets events happen to him. Other than at the beginning of the film before he must go to the army and grow up quickly, O’Neal as Barry never has much emotion or feeling for anyone except his son and this lack of charisma helps very much to enforce this aspect about him. Kubrick was never one to film heroic characters and always preferred to use flawed and even immoral people as the stars of his films. Think Alex from “A Clockwork Orange”, or Jack from “The Shining”. Barry is another one of those characters, and it is exactly O’Neal’s blank and thoughtless expressions that help to bring this out on the screen so perfectly.
Stanley Kubrick was a lover of classical music, and this is the movie where he could place this music in its rightful place. All the classical composers whose pieces he used in the movie lived during the same period that the movie takes place. Whether a beautiful piece by Vivaldi, Bach, Paisiello, Mozart or Schubert, each music score fits the gorgeous visuals like a missing piece of a puzzle. The action, scenery and music fuse into a magical window into the past.
Stanley Kubrick’s, “Barry Lyndon”, is a three-hour masterpiece that uses an unlikeable main character as its focal point in depicting a long-gone way of life. It is also a spectacular, spell binding, and visually exciting movie, making it one of my favorite movies of all time. It is a must-see cinema for all lovers of great art.
1001 Movies before you die 