'He was destined to be a wanderer'Barry Lyndon 9.5(I have found this film very difficult to write about succinctly and efficiently, so I apologise beforehand for the waffle)Barry Lyndon is a a beautiful, wonderfully shot period drama based on a novel by William Makepeace Thackeray. Redmond Barry, a restless, cunning, young Irish rogue with a skewed idea of right and wrong is dissatisfied with his meager life in rural Ireland. He sees a military parade, watches the soldiers, disciplined and dressed in thier finery, and swooned over by the women folk. He is enraged when his cousin Nora, who he fancies (so were the times) is seduced by upstanding gentleman Captain Quinn, Barry takes personal offence. After a duel with this man of stature, Barry must flee from town so rides to Dublin and stumbles across an opportunity to join King George's army, which could essentially be a fresh start. From here he embarks on a meandering journey to secure a more fine existence by any means, he takes many risks and opportunities, thinking about little else but his own advancement. When fate brings him into contact with wealth Lady Lyndon, he sees an opportunity to secure himself a fortune, and crucially a title, for the rest of his life.It is a very complex and remarkable story.. which I will not summarise. Each of the events of his life go some way to influencing future decisions, although at many times he has a chance to quit while he's ahead, but of course doesn't have the discipline to take them. Barry is cold, viciously self centred and can be socially uneasy. If he were to tell his own story I'm sure he would start with the crippling hardship of Nora rejecting him and him being robbed by a highwayman on the road. Some of his qualities lend him well to being a soldier, others equally to being a nobleman, he can cut it as both. He is an expert 'impressionist' and seems to have an unshakable nerve, there are many tense scenes where he seems to be close to being found out, but he ploughs on. He outwits almost everybody, and plays the game to perfection most of the time. As mentioned before he is, in a sense, uncommonly focused on his own advancement - to quote my own review of Wolf of Wall Street, about Jordan Belfort; 'he is like the rockstar offspring of Del Boy and Barry Lyndon'. He truly cares only for his mother and eventually his son, perhaps because without one he would not be there, and without then other, he would eventually be forgotten. He sees most other people as obstructions or a means to improve his situation. Most of the character interactions are wonderful, but there are a few particular moments which just come slightly above all others for me;Leonard Rossiter as John quinn dancing with cousin Nora. In fact he pretty much steals the show in the first 25 minutes.Barry and Lady Lyndon meeting for the first time, at the card table, eyes only for each other. They say more with glances than an entire love scene ever could.Barry telling his dying son that he is going to live, perhaps the only moment of entirely unguarded, genuine emotion from him.Towards the end of the film, when he is almost defeated by life, and crucially the death of his son, Barry does seem to have softened slightly. In his duel against his wife's first son, Lyndon senior, who he hates with a passion, he has an opportunity to end him, but shoots away-which is fair. It is too late for the audience to start feeling for him, but it does show that his cutthroat attitude is waning, along with his zeal for life. Strangely, there are moments where he appears to act vey selflesy. He rescues a soldier from the battlefield, and another from a burning house, but both are captains who can offer him advancements, so he has his own selfish reasons.He is always pushing his luck as if so confident in himself that he almost invites extra scrutiny. Take the short scene in the carriage, he is smoking his pipe, which bothers his wife. She coughs and asks him to stop, and he simply blows smoke in her face, smiles and kisses her. He knows how much he needs her, but also knows she is a defenseless easy target. Of course in this time period the man is the shot-caller really but by asserting his dominance in a relatively minor way he is massaging his own ego, which is kind of the whole point of his existence. His approach makes his plot utterly unpredictable and adds yet more tension to an already high risk story.Talking of the time period, this is an example of a film which captures it perfectly. Kubrick was a renowned perfectionist, and went to great lengths to make everything feel as authentically 18th century as possible. For instance, he famously used bespoke, NASA developed Zeiss lenses to be able to shoot in natural candlelight. In fact the lighting is hugely important to capturing the look of the whole film, which in turn is the greatest aspect of the production. Many