Consider this: “Barry Lyndon is unworthy of an epic”. Originally Kubrick actually wanted to make his epic about Napoleon, but the financing for it collapsed. Later Kubrick picked up an obscure novel called The Luck of Barry Lyndon and realized the story was much like Napoleon’s. The story of a young islander, thirsting for something greater, who crosses an ocean, fights in a continental war, rises in society, then, defeated, returns to an island. That’s cool to think about!

@EyebrowCinema

3 жыл бұрын

Also why I'm not that upset we never got Kubrick's Napoleon. Would have probably been fantastic but without it we might not have Barry Lyndon.

@blackswan4486

3 жыл бұрын

@@EyebrowCinema I wonder if he made notes for Napoleon so someone else can direct it in his manner.

@penknight8532

3 жыл бұрын

Nobody was going to outdo Waterloo. Thank the Lord that we got Barry Lyndon which is by far one of the best movies ever!

@Malt454

3 жыл бұрын

I think that maybe people want a sense of justice in their movies that they usually don't find in life, which is why they don't like Barry succeeding on any level; he's just the kind of mediocre bastard who stands, sometimes head and shoulders, over them every day and, if he's so obviously a loser, what does that make them? I'm not sure that forcing people to reflect on that question wasn't part of Kubrick's intent either. As is pointed out, just who supposedly DOES have "significance" in the end, beyond having our attention drawn to them for a few minutes? Even so, Barry is brave, loyal to his friends and his downfall is caused by him refraining to commit legalized murder in the final duel - so ironically, Barry probably outperforms many of his critics in real life anyway. The "protagonists" in A Clockwork Orange and The Shining ARE far worse as people, but audience members have more sympathy for them because they can more readily see THEMSELVES in those roles, in a Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde way, than they can in the role of Barry.

@maximus5060

3 жыл бұрын

@@blackswan4486 He finished the script. You can find it online.

As a passionless bore living in a pointless world where nothing matters, I found it quite relatable.

@anon2034

Жыл бұрын

lol

@LadyOfShaIott

11 ай бұрын

Brilliant comment.

I first watched Barry Lyndon on a cable movie network in 1978 when I was 9 years old. I was totally fixated and never became bored. To me, the film wasn't so much about Barry's personality, but the ever changing situations in which he became apart. I found myself anticipating what new adventure Barry would find himself in at the start of each scene, and how he would interact within the strange world (to me as a child) of the 18th century. It was Barry's journey that enamoured me, not his character. Plus, the outstanding cinematography, costumes and sets facinated me as well. I knew at that young age this film was something special, and I hadn't yet discovered nor even heard of Stanley Kubrick. I was just a kid living in Kansas, USA. It is still one of my all time favorites.

@EstuaryEstuary

2 жыл бұрын

Didnt happen

@Jcaeser187

9 ай бұрын

My exact thoughts articulated perfectly, just slightly alter ages and states lol

I found Barry generally rather likable he certainly had character flaws but he was never deliberately cruel. When so much of his world was

@EyebrowCinema

5 жыл бұрын

It's funny, I rewatched the film after making this video and found myself becoming more sympathetic to Barry. He's such a contradictory character and I mean that in the best way.

@harryhoffer9804

4 жыл бұрын

Yeah his misfortune is funny.

@christopherpettersson1626

4 жыл бұрын

You should take a long hard look at yourself. This is what is wrong with the world today.

@harryhoffer9804

4 жыл бұрын

How is Barry Lyndon and what's wrong with the world today connected?

@user-ls8ks7kv8c

4 жыл бұрын

lol yea if people think Barry is unlikable in the movie, they should read the book, absolute utter garbage heap of a "human" and makes the movie Barry look like a saint

The genuine tragedy at the heart of Barry Lyndon is that hs first truly noble and gentlemanly action-sparing the life of his stepson-insures his downfall.

@pkingpumpkin

6 ай бұрын

Ensures**

@MrStupididy

6 ай бұрын

@@pkingpumpkin more-so ensues.. but nonetheless semantics. Finally watched this movie and it is sublime.

What I love is that some of Kubrick's punk residue from Clockwork Orange carried over into Barry Lyndon, as if to say 'Yeah, this character is an unlovable shit and you're going to see the world through his eyes.'

I thought of Barry as more of a hustler and social climber, making something out of nothing and playing the cards he's dealt.

@EyebrowCinema

2 жыл бұрын

That's a good read. My view of the character has shifted a bit since making this.

