Barry Lyndon

Barry Lyndon is a 1975 Anglo-American dramatic-historical film written and directed by Stanley Kubrick; and starring Ryan O'Neal, Marisa Berenson, Patrick Magee and Hardy Krüger. It is based on the novel The Fate of Barry Lyndon by William Makepeace Thackeray, published in 1844. The film depicts the fictional misadventures of an Irish swindler during the 18th century, and is set in part during the Seven Years' War. That period was given a more realistic and raw look in this film by Stanley Kubrick. The exteriors were shot on various locations in Ireland, England and Germany. Filmmaker Martin Scorsese cited Barry Lyndon as the best film within his genre, and his favorite Kubrick film, serving as inspiration for his famous film The Age of Innocence .

The film won four Oscars for Best Art Direction, Best Cinematography, Best Costumes, and Best Score, and was also nominated for Best Picture, Best Director, and Best Adapted Screenplay. Kubrick also won the British Academy Award. The BAFTA Award for Best Director and John Alcott won Best Cinematography, and the film was nominated for Best Film, Best Art Direction and Best Costumes. In numerous polls, including the Village Voice (1999), Sight & Sound (2002), Time (2005) and the BBC, it has been considered one of the best films ever made.

The cast of the film is one of the points on which some fans and critics agree as not being the most suitable. The truth is that the choice of O'Neal to play the protagonist may not like some, mainly due to the lack of expressiveness of the actor, the director was looking for a not excessively charismatic actor who would pass well for what the character is, a playboy with few moral virtues. Of the rest of the cast, the work of Berenson stands out, who gives life to Lady Lyndon, the countess whom Barry seduces and from whom he obtains her noble surname. The rest do a good job. Despite the criticism, it is the film for which the best work of both protagonists is considered.

Famous film director Martin Scorsese has cited Barry Lyndon as his favorite Stanley Kubrick film. Some quotes from the script of this film have appeared in other cinematographic works as diverse as The Duelists by Ridley Scott, The Age of Innocence by Scorsese himself, Rushmore by Wes Anderson and Dogville by Lars von Trier.

Shape

Barry Lyndon narrates the rise and fall of a young Irishman from humble origins, whose adventures show how he renounces the romantic and idealistic spirit of his youth in favor of the ruthless cynicism of the adult who wants to thrive in society even at the cost of lose their values in the attempt. The film is divided into two chapters with significant epigraphs. There is also an intermission and an epilogue. This final label is prepared for the language of silent cinema, with which 'Barry Lyndon' has a kinship bond. It is also an epitaph that reflects Kubrick's pessimistic and disillusioned view of the human condition, even though the postscript was taken from the novel. With this he gives us to understand how little separates joy from crying, life from death, the brocade from the shroud.

Plot

Part I

How Redmond Barry acquired the name and title of Barry Lyndon.

In the year 1750, Redmond Barry's father is killed in a duel over the sale of some horses. The widow, scorning offers of marriage, is devoted to her only child.

Barry falls in love with his older cousin, Nora Brady. Though he charms him during a card game, he later shows an interest in a well-to-do British Army captain, John Quin. Nora and her family plan to leverage their finances through marriage, while Barry despises Quin and escalates the situation to a duel (after throwing wine into the Englishman's eyes), when Barry shoots Quin. As a consequence, he flees from the police towards Dublin, and in the middle of the road he goes to a pool in search of water where he meets Captain Feeney (a highwayman) and his son who later assault him in the woods.

Shots at Minden Battle during the seven-year war, where Barry loses his friend, Captain Grogan.

Impoverished, Barry joins the British Army where he is mocked for complaining about a glass full of grease sparking a duel that Barry wins earning the respect of his comrades. Some time later, he meets Captain Grogan, a family friend. Grogan informs him that Barry never killed Quin and that Quin faked his death in the duel, as his dueling pistol had only been tow-loaded. The duel was arranged by Nora's family to get rid of Barry and secure his finances through a lucrative marriage between Nora and Quin.