sumptuous shots of the interior of the grand mansions rely on natural light to show the detail therein, as of course do the many landscape vistas of the rolling Irish countryside - more on the film's wonderful imagery shortly.Also helping to realise the times is the music. I remember reading that when Kubrick was making 2001, he was planning to use an original score but eventually decided to use classical music instead - at least for the the pivotal scenes. Barry Lyndon does the same, and benefits hugely from not only by helping date the historical period but also the dramatic cues that music can give.Cinematohraphy has always been Kubruck's most celebrated asset, in this it is, almost all the way through, controlled and meditative - with only very gradual movements- reflecting the pace of life and movement for the upper echelons of nobility, and it is all sublime. But this being set in the time when violence, be it a sword fight, pistol duel or fist fight, settles arguments, there is the odd combat scene of fast movement which the handheld camera reflects. In fact there are two other scenes (Barry and Lyndon senior wrestling, and when lady Lyndon has taken poison) which are filmed in moving handheld camera almost frantically. They stand out so sorely against the normal stoic camerawork to show the few occasions when control is lost, in a society where to show one's emotions is to show weakness and poor form. I dont know if I like that decision myself, I would be interested to see how the same scenes filmed like the rest of them would look, I feel like that may play better to me personally.The pacing of the film is interesting, it has the feel and style of a slow burner but actually the story rolls on swiftly. It manages to deliver some very intense scenes still through a very slow pace of dialogue and filming. The juxtaposition of the tense plot itself and the delivery system is something to behold, and would be the outright crowning achievement of most any other director. The performances continue this trend somewhat. Often we see Barry looking expressionless as or after major events are taking place around him. This isn't just because the times dictated this type of reserved behaviour, but it is part of his defense against being found out, which he cannot afford to totally relinquish. Ryan O'Neal's performance is particularly uncharismatic and mostly uncharacteristic, but suits the character and story perfectly. Also Kubrick takes the time, as he often did - he was a master at it - to build the worlds around us by letting shots linger on the scenery (and sometimes on characters) which may make things feel slow, but the film wouldn't be the same without it. The longer the film goes on, and the more it retains such a high level of quality, the more masterly it feels. It's this control that permeates the whole three hours of the runtime, it is impossible to not appreciate.At points it reminds me of Scorsese's Age of Innocence (a very good, but still lesser film), a tale of warring clans under the veneer of high society, in the way so much is happening under the surface.The film uses title cards to clearly set into 2 parts, first the rise, and second the fall of Barry, which aids the clarity of storytelling, as does the rather droll sounding narration. I like a film with narration, in this case alot of the story is delivered verbally in this way, and in some cases we hear what we are about to see. This is quite a bold move in a way, but somehow doesn't take anything away from the experience. The narration is entirely neutral towards Barry's exploits, as is the almost unbelievably accomplished direction. It is important that the telling of the story doesn't judge the main character, so that the audience can form their own opinions of the man, in turn helping to judge each interaction scene based only on what has gone before, similar to how the man himself would. There are other characters in the story, some of them very major, but the film is always mostly concerned with Barry. All others come across as a means to an end - another example of the world of the story itself infiltrating the storytelling.Arguably, the star of the film is the cinematography. Kubrick started his career as a photographer, and by the evidence he shows here, he would have been a damn good one. As with all of his work, the visuals always help to set the scene and can go someway to aiding the storytelling itself. For instance, there is a gorgeous shot of Lady Lyndon in the bath. It opens in a semi close up of her face, then the camera tracks backwards, distancing her from us, and us from her. Her face is expressionless as can be but still, it communicates. There are lots of gorgeous and accomplished long shots, which I personally love. The framing of images and cinematography are combined in perhaps the most accomplished way that I have ever