@sarahnp490

Жыл бұрын

I agree, he's a scammer, but so is everyone else in some deep imbedded in the system way.

I remember when I first got this movie. I tried on the player just to check the quality before bedtime. 3 hours later I had experienced one of the most beautifully put together motion pictures.

@kirkhensley5870

Жыл бұрын

Amen!

This movie is the very essence of the term "moving picture." It is a series of masterful compositions, not on canvas but on celluloid, strung together by a narrative that, perhaps, takes the backseat. It's beautiful to look at. Every frame of it. The emotions evoked by the picture alone more than makes up for what the story lacks. Again. It's just beautiful.

Barry Lyndon is underrated! Great essay by the way, you just earned yourself a new sub.

@EyebrowCinema

6 жыл бұрын

Much appreciated, friend. Glad you enjoyed it.

Barry finally redeems himself in the final duel- true to the promise to his dying child that he would never hurt anybody again. He fires into the ground rather than kill or maim his stepson. The final duel scene alone is a masterpiece- with just the base drum playing Handel's Sarabande.

@Firguy

3 жыл бұрын

I believe the moment when he deloped in that duel must have been the first time in the movie where he took an active role in the story and acted out of his own personal convictions as opposed to all of the other pivotal moments where he merely seized an opportunity that fell into his lap or had his course set by other people. EDIT: Oh yeah, besides the scene where he flew into a rage and beat his stepson in full view of the gentry or when he tossed his wine glass at his cousin's suitor. But it might have been the first time it was a pacifistic action.

@silversnail1413

Жыл бұрын

I always saw that scene as ironic. Barry has a moment of redemption, but it comes too late to be of any real use. Perhaps if that moment had come to him years before he could have avoided the whole sorry outcome.

@MildSatire

Жыл бұрын

Perhaps this scene is a bit of dark comedy - he finally becomes the bigger man and gives his stepson mercy, only to be shot in the leg. His one act of kindness is repaid with cruelty. Kind of funny in a twisted way.

@jayhyunmoon3097

Жыл бұрын

@@MildSatire It’s not comedy, it’s justice. Lord Bullingdon is Horus avenging his dead father and saving his mother from Lyndon’s subtle predation.

@MildSatire

Жыл бұрын

@@jayhyunmoon3097 I guess you could look at it like that, but I think the overarching film is trying to show how pointless these events such as seeking justice are…

Honestly if you just made videos about Barry Lyndon I'd watch every single one. Keep up the good work.

@EyebrowCinema

5 жыл бұрын

It is tempting. The film is certainly rich enough that I could mine some pretty different videos from it. Thank you for the kind words!

@docchicken245

Жыл бұрын

I would watch those as well

Barry is a charismatic and handsome man. He is pretty rotten and while not being stupid, is unable to use his intelligence to master the extraordinary situations he is put in. He's just very lucky, and foolish, in equal measure. He DOES have special talents, he's brave, is a good fighter and is abale think quickly on his feet for at least short term goals. He is able to parlay limited good fortune into more, at least for awhile and has a steely resolve. But this is also to his detriment.

You nailed it. I first viewed this movie almost 45 years ago, in the theater, on a "hot date," and I found it incredibly boring and I would have left the theater, except that I was already a huge fan of Kubrick. 30 years later, alone and dealing with insomnia, I watched it on TCM and I was enthralled. I can't think of another film like Barry Lyndon. It's as unique as many of Kubrick's work.... in fact, the most unique.

@maratonlegendelenemirei3352

Жыл бұрын

You took a 'hot date" to see a 3 hour film? You probably drained your brain of all blood and so that is why you couldn't enjoy it first time around?

I don’t understand how someone could be bored watching this movie. Barry Lyndon is by far my favorite thriller. No matter how many times I watch this movie I never fail to be super stressed for most of the second act

@ibnmianal-buna3176

Жыл бұрын

I’m still in the middle of watching it for the first time (I have to take a break cuz of how late at night it is lol) and I don’t think it’s boring at all really. I find it hypnotically entertaining and I feel a great message within it about the modern human condition (the nature of war, the climb from poverty, nihilism, greed, the unsatisfying journey to self-content, the fake love and fake hospitality of many people in our lives).

@ammagnolia

Жыл бұрын

You think this slow boring movie is a thriller? Lol oh the non stop thrills

@LfunkeyA

Жыл бұрын

not a thriller at all. still a good movie.