Barry's regiment is sent to Prussia to fight in the Seven Years' War in which England and Prussia allied against France, Austria, Russia, Sweden and Spain. Grogan is mortally wounded in a skirmish leading up to the Battle of Minden. Fed up with the war and its cruelty (in which the British army participates in looting villages) Barry escapes from the army, stealing an official courier's uniform, horse and identification papers after discovering that the officer is gay. On the way to neutral Holland, Barry meets Frau Lieschen, a young Prussian woman whose lover went off to war and never returned. Lieschen feeds and houses Barry with whom she has a relationship. The two briefly become lovers. After leaving her, Barry meets with the Prussian captain PotzdorfHardy Krüger, who after discovering that he is a deserter arrests him and offers him the option of returning to the British, where he will be shot as a deserter or enlist in the Prussian army that was recruiting soldiers through crimes like kidnapping. Barry enlists in the Prussian army which turns out to be worse than the British in being full of cruel punishments (such as whipping, mutilation and even death) for any offence; however Barry shines and is decorated after saving Potzdorf's life in a battle where he was crushed by the roof of his military fortress that was being besieged by the Austrians.

After the war ends in 1763 with Anglo-Prussian victory, Barry is employed by Captain Potzdorf's uncle in the Prussian Ministry of Police to become a servant to the Chevalier de Balibari, an itinerant professional gambler. The Prussians suspect that the Chevalier is an Irish spy in the service of the Austrians, and they send Barry as a secret agent to verify this by posing as a Hungarian. At the job interview with the Chevalier, Barry is overcome with emotion upon meeting a fellow Irishman and immediately reveals himself to the Knight. They become Confederates at the card table, where Barry (working as a servant) and the beautiful sight of him relay information to the Knight. After he and the Knight cheat the Prince of Tübingen at the gambling table, the Prince accuses the Knight of cheating (without proof) and refuses to pay his debt, telling him that if he really wants the money he will have to fight for it. he. When Barry relays this to his Prussian handlers, they (still suspecting that the Chevalier is a spy) are wary of allowing another meeting between the Knight and the Prince. The Prussians then arrange for the Knight to be expelled from Prussia. Barry relays this plan to the Knight, who flees into the night. The next morning, Barry, disguised as the Chevalier, is escorted from Prussian territory by Potzdorf and other Prussian Army officers.

Barry and the Knight roam the palaces and halls of Europe swindling at the gaming table with Barry, who forces reluctant debtors to pay off with dueling swords. Seeing that his life is going nowhere, Barry decides to marry into wealth and travels to England to repeat the same scams. At a card table, he meets the beautiful and wealthy Countess of Lyndon. He seduces her and later marries her after the death of her elderly husband, Sir Charles Lyndon, who dies of a heart attack and chokes on her medicine after confronting the Irishman.

Part II

Where the unfortunates and misfortunes that happened to Barry Lyndon are told.

In 1773, Barry takes the countess's surname in marriage and settles in England so he can enjoy his wealth, even without any money of his own. Lord Bullingdon, the ten-year-old son of Lady Lyndon and Sir Charles, does not approve of the marriage and quickly comes to despise Barry, calling him a "common opportunist" who doesn't really love his mother. Barry retaliates by subjecting Bullingdon to systematic physical punishment. The Countess bears Barry a son, Bryan Patrick, but the marriage is unhappy: Barry is openly unfaithful and likes to spend his wife's money on self-indulgent luxuries, while keeping his depressed wife isolated from society alongside the little lord. Bullingdon who hates his stepfather even more.

On Bryan Patrick's birthday, Barry's mother comes to live with him in Lyndon County. She warns her son that if Lady Lyndon were to die, all of his wealth would go to her eldest son, Lord Bullingdon, leaving Barry and his son Bryan penniless and at the mercy of the person they abused so much as a child. Barry's mother advises him to obtain a peerage to protect himself from her. To further this goal, he cultivates an acquaintance with the influential Lord Wendover and begins spending even larger sums of money to ingratiate himself with the ton. However, during the classes of the Reverend Samuel Runt (Lord Bullingdon's tutor) Barry's son fights with a teenager Lord Bullingdon over a pencil causing the Irishman to physically punish his stepson who tells him that he will never mistreat him again, And so, all of Barry's financial effort is wasted during Lady Lyndon's birthday party. Lord Bullingdon, interrupts the event in which he despises his stepbrother and publicly lists the reasons why he detests his stepfather so much, stating that it is his intention to abandon the family estate while Barry remains there and married to the his mother. Barry goes into a rage and brutally attacks Bullingdon in front of everyone present until he is physically pinned down by them. Barry is dumped by his "friends" rich and powerful for whom he has spent a large part of his wife's money to achieve his long-awaited noble title that he has already become an impossible dream by being marginalized from high society. However, Bullingdon keeps his word by leaving his land and England where rumors begin to spread against Barry whose wife has to deal with the debts that Barry caused causing a strong economic crisis in the Lyndon family estate.

