1975 Directed by Stanley Kubrick
In the Eighteenth Century, in a small village in Ireland, Redmond Barry is a young farm boy in love with his cousin Nora Brady. When Nora engages to the British Captain John Quin, Barry challenges him for a duel of pistols. He wins and escapes to Dublin, but is robbed on the road. Without any other alternative, Barry joins the British Army to fight in the Seven Years War.
Ryan O'Neal Marisa Berenson Hardy Krüger Diana Körner Frank Middlemass Arthur O'Sullivan Godfrey Quigley Leonard Rossiter Philip Stone Patrick Magee Steven Berkoff Gay Hamilton Marie Kean Murray Melvin André Morell Leon Vitali Billy Boyle John Bindon Roger Booth Jonathan Cecil Peter Cellier Geoffrey Chater Anthony Dawes Patrick Dawson Bernard Hepton Anthony Herrick Barry Jackson Wolf Kahler Pat Laffan Show All…
Showed this to my mom today. She thinks 2001: A Space Odyssey is the most boring film of all time, she walked out of A Clockwork Orange and she never ceases to complain about every aspect in Dr. Strangelove.....
And yet, she was utterly entranced for every second of Barry Lyndon, laughing and crying along with the ravishing imagery and the remarkable storytelling.
Ladies and gentlemen, there's a Stanley Kubrick film for everyone.
I was twigged to re-watch Barry Lyndon by some recent great reviews here. My personal goal for this viewing was to try to reconcile why Barry Lyndon works. Not as a masterpiece, but rather how it works at all. After all, it’s a 3 hour and 4 minute period piece based pretty literally on a 19th century text ... that stars Ryan O’Neil.
Cinematography. Let’s get this out of the way first. Kubrick’s ... er, John Alcott’s photography is breathtaking. As beautiful as the paintings of the period. The use of technical and cinematic technique is well covered by some other great reviews here on Letterboxd. Does it make the film work? I don’t think so. It contributes to it…
"He wants to step into my shoes...
HE WANTS TO STEP INTO MY SHOES!"
Three hours of being absolutely fucking enthralled.
Why didn't anybody ever tell me how hilarious this movie is?
Ah, and I guess the cinematography was passable... haha.
In all seriousness though, this might be my favorite Kubrick next to 2001: A Space Odyssey. An altogether fun, enjoyable and immensely beautiful experience. An accurate aesthetic, a pitch perfect score, wonderful narration and the best performance of Ryan O'Neal's career contribute to making this an unforgettable masterpiece.
I maintain now and always that this is one of the great comedies, a slow burn of greed, cowardice and arrogance that depicts an aristocratic structure that creates arbitrary divisions among European nations united in the absurdity of their power hierarchies. The film suggests that the entire aristocracy of Europe is maintained by interbred families and brazen confidence tricks perpetuated by both pretenders and genuine members of the ruling class. Watching this, it's a wonder how WWI took as long as it did to break out. That it is one of the most rapturously photographed films ever made is almost a mere bonus.
"I'm not sorry. And I'll not apologize. And I'd as soon go to Dublin as to hell."
Barry Lyndon is a lavish, elegant drama that unfolds with the quiet temperament and graceful serenity of a classical painting. Each shot is composed and constructed to recreate the feel of the era's artwork, making for an immersive experience that renders us as an audience more than onlookers: we become so swept up in the tragic rise and fall of Redmond Barry that we forget we're watching a film at all — indeed, the idea of an entire crew sitting offscreen, controlling the dramatic proceedings with the precision of a surgeon extracting a bullet, feels more foreign than the rebellious colonists causing so…
Kubrick se saca la polla y hace una película de más de tres horas imitando cuadros de época y usando varias veces la proporción áurea.
Increíble.
Barry Lyndon is a prime example of Kubrick stepping back from standard Kubrick and making something that baffles audiences. Much like Eyes Wide Shut , which opened in the nineties and was met with disappointment, this film, which was released in the 70s, often deviates from the director's standard directorial signatures.
There is a loud and frequently remarkable score to go along with many of the scenes (and it really is a great score) and the running time, at just over three hours, is enough for someone to realize who is calling the shots in the editing room, but it feels more like a Spielbergian period piece than a Stanley Kubrick movie.
It feels like an adventure, with our lead character constantly going through changes and frequently finding himself in new situations that call for different settings and when those settings change, we know we're in for another half-hour or so of fun (and sometimes intense) action.
Its not so much watching Barry Lyndon as it is experiencing it. I know that I'm not in the minority when I say that every frame is a living, breathing painting, but seeing it for the first time made me realize how much that analogy is not an over exaggeration. This is one of the most beautiful films I've ever seen, no question.
Whoa man. I never would’ve guessed Kubrick would’ve made such a humanistic movie; his cold objectivity is perfect for capturing the human spirit trapped by fate and social convention. It’s not really worth saying “Kubrick was a genius,” but, like, he probably was.
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