@sunkintree

6 ай бұрын

It's not boring, but like playing your favorite music for other people, don't be surprised when you put this on and people start going zzzzzzzzzz I told a friend it's a rise-and-fall movie. Watch it like you watch Scarface. And that got his attention

Every Kubrick film is a masterpiece for multiple, varied reasons But Barry Lyndon remains my favorite Rarely has there been a work of such deep cynicism and quiet cruelty And rarely has a film been so ravishing, frame by frame That contrast is what gives the film its underlying tension and makes it deeply disturbing Ice encased in beauty From the dispassionate, vaguely bored, God like narrator dripping with ennui the funereal elegance of the score the perfection of casting Ryan O'Neal, a truly unlikable and distancing actor, as the one of the most unlikable characters in literature - who no matter how many tears he sheds, or how lit as a golden Valentine - remains impossible to care about or feel anything for With its implacable title cards obsessive repeated shots beginning in tight close up on a human interaction only to methodically pull back to show us how unimportant that exchange is, surrounded by the gorgeous disinterest of nature and time passing Barry Lyndon remains a work of heartless brilliance Your thoughtful essay is worthy of it

Boring? I honestly don't think there was a single dull moment.

Well actually, Barry Lyndon is closer to what you would expect of a human being in real life: Imperfect.

@EyebrowCinema

4 жыл бұрын

Agreed, which makes Kubrick's pessimistic view of individual agency all the more bleak. It feels realistic.

@ozymandiasramesses1773

4 жыл бұрын

"Just a common opportunist."

I absolutely love this movie. It's my second favourite kubrick movie. I was never bored once through the entire movie, but i totally understand that some people find it boring. It just isn't for everyone

@EyebrowCinema

3 жыл бұрын

Off topic but your username and profile pic are amazing.

Even though Barry Lyndon is a great movie, I’ll admit it takes patience to get through it. But hey that’s why there’s an intermission.

@EyebrowCinema

4 жыл бұрын

It took me time to love the film. Years in fact.

@nitehunter91

4 жыл бұрын

@@EyebrowCinema I confidently say this movies has flaws, but I actually like it (I first watched it recently). My issues are more around the supporting cast of characters rather than the main character. I LOATHED Barry from the begining and I've always seen his more "selfless" acts as easy to accomplish -- different from the moments of cruelty he had harder choices to step back. Still, I hate the character neither the actor nor the function the character displays on the plot.

@canti7951

3 жыл бұрын

I feel like I won't change my opinion on the film being less engaging than other Kubrick's films. It's not a bad movie but I think it's very insignificant compared to say, the visuals of 2001, the moral dilemma in A Clockwork Orange, the scary truth in FMJ and Dr. Strangelove etc. etc.

@TheGlasgowGamer

3 жыл бұрын

@@EyebrowCinema I agree with that to be honest. But the first viewing of it demand the viewer comes back to it with repeat viewings.

@kidmarine7329

3 жыл бұрын

I loved this movie instantly. I found it a very interesting and intriguing. Was never bored.

The final title card is actually directly lifted from the 1st chapter of the Book where Barry is talking about his father, the only difference is that he says "It was in the reign of George II" instead of III. Everything the narrator says are also comments made by Barry himself in the book.

This has grown on me. Thought it was tedious when I was 14, now it's hands down my favorite Kubrick film. Not a reality check exactly, but a view down an abyss of existentialist dread.

In order to appreciate this movie you need to have an appreciation of both history and cinematography.

@palomarecasenssanchez-meji2763

9 ай бұрын

You are absolutely right.

Every scene in the the movie is like a Masterpiece Painting.

Pretty much fell in love with this film the first time I saw it. I really felt like I’d time travelled. Kubrick made me feel like I was watching footage straight out of the period it was set. Such brilliant attention to detail.

Great video! You've done a good job at getting to the core of what this film is about. I almost feel like dropping what I'm doing and watching it again right now!

@EyebrowCinema

6 жыл бұрын

I know the feeling. The more I watch the movie the more I want to watch it again.

Barry seemed to be only kind to the people who he depended on or totally depended on him. Lady Lyndon, her son, and almost everyone else outside of that is treated as an inconvenience (I say almost cause im sure there's someone I missed).

@EyebrowCinema

5 жыл бұрын

That's an interesting point. Perhaps those dependent relations were more 'real', while those with the likes of Lady Lyndon were purely built from social rules. I think this also ties into the film's themes of fatherhood, with Barry showing genuine love for the father figures he comes across, and has own son. Great comment! Thanks for sharing.