In contrast to his mistreatment of his stepson, Barry proves to be an overly forgiving and doting father to Bryan, with whom he spends all his time after Bullingdon's departure. He can't refuse his son anything and succumbs to Bryan's insistence that he receive a full-grown horse for his ninth birthday. Defying his parents' direct instructions that he ride the horse only in his father's presence, Bryan complies and is thrown from the horse, paralyzed and dies a few days later from his injuries.

The grieving Barry turns to alcohol, while Lady Lyndon seeks solace in religion, assisted by the Reverend Samuel Runt. Left in charge of the families' affairs, Barry's mother dismisses the Reverend, both because the family no longer needs (and can't afford) a guardian, and out of fear that her influence will worsen Lady Lyndon. Falling further in grief, Lady Lyndon then attempts suicide (although she ingests just enough poison to make herself violently ill). The reverend and family accountant, Graham, meet with Lord Bullingdon who returns to England and finds Barry drunk at a gambling club. Bullingdon demands satisfaction for Barry's crimes against him and his family, challenging him to a duel.

The gun duel takes place in a barn. A coin toss gives Bullingdon the right of first shot, but he nervously fires his pistol as he cocked the gun. Terrified, Bullingdon demands another chance before he vomits in fear. Barry, reluctant to kill his stepson, magnanimously shoots into the ground in order for his stepson to stop the duel, but an immobile Bullingdon refuses to let the duel end, claiming that he has received "no satisfaction". In the second round, Bullingdon shoots Barry in his left leg. At a nearby inn, a surgeon informs Barry that his leg will have to be amputated below the knee if he is to survive.

While Barry recovers, Bullingdon sent Graham to the Lyndon palace in order for Barry's mother to leave the estate to see her injured son while Bullingdon retakes control of his former lands. A few days later, Lord Bullingdon sends a very nervous Graham to the inn with a proposition: Lord Bullingdon will grant Barry an annuity of five hundred guineas a year on the condition that he leave England, the payments ending the moment he Barry come back. Otherwise, with his credit and bank accounts frozen, Barry's creditors and bill collectors will surely see that he's incarcerated. Defeated in mind and body, Barry agrees. Humiliated, he limps on crutches to a carriage with his mother.

Barry first returned to Ireland with his mother, then, once fully recovered, traveled to the rest of Europe to resume his old playing profession (albeit without his former success). Barry kept his word and never returned to England or saw Lady Lyndon again and was never heard from again. The final scene (set in December 1789) shows a middle-aged Lady Lyndon signing Barry's annuity check as her adult son looks on.

Epilogue

It was during the reign of George III that all the presented characters lived and fought; good or mean, beautiful or ugly, rich or poor... now all are equal.

Cast

The actors Ryan O'Neal and Marisa Berenson constitute the main cast of the film.

• Michael Hordern (voicelike the narrator.
• Ryan O'Neal as Redmond Barry (after Redmond Barry Lyndon).
• Marisa Berenson as Lady Lyndon.
• Patrick Magee as the Knight of Balibari.
• Hardy Krüger as Captain Potzdorf.
• Gay Hamilton like Nora Brady.
• Godfrey Quigley as Captain Grogan.
• Steven Berkoff as Lord Ludd.
• Marie Kean like Belle, Barry's mother.
• Murray Melvin as Reverend Samuel Runt.
• Frank Middlemass like Sir Charles Reginald Lyndon.
• Leon Vitali as Lord Bullingdon.
• Dominic Savage as a young Bullingdon.
• Leonard Rossiter as Captain John Quin.
• André Morell as Lord Wendover.
• Anthony Sharp as Lord Hallam.
• Philip Stone like Graham.
• David Morley like Bryan Patrick Lyndon.
• Diana Körner as Prince of Tubinga.
• Arthur O'Sullivan as Captain Feeney.
• Billy Boyle like Seamus Feeney.
• Jonathan Cecil as Lieutenant Jonathan Fakenham.
• Peter Cellier as Sir Richard Brevis.
• Geoffrey Chater as Dr. Broughton
• Wolf Kahler as Prince of Tubinga.
• Liam Redmond as Mr. Brady.
• Roger Booth as Jorge III.
• Ferdy Mayne as Colonel Bulow.
• John Sharp like Doohan.
• Pat Roach as Corporal Toole.
• Hans Meyer com oSchulffen.

