www.bbc.co.uk/markkermode Stanley Kubrick’s lavish period adventure Barry Lyndon is out on re-release. It’s a film Mark has admired but never loved - here's his take after seeing it again...
I love how emotionally affected Mark sounds after he watched the film. He went through a genuine emotional experience in that film and it shows in his voice and body language
The age issue for me was Leon Vitali playing Marisa Berenson’s son - both actors being practically the same age - Kubrick had his heart set on unwizened cleavage for the role.
I'm glad that Barry Lyndon is becoming more and more popular. It's probably my favorite Kubrick film and one of the best films ever made. I wish it would get a theatrical re-release in America.
It’s beautifully ambiguous. You can either see Redmond or Bullingdon as the bad guy or the wronged party, or both. So your sympathies can go either way and ultimately you feel the tragedy of fate is what undoes his life.
When it comes to Barry Lyndon, there is nothing more satisfying than a critic admitting he was wrong, and recognizing the movie for the absolute, moving masterpiece it always was.
Barry Lyndon is my favorite Kubrick film. It’s an epic adventure story, every frame is beautiful, great performances, and perfect music choices. It’s a masterpiece.
I had the pleasure of seeing a prior restoration of Barry Lyndon at San Francisco's venerable Castro Theater some years ago. It was already my favorite film, but seeing it projected in a classic Art Deco era theater took it to a whole new level. Something I'll never forget: After the film, as the audience was getting out of their seats and departing, everyone was looking at one another, making eye contact, and smiling knowing smiles. A shared experience of true greatness. You don't usually get that at all when going to the movies these days.
I've never seen it projected, but it is by far my favourite Kubrick film. I love, love, love it. I once showed it to my parents and they were sobbing their eyes out at one point--and those who have seen it will know which part. My favourite performance, though, is Murry Melvin as Reverand Runt. Never have I seen a better portrayal of unrequited longing.
When I first saw this on original release, what pulled the whole thing together for me was Michael Horden's droll and witty commentary. Barry was being observed almost as a specimen under a microscope in Horden's den. I think it makes sense of O'Neal's flat performance, as he was like a sort of machine, who, once set in motion has no other path to follow but the one that seems preordained, and so he is perfectly in keeping with many of Kubrick's other imperfect "heroes" like Humbert Humbert, Alex, Dr Strangelove or even Hal, all viewed through the slightly jaundiced eye of Kubrick.
I love most if not all Kubrick films, but imo Barry Lyndon ranks #1. Its a masterpiece. Its almost like a Painting done by Kubrick and his cinematographer. Perfect film, wish it got more love when it was released. I love it.
True. While everyone should be exposed to good film from an early age there are things you really do not get until you've crossed into your 30s at least.
I love Mark's willingness to appreciate certain movies. It's crazy how differently we view movies as the years go by, and in the setting we see them in.
I saw Barry Lyndon with my mates and ended up making my way home alone as they were bored, I found the film so beautiful and immersive that I was glad they had left because had they not I would have been ragged horribly ,as twenty year old "hard boys" from the estates didn't cry over anything. That was in1975 and it is still my favorite Kubrick film.
I was at the BFI projection a couple of weeks ago. Hadn't seen Barry Lyndon before I didn't have high expectations, I was more interested in the filmography of it. I did not expect it will move me so deeply. I'm still haunted by it, two weeks later, thinking about the story, the characters and how funny and sad and engaging the whole thing is. truly a masterpiece!
Just watched Loita for the first time last night. Now I know why it's so over looked, its as boring as Barry Lindon, just minus the charm, adventure and beautiful set pieces.
Watch it again, Lolita is a pretty hilarious movie in subtle and not-so subtle ways. I like that it's so funny but also disturbing and tragic at the same time.
The terribly polite robbery by Captain Feeney and his son Seamus cracked me up. And the death of the child in the second half was utterly heart breaking. It's a Kubrick for the connoisseur.
For me it was never boring. They perfectly intercut narration and story without it becoming a major issue of over clumped dialogue. It’s beautiful in its filmography and is a great tragic epic.
I too was bored on my first viewing and actually gave up around the robbery scene. Tried it again a year or two later and oh my goodness gracious, what an unflinching masterpiece. Because it is a film unlike any other it needs to be taken on its own terms, which many people (including myself) aren't ready for on the first viewing. Once you get on its wavelength, though, man are you in for a treat.
So joyful to hear that you of all people I most admire as film lovers at last connect with this, one of my two most favorite Kubrick films, the most beloved director of my life. I first saw it at a press preview in LA's Cinerama Dome a month before it premiered to the American public. I was stupified by its majesty, its heart, its wit and tragedy. Friends who attended with me poo-pooed it. One said, "It was only with the death of the child I felt it had any emotional impact." While I had wept and exulted multiple times before that. In the decades since, my love for this brilliant masterpiece has only grown. Thank you for this heartfelt review.
How lucky I am to have first seen this on blu-ray. I was totally floored by everything about it, and have come to find it Kubrick's most emotionally warm film.
There are scenes in this film that you just never forget. The pace-similar to Tarkovsky's rhythm-is wonderful; you just have to adjust your motor and relax.