@pts5217

3 жыл бұрын

I didn’t get why he was such an asshole towards her almost right away. She was stunningly gorgeous and instantly made him wealthy beyond his wildest dreams

@frunchzz

2 жыл бұрын

"But be clear about one thing. As men serve me, I serve them." - Barry Lyndon

@ElectronicYouth

9 ай бұрын

@@pts5217she was a gold digger too, look at the way she’s staring at Barry when they are playing cards. That’s a married woman and a mother uncomfortably lusting over some random dude. Then she openly cucks her husband with him. She had it coming.

@alexfraser2214

7 ай бұрын

@@pts5217 I think he was high on the power he had just gained, he was testing how far he could go.

This was the last Kubrick picture I approached, after having seen all the others. I admittedly was afraid of it, but luckily I hit it at just the right point in my cinematic development and it drew me in totally and blew me away. I knew a younger fellow who worked at a bookstore and he told me his favorite Kubrick was an unconventional choice and named that choice to be Barry Lyndon. My respect for him went to a new level at that moment.

@penknight8532

3 жыл бұрын

So you are saying that you watched Lolita before Barry Lyndon because you weren't afraid of the Lolita Subject Material???

He's an unworthy protagonist because the film is based on a picaresque novel, whose protagonists are by definition anti-heroes

@EyebrowCinema

6 жыл бұрын

Excellent point. Haven't given the novel a read yet, but I hope I can find the time for it.

I think audiences don’t like it not because they don’t relate to Barry but because they relate too much and hate it. I think the less you can relate to him the nicer it is to watch. Oddly enough.

@kingofcelts

6 ай бұрын

Quite a pertinent comment my friend ! Yes, Barry represents so much of the dark side which we deny lies within each of us interspersed with selflessness and great compassion..

I love how you opened the clip, same opening theme in the movie too...and this first music gives the vibe of Barry Lyndon.

@EyebrowCinema

3 жыл бұрын

I knew I had to open that way. That music is just so powerful.

This work has so many wonderful components: the music, the scenery, the acting! Each scene is a painting unto itself. Sometimes I turn off the dialog and just start and stop the video to capture a "still life" for my enjoyment. Whether Barry was good or bad, Lord Bullingdon a spoiled and confused child, or whatever... It doesn't matter. The whole film was a masterpiece of cinematic enjoyment. It is left to the viewer to judge the many merits of the film.

I love the untraditional character like Barry for this epic. He’s slimy and cunning, but also very emotional, and physically gifted. Many scenes in this movie makes watching him wandering through Europe feel very personal to me

This is really a solid, convincing, and holistic analysis that stands out. Ty.

I don't see how he's unlikeable. His "bad" deeds are forced on him by circumstance. When he beats his stepson, he has been driven to distraction by the stepson's outrageous behavior, and that behavior is driven by the stepson thinking that marrying into money is somehow worse than cheating your way into it (which is, let's not forget, what the stepson wants to do, because he can't stand the idea that a commoner has married his mother and is going to legally get the title that the stepson thinks should be his). Barry is callous, no doubt, but his callousness has been learned from those around him. I find him a tragic figure.

There is a scene early in the film where Redmond and Nora are watching a formation of soldiers marching. The camera pulls back and in the distance is a hill that resembles a giant breast, replete with a small growth at its crest that looks unmistakably like a nipple. I cannot believe that this was an accident. By the way it is framed it looks like a giant breast looming over Redmond. Given how most of his adventures are triggered by some female character it might be a bit of visual foreshadowing on the part of Kubrick. This is just my own interpretation.

@titus-a70d

11 ай бұрын

It is by design. The film is about how the mother complex runs man's lives. The other critical scene is when Barry's mother instructs him to get himself a peerage, which is the key to his undoing.

That does it: two great analysis of two of my favorite films! I'm subscribing. Barry Lyndon is my favorite Kubrick film. Get on Patreon!!!

Another awesome one, keep up the excellent work!

@EyebrowCinema

6 жыл бұрын

Thanks, fam.