Literary submission

The English novelist William Makepeace Thackeray (1811-1863) author of The Luck of Barry Lyndon.

Kubrick turned Thackeray's picaresque novel—an episodic tale of a wandering, unreliable, or comic person—into a tragedy, a fate of rise and fall. Kubrick took care of some picaresque characters (the walk and the random bumps) while at the same time creating a tension between randomness and necessity in the course of the story. Part 1 of the film is about Redmond Barry's progress, while Part 2 is about his decline and fall. The novel has a much more satirical character than the film, characterized by a reflective and melancholic irony.

Kubrick's film is simpler than Thackeray's novel, and Kubrick changed the course of events, the sentiment conveyed, and the character of the protagonist. Thackeray's novel was originally published as a series in Fraser's magazine. Kubrick retained the novel's leap in time and the narrative voice which in the book is first person and the film is anonymous third person. Kubrick believed that the novel's first-person narrator would not work in films where the viewer has objective reality in front of them all the time: Kubrick believed that the contrast between Barry's version of the truth and the images would result in a comedy. In Kubrick's original screenplay, completed in 1973, Barry ends up in prison as an alcoholic, which differs in part from the film's final outcome.

The actor Murray Melvin (in 2011) who challenged the tight and cautious pastor Samuel Runt, a figure that significantly changed Kubrick's adaptation of Thackeray's novel.

The novel is long and replete with complicated or parent-like side stories, which Kubrick made to make the story fit as a holistic film. Among other things, the introductory and final duel, an addition by Kubrick. Kubrick even stated that some of the novel's episodes would take 45 minutes to produce on film, so a cheaper narrative was needed. In the novel, Barry waits a year for Sir Charles Lyndon to die, in the movie it takes a moment. The prudent and attached shepherd Runt, Kubrick created by fusing various characters in Thackeray's novel. At Thackeray, Runt is a drinker and gambler who Barry sides with. Balibari's role is significantly less in the film compared to the novel. In the novel, Barry's mother is absurdly vain, in the film she is a determined administrator and dignified mother. Barry himself is portrayed in the novel as somewhat creepy in appearance, but in a way the women find him intimidating and attractive. Ryan O'Neal's well-made, expressionless face gives a different impression, just as Kubrick intended. Barry's novel reveals his lack of culture and education, even in Lyndon's conversation and property renovation, while Barry's film is passive in a way that gives the impression of dignity. In the film, Barry does not get over the death of his son, while in the novel, Barry's worsening treatment of Lady Lyndon leads to his ostracism and imprisonment for debt.

Kubrick differed significantly from the original text, and the changes to the story make Barry appear as a passive and brooding person, but also as an enigmatic figure. This is in stark contrast to the intelligent, witty, low-key, and lively protagonist of the novel. Thackeray made it clear that Barry was not to be admired, that he was not a hero and that he was just lucky (Thackeray has the English word lucky in the title). In Thackeray, Lady Lyndon is a ridiculous person, she is portrayed as an actress and jealous. In Kubrick she is a somewhat enigmatic figure with a fresh, sensitive, dignified and cultured glow.

Production

Script

The film director, Stanley Kubrick.

Kubrick decides to write a movie script after scrapping the idea of filming one about Napoleon Bonaparte. Passionate about the dictator and his story, Kubrick had read about it and had even written a script. However, while in the pre-production stage, Waterloo (1970), by Sergei Bondarchuk, appeared on the big screen, which turned that intention into a very bad commercial idea, in addition to the high costs involved.. However, the interest of recording something in relation to such a period context is not abandoned by Kubrick, who after that unforeseen event decides to make a film of William Makepeace Thackeray's novel called The Fate of Barry Lyndon (1844).

The feature film tells the story of Redmond Barry, a young Irishman of humble origins, at the end of the 18th century who, given his courage in front of life, he lives multiple experiences in various social contexts. In this way, Redmond manages, not without obstacles, to ascend in the social, economic and cultural scale of his time, managing to marry a widow of great beauty and wealth, called Lady Lyndon, through whom he gets his last name. A tragic denouement ends up leaving Redmond left in contempt, ruin, and a crippling amputation.

Casting

Critic Tim Robey suggests that the film "makes you realize that the most underappreciated aspect of Kubrick's genius might be his way with the actors." He adds that the supporting cast is a "glittering procession of cameos, not from star names but from vital character players."