seen in a long take scene late on in the film, in a gentelmens' club after Barry has fallen from grace and finally tested the patience of Lyndon senior who has come to 'demand satisfaction'. We see the younger man enter the club, the camera shows him front on and reverses, showing him making his way through a corridor, turning twice. Each time the camera changes angle and reveals men wearing fine clothes, slumped in chairs asleep. The decor and the patrons clearly shows this is a high class, yet debauched geltenmens club, where the men folk come to shed the expectations of the more public world of creaseless behaviour. He spots his target, also slumped almost lifeless in a chair, surrounded by bottles, glasses and general drinking debris. We stay on this shot for a second whilst Lyndon sr. approaches off screen. The rear wall is a lovely shade of blue, adorned with oil paintings, natural lighting creeping in from left of frame and a group of men sat around a table right of frame. Although they are all sat together, none are engaged, or even looking at eachother, or at Barry, they are mostly facing away. They are not there to be social, theye are there to be alone under no pressure. There is a chair on it's side, as if someone has passed out and been dragged away. All of this and more detail in this frame is testament to the power of silent, visual storytelling. It is one of my all time favourites frames.There are simply too many other achingly beautiful shots to list, many of buildings and water, landscapes or character close ups. There are shots from other films I am aware of which do reach this level, but no other film I can think of is so consistently impressive to look at as this one - perhaps something like House of Flying Daggers, The White Ribbon, Apocalypto or La Haine would be mentioned in the same sentence. Part of the joy of the film is looking at the beautiful interior shots of the grand houses Barry finds himself in. For me, three still frames I would most want on my wall would be Lady Lyndon in the bath, the vast landscape of English countryside after his wedding to lady Lyndon (there are many similar shots that would be almost as good) and mostly the one mentioned above with Barry slumped in the club.All scenes are impeccable and wonderfully realised, and most now have a connection with me since I first fell in love with this film years ago. Some films have the power to make you feel like reminiscing about old times with a friend you haven't seen for years but share so many memories with. This is a film that really has to be seen to be believed. It's a real shame that so many would be put off by the period style, as there is so much to wonder at here and importantly, it is just as good after multiple viewings. So Stanley Kubrick is the master. Barry Lyndon (1975) followed A Clockwork Orange (1971) and preceeded The Shining (1980). In these ten years he reinvented film genres into art, something rarely seen by such a high profile name, but the thing is, almost all of his films do that. This may be my 2nd favourite of his, after 2001. His technical mastery and especially the acute visual artistry that runs through his entire filmography has made him my undisputed favourite director of all time'He was destined to be a wanderer''He was destined to be a wanderer'Barry Lyndon 9.5(I have found this film very difficult to write about succinctly and efficiently, so I apologise beforehand for the waffle)Barry Lyndon is a a beautiful, wonderfully shot period drama based on a novel by William Makepeace Thackeray. Redmond Barry, a restless, cunning, young Irish rogue with a skewed idea of right and wrong is dissatisfied with his meager life in rural Ireland. He sees a military parade, watches the soldiers, disciplined and dressed in thier finery, and swooned over by the women folk. He is enraged when his cousin Nora, who he fancies (so were the times) is seduced by upstanding gentleman Captain Quinn, Barry takes personal offence. After a duel with this man of stature, Barry must flee from town so rides to Dublin and stumbles across an opportunity to join King George's army, which could essentially be a fresh start. From here he embarks on a meandering journey to secure a more fine existence by any means, he takes many risks and opportunities, thinking about little else but his own advancement. When fate brings him into contact with wealth Lady Lyndon, he sees an opportunity to secure himself a fortune, and crucially a title, for the rest of his lIt is a very complex and remarkable story.. which I will not summarise. Each of the events of his life go some way to influencing future decisions, although at many times he has a chance to quit while he's ahead, but of course doesn't have the discipline to take them. Barry is cold, viciously self centred and can be socially uneasy. If he were to tell his own story I'm sure