I first saw this movie in the Seattle Cinerama theater. I had to stand in a moderately long line to get in. I gathered from the reaction of the crowd coming and going that they were expecting to see a spectacular adventure story a thriller about a romantic hero, and you can imagine their chagrin when leaving. Kubrick knows what he is doing ... as if he punctures our balloon, but not so that if goes "bang", but so that it fizzles out and goes flat. He gives you just what you probably deserve, a lesson about life, which, if you're a thoughtful person, maybe you won't forget.

what heartless times we live in that Redmond Barry is considered unlikeable

The wife’s near unearthing smile at the end says it all. Truth is, people can call Barry Lyndon unlikable all they want, but people fall into those types all the time.

It's one of his best movies. It has a very traditional folk story feeling to it where the hero strives for greatness only to be smitten at the end while having a personal transformation for the better.

I love this movie. It honestly is pretty boring, but in a good way if that makes sense. I never thought Barry was really a bad guy. Just a crude country bumpkin always embarrassing himself with his transparent attempts to attain glory but never realizing that the nobility will never truly accept him. Almost everybody with newfound wealth acts like him to some degree.

@EyebrowCinema

5 жыл бұрын

That class-based critique is an interesting angle and that certainly makes sense. It makes me think of that brief scene where Barry is blowing smoke in Lady Lyndon's face. He's got such a smug expression and it's clear he thinks he's so cool and powerful in this moment, but from our perspective, he just looks like an idiot. As you said, embarrassing. Thanks for a great comment.

This is a common thread with Kubrik films as they are at first long and seem boring with much seen as non entertainment. But then as time goes by and the viewer sees his films more than once in life they seem to get better with time. This enigma I think is the genius of Kubrick and his films for me I can watch again and again and they only seem to get better.

I hold the unpopular opinion that this is his best work. I will die on that mountain

Barry Lyndon is one of those films that needs repeated viewings to really appreciate it. But the same can be said for most Kubrick films. Despite the fact that most of the characters were stoic, it's actually a very emotional film. The death scene of Barry's child gets me every time.

I was pretty perplexed by this film on a first pass, but gave it another try recently because of this video, and loved it. Thanks Dan!

Barry Lyndon is my "break glass if you really, REALLY need to ugly cry." Honestly just listening to the Sarabande or the Schubert Piano Trio will do it sometimes, this film will break your heart mercilessly and rub your nose in how meaningless it all is.

I first went into the film with really low expectations, due to the stigma of it being a "lesser Kubrick film." Thankfully, I was really blown away by it. A parallel to the story would be, say, a gangster rapper that makes his way to the top of society, but because he only knows the streets and lacks the social etiquette of the ownership class, he tumbles back down to where he started. We see this story play out in real life all the time.

He starts off as a likeable character. We side with him. Life brutalises him and he learns how to deceive to get ahead. Even though he falls fowl to hedonism and betrayal there is still a grain of his innocence there thus making it a tragedy at the end. One must remember he is of simple farming stock hence why the depth of the character is shown in silent pictures. A look on the face says it all. It is a wonderful and engrossing movie that rightly is considered one of the greatest ever made.

@beejls

Ай бұрын

Agreed.

Barry Lyndon BORING????? People are boring! Barry Lyndon is probably the greatest achievement in history of cinema!

@vilhelmhammershoi3871

Ай бұрын

Agreed!

Hot take, and I haven’t see any other comments about this online, but I honestly see a lot of connection between this film and Wolf of Wall Street on a subliminal level, food for thought

Barry wasn't completely talentless, like you say. He was a good fighter. He displayed courage in the face of adversity and was a loving father (to a fault, of course).

Barry was a man always working so hard to be a single pace farther than collapse. He was honestly super intelligent but he always was daft. He seeks to be respected and rich but deserves neither and never had much. He eventually loses his lead and heads back to his home penniless. He was a man always fractured in his output, he was tender yet apathetic, smart but dumb and overall dull. But that’s everyone. He really does defy the “three act structure” character development.

Barry is simply a product of his life and the world. Him flogging his step son is similar to the scene of him getting flogged in the army, or him swindling people at cards is reflected in having everything stolen from him by highwaymen. And since the narration of the film mentions quite a bit about the world that Barry is in I think this is the whole point.

Barry Lyndon developed over the years into being my favorite Stanley Kubrick film. It's just so gorgeous and enveloping. Like diving into the lives of the subjects of classic paintings. It's also easily his most emotional film and proof that he wasn't a pretentious and cold filmmaker

This is one of Kubrick's best films, in my humble opinion.

It's my favorite movie of all time--not because of any sense of nihilism, but because it's like a time machine, transporting the viewer to another time and place (which happens to be very beautiful).