The cast featured Leon Vitali as the older Lord Bullingdon, who later became Kubrick's personal assistant, working as a casting director on his subsequent films and overseeing film-to-video transfers for Kubrick. Their relationship lasted until Kubrick's death. The film's cinematographer, John Alcott, appears at the men's club in the unspoken role of the man asleep in a chair near the title character when Lord Bullingdon challenges Barry to a duel. Kubrick's daughter, Vivian Kubrick, also appears (in an uncredited role) as a guest at Bryan's birthday party.

The actor Robert Redford (1967), considered to play the role of Barry Lyndon.

Other notable Kubrick regulars included Leonard Rossiter (2001: A Space Odyssey), Steven Berkoff, Patrick Magee, Godfrey Quigley, Anthony Sharp and Philip Stone (A Clockwork Orange). Stone went on to appear on The Shining.

Commitment is a common feature of Kubrick's films, in this film particularly evident in O'Neal's minimalist, almost deadpan work. Berenson also plays in a limited register. Robert Redford was up for the lead role. Redford, like Ryan O'Neal, has Irish roots. O'Neal was a star at the time after appearing in popular films the previous years, notably Love Story (1970) and What's Up, Doc? (1972). The photographic model Marisa Berenson had the second leading role. Kubrick instructed Berenson to stay out of the sun for 3 months before filming to get pale enough. Berenson only has 13 replicas in the film and is in the picture for 15 minutes before speaking. Kubrick himself believed that O'Neal was a good fit for the role, that he started out as a young man and was clearly older by the end. Pacino or Jack Nicholson wouldn't care what role Kubrick was looking for. Kubrick's daughter, Vivian, recommended O'Neal. Clint Eastwood was also considered.

Shooting

Table The Country Dance of the British realistic painter William Hogarth (c.1745) illustrates the kind of internal scenes that Kubrick tried to emulate in Barry Lyndon.

Principal photography took 300 days, from spring 1973 to early 1974, with a break for Christmas. The crew arrived in Dublin, Ireland, in May 1973. Jan Harlan recalls that Kubrick "loved his time in Ireland: he rented a beautiful house west of Dublin, he loved the scenery, the culture and the people."

Many of the exteriors were filmed in Ireland, playing the role of "herself, England and Prussia during the Seven Years' War".

Shooted entirely on period sets (with Castle Howard standing out) and in natural light (with candles in night scenes or indoors), using very bright camera lenses (modification of a Mitchell camera and Zeiss focal length lenses). 50 mm and F0.7 aperture) and through the special treatment of the negative, this film presents exceptional photography, a true technical feat that gives it a rather gloomy and very particular aesthetic, in the tone of the story and the paintings of the time. The viewer is thus immersed in the intimacy of the characters, just as Kubrick intended, who wanted to make a documentary that took place during the century XVIII.

The Palace of Ludwigsburg appears in the film as the residence of Chevalier Balibari.

Huntington Castle in Carlow County, southeast Ireland appears in the movie.

Several of the interior scenes were filmed at Powerscourt House, an 18th century mansion in County Wicklow, Republic from Ireland. The house was destroyed in an accidental fire several months after filming (November 1974), so the film serves as a record of the lost interiors, particularly the "Living Room" which was used for more than one scene. The Wicklow mountains are visible, for example, through the living room window during a scene set in Berlin. Other locations include Kells Priory) (Redcoat's English camp, Blenheim Palace, Castle Howard (Lyndon estate exteriors), Huntington Castle, Clonegal (exterior), Corsham Court (various interiors and the music room scene).), Petworth House (chapel), Stourhead (lake and temple), Longleat and Wilton House (interior and exterior) in England, Dunrobin Castle (exterior and cottages as Spa) in Scotland, Dublin Castle in Ireland (the knight's house), Ludwigsburg Palace near Stuttgart and Frederick the Great's Neues Palais in Potsdam near Berlin (suggesting Berlin's main street Unter den Linden as construction in Potsdam had just begun in 1763 Some exterior shots were also filmed at Waterford Castle (now a luxury hotel and golf course) and on Little Island, Waterford.Moorstown Castle in Tipperary also featured.Several scenes were filmed at Castletown House.

The filming took place against the backdrop of some of the most intense years of the Troubles in Ireland, during which the Provisional Irish Republican Army (Provisional IRA) was waging an armed campaign for a United Ireland.

On January 30, 1974, during filming in Phoenix Park, the shooting at Phoenix Park had to be canceled due to the chaos caused by 14 bomb threats.

Photography

The Zeiss camera that Kubrick borrowed from NASA to shoot the scenes of the film.

