Barry Lyndon (1975)
1975
PG
184 Minutes
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...
User Review
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WHAT I LIKED: In many ways it could be argued that Barry Lyndon is Stanley Kubrick's first and only attempt at a serious character piece, and on the one hand that does make for an interesting film with someone at the centre you can (for once) invest in in some way.
And in fact - whilst many disagree - I think that's enabled largely by what is a rather likeable performance from Ryan O'Neal as an Irish lad who becomes a victim of his own willing to climb the poisonous social ladder.
Around that central character arc though is admittedly all the things you'd expect from a Kubrick film, as the narrative ultimately serves to unlock a commentary on the frivolity and absurdity of social status and the historical upper classes. The script is witty and there are naturally moments of dry physical humour (though the film isn't generally as overtly theatrical as most of Kubrick's work) and the opulence of everything on display is - up to and including the breathtaking camera work - as sarcastic as the over-the-top music which accompanies it.
WHAT I DIDN'T LIKE: The thing is, whilst it is indeed an attempt at a serious character-study, it's not really an overly successful one.
That's because whilst there are moments of development and a great performance to help you invest somewhat, mostly the arc is told extremely ploddingly through narration rather than observation. This adds to the sarcastic-commentary style of it all of course, but it detracts from potential moments in which we could continue to build an understanding of Barry himself. That's especially important here because the character is such a layered one and a difficult one to get on board with, but overall it ends up feeling like an obligatory exercise rather than a captivating descendance into a man's journey into success and demise.
VERDICT: Stanley Kubrick tries a proper character-study and mostly fails because he deals everything so ploddingly, 'Barry Lyndon,' ultimately feels like it's wasting its technical brilliance and admirable intentions in what is effectively another very impressive failure from Kubrick.0 member like this review.