I never thought te movie boring. It does not have a high tempo, like 2001 also doesn't, it is visually stunning, the story is complex and layered. I know of few if any movies that are cinematically so excellent.

Barry didn’t let his material world destroy his honor nor politics to snuff his desires. He showed compassion to the less fortunate and stood up to perpetrators, … and no one was his equal in that regard. They didn’t have the gumption to reckon or the diligence to empathize. That’s the whole story. It’s unbelievably overwhelming how large a percentage of people will never even begin to perceive such a difficult truth. No director challenged an audience to such a thing as that before Kubrick. 600 years later, in a world of instant gratification, technological dependence, proxy-war, celebrity, and social distortion, someone perfectly juxtaposes the social scene of the end of the Classification Era, the Age of Enlightenment, the Scientific Revolution and the Industrious Revolution just before the beginning of the Industrial Revolution. Ironically this narrator’s regard to Barry is not of his hedonistic approach to misfortunate circumstances, but that it’s not worth observing in all its good taste, learned beauty, and refined honor. But, rather, it is just a failed attempt to bring his over appreciated public school education to a familiar face and a point of reference in 2023. Honestly, I think Kubrick would be affirmed in hearing this synopsis. He’d wanna work that much harder to complicate self awareness in his next epic. Don’t you see? In these times, there was Davinci, there was Galileo, there were sons and daughters, princesses, princes, knights, and Barry Lyndon. Yes you do. You do see it. You can’t not see it if you see this movie, no matter how much you refuse. ………………….and yes … Napoleon.

Aren't we all Barry? We are all flawed yet redeemable. We are insignificant.

Good video. I thought it was going to be fueled with contempt for the movie but damn, it's spot on. Love this masterpiece.

Probably the best analysis of this film that I’ve heard. Thanks.

Barry isn't supposed to be likeable, we're not supposed to empathize with him. It's a true period piece

The only people who could dare to say that Barry Lyndon is a "boring" film must be blind or must have watched just too many super hero films.

very impressive cogent analysis in few words, making a strong case. thanks.

Excellent essay

@EyebrowCinema

6 жыл бұрын

Thank you!

Holy cow I had zero interest to complete this movie despite Kubrick being a reputable director. I will now seek it out and take the journey. Many thanks!

@EyebrowCinema

3 жыл бұрын

You'll have to come back and let us know what you think :)

Just bought this on Blu-Ray for $39.99 based on the reputation of the director and what I was briefly told 14 years ago. I kept looking at the runtime and continued to wonder why I wasn't bored by the two hour mark. Hey, if you're not bored by a three hour movie, shit! Keep going! Everything in it had me feeling as though I shouldn't like the film, but goddammit, I was wrong! 10/10, tell your friends!

If there one film I want to see projected, it's Barry Lyndon.

I don't think Barry is unworthy. I understand that Kubrick is subverting the genre with a protagonist like Barry, but you miss a few key points. First, Barry is a character who is very much the product of his time. The entire goal of the film, like almost all Kubrick films, is to show the gradual process of dehumanization. In Barry, the overriding theme is opportunism. Barry starts out as a young and naive idealist, who learns to be shrewd in order to survive and get ahead. As Scorsese put it simply, Barry Lyndon is about "the loss of innocence." The great quote from the narrator tells all. "Barry had dispelled any notion of romance, upon which he commenced life." Barry becomes everything his cousin Nora was. A common opportunist, except on a massive scale. And the most important moment in the film is the brilliant duel between Barry and Bullingdon. Most people overlook this fact, as you did in your analysis of Barry's kindness. Barry does not spare Bullingdon because he has compassion for him. Quite the opposite. Barry seeks to undo the damage that he incurred by giving Bullingdon the public beating, which led to him losing favor among the social class. He thinks that, by sparing Bullingdon a defeat in the duel, and potentially death, he would redeem himself in the eyes of the noblemen. This backfires miserably as Bullingdon's spite is just as strong as Barry's desperation. I think the film is not so much a character study of Barry as much as it is a commentary on a very common aspect of our nature. But I do think Barry is a tragic character, or as Roger Ebert said, "a man to which things happen." He was doomed to fail from the start. Beautiful film.

0:30 'Simply put, Barry is an unlikeable little shit' :P that cracked me up PS - I come into the camp that it is a good film, maybe not a great film - but certainly not boring. I give Barry Lyndon a strong 7/10

This film is amazing . And the characters interesting and well acted. Well edited, well directed, well written.