Each of the shots that make up 'Barry Lyndon' seem like a painting to look at, everything is in its place, perfectly calculated and thought out. The film was filmed in natural settings, some of them real castles in which Kubrick went one step further when it came to lighting the sequences. It is often said about this film that no artificial light was used, something partially false. John Alcott —who also appears as an extra in the orgy scene—, winner of a well-deserved Oscar for his work, encountered enormous difficulties due to filming in natural settings. Almost all the sequences are a mixture of natural and artificial light, except for one, the very famous one about the candles, in which the light given off by said candles and some reflectors were simply used. To get something on camera, Kubrick used several lenses from a Zeiss camera that he borrowed from NASA. This allowed a very large diaphragm opening, but there was a problem, the depth of field practically disappeared. Drawing inspiration from "the landscapes of Watteau and Gainsborough," Kubrick and cinematographer Alcott also drew on the "scrupulously researched art direction" of Ken Adam and Roy Walker. Alcott, Adam, and Walker were among those who would win Oscars for their "incredible work" on the film.

Zoom

It is curious that in the face of so much naturalism Kubrick used one of the elements of audiovisual language most rejected by cinema, the zoom, due to the distortion of perspective that it causes and the flattening of the image. This technique has been demonized in the cinema for excessive use. The use of it in Barry Lyndon has been analyzed from the effect it generates: «the two-dimensionality and flatness of the image» (Falsetto 59). However, Kubrick manages through that effect to give his film an aesthetic and epochal atmosphere, as if the scenes were each an oil painting of the XVIII century . As John Alcott comments: "Each shot is a frame in itself." This thesis on the use of zoom is shared in various analyzes carried out around the film; for example, director Martin Scorsese notes:

I knew Barry Lyndon was a period movie, but I expected something different. And he took her to the past. Zoom is interesting because you never think about zooming in on the past. The zoom flattenes the image as in a painting of the XVIII.

Costume

Costumes used in the film.

Kubrick was a perfectionist who left nothing to chance, and during the entire year he spent making the film, he visited museums and devoured hundreds of books on English art from the 18th century XVIII, looking for aesthetic references to compose the shots of the film.

In his eagerness for meticulousness and detail, Kubrick had the great wisdom to entrust the costumes to the designer Milena Canonero and Ulla-Britt Söderlund, who did an arduous job, seeking inspiration through the portraiture of painters from the times, such as Thomas Gainsborough, Sir Joshua Reynolds, Angelika Kauffman or William Hogarth among others and a. His work could not be a personal interpretation, it had to faithfully reflect the fashion of that period; both in fabrics, shapes and colors, as well as in the pattern used. Kubrick was looking for a realistic effect that included models belonging to all social classes; peasants, nobles, military, clergy and children's clothing.

The character of Lady Lyndon. Role played by Marisa Berenson, a woman whose serene beauty fits perfectly with her role. Elegant and refined, always dressed with exquisite taste, following the English fashion of the 70s and 80s of the XVIII century, low period the reign of George III.

Lady Lyndon's outfits and makeup are partly copied from Thomas Gainsborough's portraits.

In those years, the English upper classes –unlike the French who loved being close to the court– preferred the freedom that life provided them in their mansions in the countryside, in the middle of nature. Something that required a simpler and more flexible type of clothing than the uncomfortable and pompous fashion recognized, until then predominant in European capitals. This need for functionality in the wardrobe caused the English to take elements of the clothing of the popular classes, configuring at the same time a type of clothing with a markedly national character, which does not admit French supremacy in fashion. The English women's dress, adopted around 1776, was little decorated, although it was not without preciousness.

As for men's clothing, the English aristocrats dispensed with the French-style garments they had used until then. They substituted velvets, brocaded silks and French-style embroideries for simpler ones, made with cloth in muted colors, expressing a desire for comfort and almost puritanical sobriety.

They simplified the shirts by removing frills and lace from them, and used white muslin ties. They replaced the stockings and shoes with metal buckles, for strong riding boots much more suitable for outdoor sports, horseback riding and fox hunting.

Soundtrack

The perfectionism with which Kubrick approached the soundtracks of his films is well known. The music that accompanies the footage is often as important as the filmed image itself. Barry Lyndon's original soundtrack is another example of how properly selected scores can drive and enhance a cinematic work. The film received four Oscars in 1975, one of them for Best Soundtrack.

