1975 | Film Master Journal

Directed by: Stanley Kubrick
Genre: Drama
Country: United Kingdom
At the height of fashion in the mid 70’s, the film captures the 18th century in a gloriously shot manner, with almost every shot being like apainting on a canvas. Stanley Kubrick,who directed, produced and wrote the screenplay of the book, has once more madea distinctive film with storytelling and visual beauty looking at British aristocracyin the 18^th century. This time Kubrick has creates a historical epicand in the 3-hour runtime it has, the life of Lyndon is curiously interesting.Three hours is a reasonably long time to watch a film, but sometimes it works, creating a film with a distinguished atmosphere. Just look at the Lord of the Ringstrilogy.

No doubt, Kubrick has touched this film with great skill.With almost every shot having the beauty of a still frame, and directing thefilm engagingly, it makes Barry Lyndoneven more exciting. The film is split into two parts, and it was smart to do sowith the film’s 3-hour runtime. Part 1 involves seeing how Barry got the name‘Barry Lyndon’, and part 2 follows his reign of fortune. From Lyndon’s journeyfrom Ireland to his wealth in England, his life has the upmost curiosity.

It appears that old Kubrick hastaken special care with this film ensuring every shot has atmosphere. Whetherwe are following Lyndon as he walks through the forest with his cousin, or ifwe are seeing the Lyndon mansion and its grounds, the film is definitely filledwith florescent and beautiful cinematography. With fashionable classy clothesof ye olden days and authentic looking set pieces, you definitely get warpedinto the time of the 18^h century. It has never been captured withsuch visual grace, which proves Kubrick is a great visionary storyteller. The visualsof this film push the technology of its time (as Kubrick done also with 2001), and it has some of the finestcinematography of any 70’s film.

The characters could have been more distinguished, but Ryan O Neil did a superb job. Therereally is no characters who play a huge part in the film. Instead, Lyndon meetsmany characters throughout the film and only five or so have a recurrence. Nevertheless,they all played their parts fine slapping authenticity on to the films time-period. Lyndon’s character is quite various in emotions.He is devilish, selfish, emotionless and a thief. In addition, he is an opportunist.

Barry Lyndon isone of Kubrick’s underrated films, which is agreeable to some extent. The actingwas interesting, the set pieces were beautiful, and the story that follows aman’s rise to wealth and crumble was plenty to love. However, with this in mindthe film does not explore much. It is a film that simply follows one characters rise and fall and can be quite boring at times. I think its lackof character that brings the film down a little. We have plenty of characters,but no truly engaging ones, except for Lyndon.

Many critics and filmgoers do not like this film as much ashis other films, which is understandable. This is the fifth Kubrick film I haveseen and it is his weakest, but with that in mind it is still a historicalepic. The characterisation is not the strongest, and Lyndon’s journey may seemslow, but its look on aristocracy makes it a reasonably powerful film. Overall,with artistic tour de force, Barry Lyndonstill excels in the medium with its picturesque cinematography and 18^thcentury charm.

My Rating: 8/10

Extra Information:
Produced by: Stanley Kubrick
Written to the screen by: Stanley Kubrick
Runtime: 186 Minutes
Distributed by:
Age Certificate: PG