Barry Lyndon is an absolute masterpiece. I put off watching it because of its "boring" reputation, but when I watched it, I was swept up in its world. So many memorable shots. And I love the movie's restrained emotion. The scene at the end with the child almost made me tear up.

Folly. The great destroyer of so many things. That message is found in every single Kubrick film. But in Barry Lyndon, it’s poignancy is like that little piece of bacon in the food you didn’t expect. And it’s delicious.

The protagonist is a real, average man, who doesnt know where he is going, makes stupid, wrong and greedy choices at times, and can also be thoughtful and kind at others, I can see myself in him, the protagonist whose story doesnt turn out just right, just like the lives of most of us, Kubrick is showing us the unspeakable beauty in the imperfect life.

barry lyndon is a human, somewhat realistic protagonist. like many, if not most people, life turns him into a darker individual. to say that he is boring is unfair, and to say that he lacks agency is untrue. he sets out on his adventure through his own choice - the duel; he finds freedom through his own choice of collaborating with Chevalier; he finds his wife in a similar manner. do fate and the world around him have a huge impact on his life? of course, that is a main theme, and to a declining extent as he ages and becomes more jaded - again very relatable to the average person, i assume. he is imperfect - he has some great deeds, and some bad ones. he is smart, aggressive and an opportunist, but also has empathy and some principles. look around you, or at yourself, and you'll see some very real barry lyndons. the guy fought for himself and his family, and definitely did so in a far-from-the-worst manner.

Thank you for this very insightful review.

I know everyone is enamored with the amazing cinematography of the film and I cannot disagree with its brilliance. It is the most beautifully shot film ever in my opinion. However, the part that has forever stuck with me is the message of the story. It is a work of absurdist philosophy in the vein of Camus. Barry is very much like Sisyphus. Always pushing his boulder to the top of the mountain to see it fall again. He doesn’t dictate his own life and is given boulders to push. In many ways, I fell many people identify with this feeling. It’s just that most watch movies to escape that feeling. Kubrick forces you to confront that feeling and doesn’t tell you that it will all be better. At some point we will all be history like those portrayed in the film. We are all agents of fate much like Barry and we will all be equal soon.

Ryan O'Neal was perfectly cast in this role. In real life, O'Neal is so much like the character he portrayed here: an empty, soulless mediocrity with no integrity whatsoever.

Barry does have positive traits. For one, he embodies the common dream of climbing the social ladder and in his quest is courageously determined. Those are some of the most positively viewed characteristics in the Anglo-American cuture sphere. Additionally Barry is a tremendously human character: he gets manipulated, heart broken, wartorn, becomes an outcast, the list goes on but Barry's flaws do not detract from the quality of his character. The story itself is a social commentary aimed towards humanity's futile struggles in it's very cruel social envirnoments. But where Barry Lyndon truly excels is how it juxtaposes i'ts rather depressing story with beautiful scenery and masterful attention to detail in every aspect.

People don't like this film for the same reason they don't like looking at themselves in the mirror. We are all Barry Lyndon to a larger or lesser degree, preoccupied only with climbing the social ladder and sacrificing this precious human life for dream-like insubstantial worldly pleasures.

We had a Films of Stanley Kubrick course at my alma mater before I turned 21, held as an elective tutorial during the summer, and upon watching the films in chronological order, when it came to seeing this film for the first time, it was problematic at first for me due to its deliberate pacing - it was only later, after rewatching it a few times, that I was able to understand Kubrick's motives in delivering the narrative, which was itself problematic enough given that the Thackeray novel on which it was based on was not so easy to adapt to the screen compared to A CLOCKWORK ORANGE (where the vast majority of the novel's narrative, a complete story, made it to its iconic celluloid version) and THE SHINING (which was mainly pared down to focus on the character of Jack while also doing away with certain horror genre "givens"). Personally, I'm impressed with the film versions as they are, and while purists may defend the original literature, Kubrick's film adaptations certainly leave a far greater impression. But my personal top favorites of Kubrick's work remain 2001 and SPARTACUS (ironic given that the latter title he disowned as he had no control over the project as a hired gun).

Has anyone noticed that Marissa Berenson the person with the second most screen time in the movie, only has one line in the entire film? She asks Barry to not smoke in the carriage and he blows smoke at her. That’s her only line. But she remains a strong presence thereafter.