The soundtrack by Barry Lyndon includes an important selection of musical pieces by composers of the 18th century. Among the baroques are the second movement of Bach's concerto BWV 1060, an orchestral adaptation of the third movement of Vivaldi's cello sonata RV 40, an orchestral adaptation of the sarabande from Händel's Suite for Harpsichord in D minor, HWV 437, the Hohenfriedberger Marsch of Frederick II the Great. Among the classics, the cavatina from The Barber of Seville by Paisiello and the second movement of Schubert's piano trio No. 2. In turn, it includes Irish popular music performed by The Chieftains.

As well as evocative Celtic melodies from the Irish band The Chieftains. In an interview with Stanley Kubrick signed by Michel Ciment and published in 1980, the director justified the use of his music not specially composed for his films:

"Despite all the good that our best music composers can be for cinema, they are not Beethoven, Mozart or Brahms. Why use worse music when there is a large amount of great orchestral music available from the past and our own time?"

Influence of painting

Tribuna de los Uffizi, by Johan Zoffany, 1772-8, Royal Collection, Windsor Castle, used as an influence for the film.

The film tries to capture the English society of the 18th century, therefore it uses paint, which is the representation that during the 18th century itself, English society made of itself, in the same way that Thackeray did in the book that serves based on the film.

To more credibly inspire the use of anachronistic pictorial works, he used natural light, from the large windows, or by means of candles, for a greater reflection of reality (perhaps the most remarkable and innovative aspect of the entire film), He incorporated the zoom, generally rejected by filmmakers, as a means of giving a painting impression of the scenes, and he based himself to create environments, furniture, makeup, sets and costumes on paintings of the time.

In an interview conducted by Michel Ciment – published in 1980 – director Stanley Kubrick described what the research process was like prior to the making of Barry Lyndon:

I accumulated a large archive of images of drawings and paintings taken from various art books. These images served as a reference for everything we needed to do – from clothing, furniture, hand accessories, architecture, vehicles, etc. – Unfortunately, it was too uncomfortable to use the images while they were in the books and I was afraid to feel guilty of ruining a lot of beautiful art books. Fortunately, they still printed what made our action seem a little less sinful. [...] The designs for clothing were copied from drawings and paintings of the time. None of them was designed in the normal sense. This is the best way, in my opinion, to make historical costumes. It does not seem convenient to have a designer who dedicates himself to interpreting, for example, the eighteenth century, using the same image sources from where clothes could be faithfully copied. Nor is there much sense to draw the costumes again when they are already very well represented in the paintings and drawings of the time. What is very important is to get some real clothes from the time to learn how they originally dressed.

Launch

Premiere

Barry Lyndon was released in London theaters on December 11, 1975. That same year, it was released on December 18 in the United States, Australia, Canada and the rest of the United Kingdom.

Premiere dates (Source: IMDb).
Country	Premiere date	Country	Premiere date
United Kingdom	11 December 1975 Only in London	France	8 September 1976
United States	18 December 1975	Denmark	10 September 1976
Australia	18 December 1975	Italy	16 September 1976
Canada	18 December 1975	Western Germany	17 September 1976
United Kingdom	18 December 1975	Uruguay	23 September 1976
Ireland	26 December 1975	Finland	24 September 1976
Argentina	29 January 1976	Spain	15 November 1976
Japan	3 July 1976	Portugal	25 February 1977
Hong Kong	13 August 1976	Mexico	31 March 1977
Netherlands	2 September 1976	Sweden	15 August 1977

Ticket office and reception

The film "was not the commercial success that Warner Bros. had hoped for" within the United States, although it fared better in Europe. In the United States it earned $9.1 million. Ultimately, the film grossed a worldwide total of $31.5 million on a budget of $11 million.

Roger Ebert gave the film three and a half stars out of four and wrote that the film “is almost aggressive in its cold detachment. It challenges us to care, forces us to remain detached by its regal elegance." He added, "This must be one of the most beautiful films ever made." Vincent Canby of The New York Times called the film "another riveting challenge from one of our most remarkable and independent directors." Gene Siskel of the Chicago Tribune He gave the film three and a half stars out of four and wrote, "I thought 'Barry Lyndon' was a good thing." he was quite obvious about his intentions and completely successful in achieving them. Kubrick has taken a novel about social class and turned it into a thoroughly comfortable story that conveys the stunning emptiness of upper-class life just 200 years ago." He ranked the film fifth on his year-end list of the best movies of 1975. Charles Champlin of the Los Angeles Times called it "the movie equivalent of one of those very big, very heavy, very expensive, very elegant and very boring that exist solely to be seen on coffee tables. It's dazzlingly beautiful and impossibly tedious in equal measure, a succession of salon-quality still photographs, as often as not quite still'. The Washington Post wrote: "It is not inaccurate to describe 'Barry Lyndon' #39; like a masterpiece, but it's a lifeless masterpiece, an art object rather than a movie. It would be more at home, and perhaps easier to like, on the shelf, next to something like 'The Age of the Grand Tour', than on the big screen." He wrote that "Kubrick has taken a clever story" and "controlled it so meticulously that he has drained the blood," adding, "It's a coffee table movie; we could be in a three-hour slide show, for art history students."