he would start with the crippling hardship of Nora rejecting him and him being robbed by a highwayman on the road. Some of his qualities lend him well to being a soldier, others equally to being a nobleman, he can cut it as both. He is an expert 'impressionist' and seems to have an unshakable nerve, there are many tense scenes where he seems to be close to being found out, but he ploughs on. He outwits almost everybody, and plays the game to perfection most of the time. As mentioned before he is, in a sense, uncommonly focused on his own advancement - to quote my own review of Wolf of Wall Street, about Jordan Belfort; 'he is like the rockstar offspring of Del Boy and Barry Lyndon'. He truly cares only for his mother and eventually his son, perhaps because without one he would not be there, and without then other, he would eventually be forgotten. He sees most other people as obstructions or a means to improve his situation. Most of the character interactions are wonderful, but there are a few particular moments which just come slightly above all others for me;Leonard Rossiter as John quinn dancing with cousin Nora. In fact he pretty much steals the show in the first 25 minutes.Barry and Lady Lyndon meeting for the first time, at the card table, eyes only for each other. They say more with glances than an entire love scene ever could.Barry telling his dying son that he is going to live, perhaps the only moment of entirely unguarded, genuine emotion from hTowards the end of the film, when he is almost defeated by life, and crucially the death of his son, Barry does seem to have softened slightly. In his duel against his wife's first son, Lyndon senior, who he hates with a passion, he has an opportunity to end him, but shoots away-which is fair. It is too late for the audience to start feeling for him, but it does show that his cutthroat attitude is waning, along with his zeal for life. Strangely, there are moments where he appears to act vey selflesy. He rescues a soldier from the battlefield, and another from a burning house, but both are captains who can offer him advancements, so he has his own selfish reasons.He is always pushing his luck as if so confident in himself that he almost invites extra scrutiny. Take the short scene in the carriage, he is smoking his pipe, which bothers his wife. She coughs and asks him to stop, and he simply blows smoke in her face, smiles and kisses her. He knows how much he needs her, but also knows she is a defenseless easy target. Of course in this time period the man is the shot-caller really but by asserting his dominance in a relatively minor way he is massaging his own ego, which is kind of the whole point of his existence. His approach makes his plot utterly unpredictable and adds yet more tension to an already high risk storTalking of the time period, this is an example of a film which captures it perfectly. Kubrick was a renowned perfectionist, and went to great lengths to make everything feel as authentically 18th century as possible. For instance, he famously used bespoke, NASA developed Zeiss lenses to be able to shoot in natural candlelight. In fact the lighting is hugely important to capturing the look of the whole film, which in turn is the greatest aspect of the production. Many sumptuous shots of the interior of the grand mansions rely on natural light to show the detail therein, as of course do the many landscape vistas of the rolling Irish countryside - more on the film's wonderful imagery shortly.Also helping to realise the times is the music. I remember reading that when Kubrick was making 2001, he was planning to use an original score but eventually decided to use classical music instead - at least for the the pivotal scenes. Barry Lyndon does the same, and benefits hugely from not only by helping date the historical period but also the dramatic cues that music can giveCinematography has always been Kubruck's most celebrated asset, in this it is, almost all the way through, controlled and meditative - with only very gradual movements- reflecting the pace of life and movement for the upper echelons of nobility, and it is all sublime. But this being set in the time when violence, be it a sword fight, pistol duel or fist fight, settles arguments, there is the odd combat scene of fast movement which the handheld camera reflects. In fact there are two other scenes (Barry and Lyndon senior wrestling, and when lady Lyndon has taken poison) which are filmed in moving handheld camera almost frantically. They stand out so sorely against the normal stoic camerawork to show the few occasions when control is lost, in a society where to show one's emotions is to show weakness and poor form. I dont know if I like that decision myself, I would be interested to see how the same scenes filmed like the rest of them would look, I feel like that may play better to me personally.