Exactly. This masterpiece must be seen on a big screen, the bigger the better. That's how I saw it the first seven or eight times at the Cinerama Dome on Sunset Blvd in Hollywood in '75-'76, in a state of bliss and awe. I believe it is Kubrick's masterpiece. But one must receive it sensually, and be affected by its color and movement and rhythm, and drop into the reverie of sight and sound which comes over one during the long sequences of stunning, luminous images and music, and no dialogue, of which there are many, carefully deployed. And this only really happens in the cinema, not in one's living room. God, I wish they would re-release it in the U.S.!
As a lifetime Kubrick fan, I know this is the quintessential unsung favorite for a lot of us. The dirty secret that for some reason we don't admit is the best. Probably because of all the other Kubrick movies we don't want to disrespect. And I mean ALL his other movies. They are all beyond fantastic.
Glad to see this reappraisal. I understand the catch in your voice as you say it may be one of your favorites, because picking a favorite Kubrick filim, elevating anything near much less beyond the status of 2001, Paths, Lolita, Strangelove, Clockwork, is a daunting idea. But Barry Lyndon totally won me over years ago for just t he reason you state - the story, the characters and most of all the acting. Here Kubrick gives his actors amazing stages to act on and gives them the breathing room to act, and don’t they ever deliver. As others have mentioned, the final duel in the pigeon roost is maybe the most amazing set piece of all time. Great that you ended with that. Great work!
The character of Barry Lyndon. The wonderful thing is that after watching it you really don’t know what opinion to have of him. His character has always been an enigma to me.
In my opinion the most underrated film of all time, at least from the ones I've seen. crazy to think it didn't garner that much attention when it came out.
Barry Lyndon is a very great film. I thought that when it was originally released and I've watched it numerous times since; it always sends a tingle down my spine (how Nabokov describes the effect of a great work of art). Never understood why it originally received mixed reviews. It's my personal favorite Kubrick film with 2001 a close second.
I have loved Barry Lyndon ever since I first saw it. I am a big nerd about 18th-Century European culture (Amadeus is another one of my favorites), and I think that is one of the reasons why I am so fond of the film. Another reason is how big of a fan I am of Kubrick's style of filmmaking and the unique way in which he tells a story on the big screen.
Watched Barry Lyndon for the first time in the Abergavenny Hotel 14 years ago. Was off to a rugby club do, and whilst getting ready came across this film on BBC2 on a sunny Saturday afternoon. It was in the summer and I was back in the town to meet up with friends. I couldn’t stop watching the movie. Sat on my single bed in a not so salubrious room that you’d only wish to sleep in, here I was transfixed on this masterpiece. Parts of the film are as if Kubrick has decided that it will comes across as a reality. Reality in a historic movie is difficult to master in the extreme, however, Kubrick somehow manages it. Marisa Berenson is perfect and Ryan O’Neill plays the tragic Barry Lyndon with such vulnerability. It is the perfect film for a Saturday afternoon even if it makes you late.
This truly is a film that grows on you. When I first saw Barry Lyndon, I didn't rate it much. On repeat viewing I've been blown away by it. What a brilliant movie! Kubrick movies might not impress you much when you first see them, but watch them again a few years down the line and they can win you over.
This film is so much more than beautiful imagery, though the beauty is a big part of the story telling. "Barry Lyndon" is my favorite Kubrick film, the one I've watched most often (2001 is my close second). Like "2001", Kubrick takes a God's-eye-view, an existential perspective on humanity's place in the universe, it's a portrait of a specific time, but it explores issues that are transcendent, that are timeless. I also VERY much appreciate the droll humor, but there's something so moving for me, more than any other Kubrick film, about Barry's struggles, his ego and attachments, and his ultimate tragedy and loss. Beauty and tragedy, love and death, were the great inspirations for the Romantic period. "Barry Lyndon" shows that life is ephemeral. For me this is Kubrick's most poetic film, the one that's closest to music.
I also saw Barry Lyndon at the BFI - my first ever viewing of it - and was worried it would be quite stuffy and a bit dull. Fortunately, it was much more entertaining than I'd imagined. Nobody mentions how funny it is which is a real disservice to the film.
I'm a phat movie buff. I've methodically viewed many of the most highly regarded, classic films many times over and--for whatever it's worth--in so many ways, I personally consider Barry Lyndon to be the greatest film ever produced.
Same happened to me (although I haven't seen it projected yet). Admired it a great deal from a technical standpoint but was left cold, but on re-watching many years later (on bluray on a large screen) became totally absorbed in it.
I saw Barry Lyndon at the BFI around 2005 in London and the movie was so long they had an intermission where we had a break half way through the movie, which I believe was in the original movie as the fonts seemed to correspond to the end credits fonts etc. First time I saw the movie and it's my no.1 favourite of all time.
A superb movie which audiences and critics didn't recognize upon its release. The scenery and photography is so gorgeous many didn't look beyond it, but it is the human relationships and the arc of a man's life that are the real subject. Every exchange is spoken in the most elaborately polite and civilized terms but underneath the surface it is the law of the jungle, with those who are cleverest reaping the rewards and the losers who retire to oblivion. Such savage, cynical, razor sharp satire of the human condition, presented as a lovely 18th century idyll.