What an interesting angle! Barry Lydon is like life , you ask yourself “when does it start?” and before you know it it’s done for leaving you with a variety of memories. Maybe we are all unworthy protagonists.

Redmond has good qualities. Bravery, Fencing, and Ambition, his love of his son, and probably more.

On my first watch, I constantly went from “liking” him, where i felt sympathetic towards the character, however on my second watch I could not stand him from the start. It’s crazy how your perspective can change on different viewings of the same film!

And THIS is why Barry Lyndon is my favourite film

Barry Lyndon is a motion painting rather than a motion picture. It is perhaps the most perspectively beautiful movie ever. I want to see it on the big screen

Barry Lyndon is a savage critique of societal norms based on the 1840s novel "The Luck of Barry Lyndon" by William Makepeace Thackeray. The protagonist in an Irish (period English prejudice here) rogue, social climber and fortune hunter. If he were a woman, we would call her a gold digger. In the language of the time, he was an "adventurer." The movie moves slowly because society and life in general was a lot slower back then. But the message is damning all the same, brutally skewering the vanity and vapidity of high/aristocratic society in the twighlight of the ancien régime. It attacks the obsession with social class, the insane financial habits of the idle wealthy including gambling for mind boggling sums while living far beyond their means, arranged marriages, dueling, and so on. IMO the film is one of Kurbrick's best. The cinematography is among the finest in the history of cinema with many of the scenes directly inspired by 18th century paintings including landscapes, and portraiture. The cinematography brilliantly contrasts the glitter that we tend to associate with that era, with the reality of the rot and moral corruption that was so pervasive at the highest levels of European society in the final decades before the French Revolution. In many respects the film reminds me of, and may have partly inspired Martin Scorsese's "The Age of Innocence." One important difference between the film and book is that in Thackery's novel, Barry ends up in debtor's prison.

@theproplady

3 ай бұрын

I too, thought it was more a critique of the social system than a critique of the main character. We think Barry should succeed because he's a plucky underdog, but he fails because of his personal flaws combined with the unfair rigidness of his society.

Many of Lyndon's experiences bear an interesting similarity to those of a Scotsman called, Donald McBane (or McBain), a career soldier and swords master who died in 1732.

I loved this movie from the first moment watched it. Barry starts as a likeable and spirited underdog character who you root for, but becomes a nasty and self destructive one, for me personally I still rooted for him but with some reservations. A key phrase is spoken by the narrator at the intermission - "The same energies that drive a man to a fortune are often the same ones which cause him to lose it". Interestingly, Thackeray's other more famous book Vanity Fair features a female protagonist very much like Barry - innocent underdog who becomes a social climber, breaking moral boundaries and coming to an obscure end. A great comparison with Barry Lyndon is the 1979 TV Movie called The Bastard (based on John Jakes book). Both are 3 hour long epics set in same time period, with the two protagonists being born with tenious aristocratic links of determined women with no father figures. Both characters are burdened and pushed by their mother's dreams and both are presented with simmilar choices and scenarios. Difference being that the protagonist in The Bastard makes more morally correct choices and does not succumb to the same temptations as Barry. That being said, The Bastard is somewhat plodding by comparrison and despite a fine cast of stars of the day is a lot more wooden in terms of acting etc. Thanks for the magnificent breakdown and analysis 👍

I never had an issues with it because I probably never saw it as epic with one “protagonist”, more like just a story worth telling in a peculiar way.

I love Barry he’s a good man, I think he just doesn’t have enough time in comfort to reckon with his hubris. The way he treats his wife is his only mortal sin.

I love this movie!

This could just as easily have been a movie about the rise and fall of a popstar today, which proves that this movie's subjects are timeless

thoughtful comments. I love the movie in many ways, the score, the beautiful sets and costumes... yet Barry is not likeable. a thief, a seducer, a scoundrel with little charm or grace, who leaves pain and ruin in his wake. I think the Epilogue is meant to indicate not so much the futility of existence, but simply that death is the great equalizer of mankind, and we all go to judgment.

@EyebrowCinema

3 жыл бұрын

It certainly is that. However you read it that final bit of text really hits hard.

I think you're misreading the phrase, "They are all equal, now." I read it as meaning that they're all dead.

Another aspect of Barry's character is that he is a member of the Irish nobility ( all be it low nobility) who have been clinging on for the past 3 generations much reduced in land and fortune but still with pretensions to past glory.

It’s on the tip of my tongue but what is the name of song in the beginning