It is a very complex and remarkable story.. which I will not summarise. Each of the events of his life go some way to influencing future decisions, although at many times he has a chance to quit while he's ahead, but of course doesn't have the discipline to take them. Barry is cold, viciously self centred and can be socially uneasy. If he were to tell his own story I'm sure he would start with the crippling hardship of Nora rejecting him and him being robbed by a highwayman on the road. Some of his qualities lend him well to being a soldier, others equally to being a nobleman, he can cut it as both. He is an expert 'impressionist' and seems to have an unshakable nerve, there are many tense scenes where he seems to be close to being found out, but he ploughs on. He outwits almost everybody, and plays the game to perfection most of the time. As mentioned before he is, in a sense, uncommonly focused on his own advancement - to quote my own review of Wolf of Wall Street, about Jordan Belfort; 'he is like the rockstar offspring of Del Boy and Barry Lyndon'. He truly cares only for his mother and eventually his son, perhaps because without one he would not be there, and without then other, he would eventually be forgotten. He sees most other people as obstructions or a means to improve his situation. Most of the character interactions are wonderful, but there are a few particular moments which just come slightly above all others for me;Leonard Rossiter as John quinn dancing with cousin Nora. In fact he pretty much steals the show in the first 25 minutes.Barry and Lady Lyndon meeting for the first time, at the card table, eyes only for each other. They say more with glances than an entire love scene ever could.Barry telling his dying son that he is going to live, perhaps the only moment of entirely unguarded, genuine emotion from him.
Towards the end of the film, when he is almost defeated by life, and crucially the death of his son, Barry does seem to have softened slightly. In his duel against his wife's first son, Lyndon senior, who he hates with a passion, he has an opportunity to end him, but shoots away-which is fair. It is too late for the audience to start feeling for him, but it does show that his cutthroat attitude is waning, along with his zeal for life. Strangely, there are moments where he appears to act vey selflesy. He rescues a soldier from the battlefield, and another from a burning house, but both are captains who can offer him advancements, so he has his own selfish reasons.
He is always pushing his luck as if so confident in himself that he almost invites extra scrutiny. Take the short scene in the carriage, he is smoking his pipe, which bothers his wife. She coughs and asks him to stop, and he simply blows smoke in her face, smiles and kisses her. He knows how much he needs her, but also knows she is a defenseless easy target. Of course in this time period the man is the shot-caller really but by asserting his dominance in a relatively minor way he is massaging his own ego, which is kind of the whole point of his existence. His approach makes his plot utterly unpredictable and adds yet more tension to an already high risk story.
Talking of the time period, this is an example of a film which captures it perfectly. Kubrick was a renowned perfectionist, and went to great lengths to make everything feel as authentically 18th century as possible. For instance, he famously used bespoke, NASA developed Zeiss lenses to be able to shoot in natural candlelight. In fact the lighting is hugely important to capturing the look of the whole film, which in turn is the greatest aspect of the production. Many sumptuous shots of the interior of the grand mansions rely on natural light to show the detail therein, as of course do the many landscape vistas of the rolling Irish countryside - more on the film's wonderful imagery shortly.Also helping to realise the times is the music. I remember reading that when Kubrick was making 2001, he was planning to use an original score but eventually decided to use classical music instead - at least for the the pivotal scenes. Barry Lyndon does the same, and benefits hugely from not only by helping date the historical period but also the dramatic cues that music can give.
Cinematography has always been Kubruck's most celebrated asset, in this it is, almost all the way through, controlled and meditative - with only very gradual movements- reflecting the pace of life and movement for the upper echelons of nobility, and it is all sublime. But this being set in the time when violence, be it a sword fight, pistol duel or fist fight, settles arguments, there is the odd combat scene of fast movement which the handheld camera reflects. In fact there are two other scenes (Barry and Lyndon senior wrestling, and when lady Lyndon has taken poison) which are filmed in moving handheld camera almost frantically. They stand out so sorely against the normal stoic camerawork to show the few occasions when control is lost, in a society where to show one's emotions is to show weakness and poor form. I dont know if I like that decision myself, I would be interested to see how the same scenes filmed like the rest of them would look, I feel like that may play better to me personally.
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