Having just watched this recently it is truly beautiful! A tale of a character trying to make his way while being swallowed up in the political and economic pitfalls of his day! Well done Mark!
Although, 2001 is my personal favourite Kubrick film I think this might come after it. I saw it for the first time last month and I absolutely loved it! Such a beautiful, funny and melancholic film.
So funny. For me and my sister (also watching as teenagers in the 70s), it was love at first sight. Not sure why it touched us the way it did but from the opening scene, we were under its spell - and have been ever since. Maybe it's because I was in art school and found the painting-like compositions so hypnotic. For sure, we loved the slow ponderousness of it. And most of all, we loved that there was tragedy in all the characters. The only thing I felt at the time (and still feel) that might have made it even better, is if Kubrick had used a native Irish actor in the title role. O'Neal is fine, of course, not complaining about him per se, just saying a true Irishman playing Redmond would have been ideal.
I saw it as a kid, too, in a double feature with The Man Who Would Be King (at a multiplex - they don't do that anymore!). I was bored. Saw it again recently - it's SO wonderfully droll it completely won me over, too.
As far as I know, this was the film Kubrick made when Napoleon fell through. Reading the script for that and watching Barry Lyndon you get a sense of how it might have been.
Up there with Lolita and Dr. Strangelove, my 3 favourite Kubrick films ... and when you see the competition includes 2001, A Space Odyssey and The Shining, that's a real compliment. I also think it is Kubrick's warmest film, with great compassion for many of its characters; Barry's mother , for example, moved me very much. Leonard Rossiter's and Murray Melvin's characters were very funny. Frank Middlemass as Lord Lyndon, has a very painful, very funny heart-attack in one scene just to show Kubrick hasn't gone soft, lol.
It was always accused of being emotionless, but actually I find that emotions and not being able to express them is one of the major themes of the film. The initial driver of the story is Redmond’s strong emotional reaction to romance and betrayal, and later how society views the ‘proper’ method of self-expression. Redmond’s public attack on Bullingdon is one of the main factor’s in his ultimate downfall. And throughout the film there’s a very defined difference between the actions going on with the subtext of the emotions (mainly Redmond’s) that cause conflict. It’s a brilliant, subtly told story with the famously beautiful visuals.
Chris Wright Because like I said, Criterion do better in quality and special features, whereas the Blu Ray you are holding now has zero special features.
Not necessarily true. Sony released a great Blu Ray of Strangelove with about 3 hours of special features on it. I also have a Warner 2 disc DVD of Barry ;yndon with lots of special features.
Have never seen Barry Lyndon but I did see Casablanca several times on TV. When I saw it at a MOMA film institute showing during a retrospective on Ingrid Bergman, it was a completely difference experience than I had when seeing it on TV. Seeing a movie on the silver screen for which it was made and not on TV is a completely different and rewarding experience. Hope to see Barry Lyndon the same way.
I have always wanted to see this film and I finally immersed myself in it, this evening. I was engaged more in the second half than the first but did laugh at the absurdity and feel the emotion of the tragedy. I grew a little tired of the zoom out establishing shots and the incessant music (I think, I would have preferred an almost scoreless version to be honest) but... what sumptuous beauty! It was an unforgettable experience, I will revisit
I did love it the first and subsequent times. And I saw it on DVD... Don’t know why, I was engaged from the first minute to the end, and it lingered in my mind. Never saw it on a theater... but looking forward to it... I guess I’ll have to get myself a projector...
I would highly recommend the Stanley Kubrick Collection DVD Box set including the documentary about his life. As this boxset has been fully remastered and again, in Barry Lyndon there was a intermission card, but on a DVD which blew me away some what. Having got the full big picture treatment on a small screen of Barry Lyndon, I have to agree it is one of Kubrick's finest, which greatly surprised me
Because it is a costume drama it is the one film of Kubrick's I most resisted viewing. But after I finally saw it it immediately became one of my top 3 of his work It is no doubt in my mind a true Masterpiece.
Hmm. I've never seen it projected. I saw it first on an "old style" cathode ray tube television, 1977 or '78 (I think). I knew then, and I affirm now, that it is the most beautiful film ever made. I assert now, as I did then, that any single frame of this movie is worthy of wall space in any museum. I've read the novel and while I would not presume to know the thoughts of the author, I've little doubt that William Makepeace Thackeray would feel that the film well and truly represents his work. To my mind, it is every bit as wonderful a piece of cinematography as "Citizen Kane". I was older when I first saw it, twenty-two or twenty-three, and already an earnest student of literary criticism and art history, and submit that thirteen is just a bit young to fully understand and appreciate the depth of this phenomenal accomplishment. Nice presentation, thanks.
I went to see this for the first time a couple of days ago. I really enjoyed it, plus there was a discussion afterwards with Peter Kramer, who is somewhat of an expert when it comes to Kubrick. It is stylistically very different from a lot of Kubrick films, much less shot symmetry and many more close ups. It's almost as though this film was not directed by Kubrick, even though we know for a fact that it definitely was.