This "air of disappointment" factored into Kubrick's decision for his next film - The Shining, based on Stephen King's novel - a project that would not only please him artistically, but also be more likely to achieve success financial.

Revaluation

In recent years, the film has gained a more positive reaction. On review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes, the film has an approval rating of 88% based on 70 reviews, with an average rating of 8.39. The website's critical consensus reads: "Cynical, wry, and full of seductive natural light, Barry Lyndon is a complex character of a hapless man doomed by Georgian society." Roger Ebert added the film to his list of ' Great Movies' on September 9, 2009, writing: “Stanley Kubrick's Barry Lyndon, received with indifference in 1975, has grown in stature in the years since and is now widely regarded as one of the master's greatest. Indeed, in every frame it is a Kubrick film: technically impressive, emotionally distant, unapologetic in doubting his human goodness."

Director Martin Scorsese has named Barry Lyndon his favorite Kubrick film and it is also one of Lars von Trier's favorite films. Quotes from his screenplay have also appeared in works as disparate as Ridley's Duelists Scott, Scorsese's The Age of Innocence and Wes Anderson's Rushmore.

Awards and nominations

Film analysis

As with any Stanley Kubrick film, there are a lot of subtle messages and deeper meanings. The main theme explored in Barry Lyndon is destiny. Barry is pushed through life by a series of key events, some of which seem inevitable. Kubrick manages to keep the attention throughout the film, taking us from the curiosity of meeting Redmond Barry to the sadness but understanding of the future of Barry Lyndon. And although at all times the narrator has anticipated that the story was going to end badly, Kubrick's mastery confirms that three hours of footage with already known development... can be quite a delight.

In fact, the first scene of the film already says a lot about what we are going to witness: an ironic look at a time that could well be ours, in which people with a promising future, as the narrator indicates, lose life over minor disagreements.

Barry Lyndon Character

Ryan O'Neal (Los Angeles, 1941), achieved with Barry the best performance of his entire artistic career and one of the most successful of the 1970s. He knew how to give the protagonist a whole variety of registers: mischievous, warrior, romantic, playboy, enthusiastic, depressed, alcoholic, resigned. It is a contained interpretation, suggestive rather than explicit. All his gestures and movements in the scenes are taken care of in detail, in connection with the desire for perfection that Kubrick pursued in his films.

As Roger Ebert puts it: "He's a man things happen to." He refuses to eat with the road master, Captain Feeney, where he would probably have been robbed, but is robbed later on anyway. The narrator repeatedly emphasizes the role of fate as he announces events before they unfold on screen, such as Brian's death and Bullingdon seeking satisfaction. This theme of fate is also developed in the painting's recurring motif. Like the events presented in the paintings, Barry participates in events that always were. Another important issue is between father and son. Barry lost his father at a young age and throughout the film he seeks out and becomes attached to father figures. Examples include his uncle, Grogan, and the Knight. When given the chance to be a father, Barry loves his son to the point of spoiling him. This is in contrast to his role as Lord Bullingdon's father.

Realism

In Barry Lyndon, Kubrick continues talking about the future of the human being more focused on feeling superior to his fellow men than on building their common future. The role of institutions, the desire for power that makes us lose the oremus of happiness, the interest of what surrounds us and push us to take false steps... everything is dealt with again in his tenth work.

In addition to the duels with pistols, violence is present in other moments of the film such as the fight, in the first part of the film, between Barry and a corpulent English soldier, and the beating that Barry inflicts on Bullingdon in the second half of the movie Both sequences are characterized by tremendous realism, favored by filming with the camera on the shoulder, a highly appropriate resource for transmitting the continuous movements of personal confrontations. It was Kubrick himself who filmed these scenes full of tension and drama, hoping to control most of the Barry Lyndon elements.