Barry Lyndon | | Cast : | Ryan O'Neal, Marisa Berenson | | Director : | Stanley Kubrick | | Studio : | Warner Studios | | Format : | Color, Closed-captioned, Dolby | | Released Date : | December 18, 1975 | | DVD Released Date : | June 03, 2003 | | Language : | English (Dubbed), English (Subtitled), Spanish (Subtitled), French (Subtitled), Spanish (Dubbed), English (Original Language) | | Audience Rating : | PG (Parental Guidance Suggested) | | | BUY THIS DVD FROM AMAZON |
Customer Reviews
| Rating |  | | Date | August 10, 2005 | | Summary | A SPECTACULAR FILM!! | Content
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This is of course Kubrick's best film. It's amazingly gorgeous and features a great sound track. Film critics in the 1970s totally misunderstood it because Kubrick was twenty years ahead of his time. Highly recommended. |
| Rating | | | Date | July 20, 2005 | | Summary | The Story of Barry Lyndon Is Almost Beside the Point | Content
| My first experience with the film Barry Lyndon was in college in 1977. A fine print was being exhibited by the university at an appropriately large theater auditorium. Though I had been an avid Kubrick fan for several years, the generally sub-par reviews and unusually brief first run in a limited number of venues dissuaded me from seeing it upon its initial release. Now was my chance for personal redemption!
For a solid three hours I was transfixed by the images, sounds, and rhythms of another time and place. Scenes unfolded by way of sequences of slow zooms on static interiors and painterly detailed exteriors, always punctuated by beautifully framed wide landscapes serving as segues. The characters' expressions, conversations, and speech patterns reflected their time and place; from the farms and fields of Georgian Ireland to continental mansions, estates, and battlefields. Duels and battle scenes were presented as equivalent parts of a grand tapestry as opposed to high points of action in a screenplay. All were embellished with the languid rhythms of Irish pipes or the slow stately chamber music of late classicism. Everything moved and transpired at the "speed of life" of another time. It was wonderful!
In this film, plot is almost incidental as any sense of drama or character motivation is telegraphed by the titles and narration. In fact, what could be called the film's climax is a maddeningly drawn-out duel set in a sequestered haybarn; hardly the stuff of your typical Hollywood epic, but certainly effective in the context of this tableaux of a "simple Irishman's" life and escapades. In fact, the consistent deliberateness with which every movement was staged in the film helped lend a semblance of dramatic cogency. Any sense of irony is also incidental, but for this viewer, it ultimately made the "journey" of experiencing this film that much more worthwhile.
Only one scene left me vexed and irritated: that being where the dying young son of Barry and Lady Lyndon plays "marriage counselor" to his parents with the two adults blubbering uncontrollably. Sorry, but this just reeks of incredulous sap!
This is a film to be absorbed and savored in real time, not necessarily contemplated in hindsight. Taken as such, it succeeds marvelously. At only one point was I made overtly aware that I was watching "only a movie": the freeze-frame near the end as Barry descends from the carriage. That moment was appropriate and well-contrived, and such was this film's grip on me.
If you care to make the journey into the world of Kubrick's Barry Lyndon, be certain you have an appropriately large screen, three uninterrupted hours, and had plenty of sleep to perhaps ward off the hypnotically slow rhythms of this historic "never-never land" to which you'll be transported. I believe you'll be amply rewarded.
p.s.: I found nothing technically objectionable about the DVD transfer. |
| Rating | | | Date | June 25, 2005 | | Summary | better than the other reviewers tell | Content
| I won't argue that this is a flawless work. Ryan O'Neal is just adequate, holding up his end mostly with good looks (as usual). Kubrick would have done better with an actor Irish in fact and not just in name. O'Neal is often overwhelmed by the performances around him, and the lack of a good accent is annoying, even to Americans I should think. That said, there is so much good here that I cannot give it less than five stars. A couple of scenes bring goosebumps, without any special effects or manipulative music, and this is rare enough in itself to merit any number of stars. The opening scene at cards is amazing, as is the scene with the German mother and her baby. The first half of the movie, before Barry becomes a complete cad, is more engaging, but the second half is never boring or hard to watch. The acting, direction, costumes, lighting, and script are all top-notch. Kubrick did all he could with the book, I think--except choose a better title actor. Also, this movie obviously gave the clue to Merchant/Ivory, and we should be grateful for that. In terms of sympathy, Merchant/Ivory undoubtedly surpassed Kubrick on several occassions, but they never surpassed him in terms of cinematography. This movie would be difficult to surpass in that regard. |
| Rating | | | Date | June 15, 2005 | | Summary | Fine Art, Timeless Masterpiece | Content
| This, ladies and gentlemen, is definetley Kubrick's finest (or at least #2). Watching this film is like looking at a great moving portrait, thanks to Kubrick's excellent cinematography, and the choice to film it with a Ziess superspeed lense (which made it possible to film by pure candlelight). This film; this beautiful, beautiful film; is a film that is about not just one person in particular at a particular date and time, but is about all mankind and the flaws that we have and all of our sins that we will always commit. About how we may do anything to get what we want and deeply desire. |
| Rating | | | Date | June 14, 2005 | | Summary | May sustain three hours of film | Content
| Stanley Kubrick may be my least favorite director. I don't enjoy his work. This, in fact, is my favorite Kubrick movie of the four I've seen. A Clockwork Orange, 2001 Space Odyssey, and Eyes Wide Shut all disappointed me, and I couldn't stand any of them. Some people "get" Kubrick and some don't. I don't. I find him ponderous and pointless.
Even so, I think Barry Lyndon is more watchable than the other three. The story is well told, and despite its unmanageable three hour duration, it rarely drags.
One odd thing about this movie is that there is no one to cheer on. Not one of the characters is likeable. When misfortunes happen to the hero, Mr Barry, it's fine with me. He was a jerk from the start. He never was portrayed so viciously as to be an actual villain, but he doesn't win much sympathy from me.
His biological son is annoying. His stepson is annoying. His rich wife is annoying. His friends are annoying.
Eyes Wide Shut is paced so slowly that it is more than just surrealistically slow - it is stupidly slow, and the acting by Tom Cruise suffers accordingly, making him look completely inept. The slow pace is obviously Kubrick's fault.
The pace in Barry Lyndon is also slow, but you might call it measured. It isn't nearly as intolerable as that horrible movie Eyes Wide Shut. Perhaps it is because Kubrick went off the deep end near the end of his career, overrating his own ability as a director, thinking he could do no wrong when in fact he was creating a film that was embarrassingly awful and made his actors look like morons.
In 1975 Kubrick hadn't gone quite so far off the deep end, and what we have here is a movie with a lot of strong points, able to sustain our interest, more or less, for three hours, a story well told, with some very interesting scenes. I can almost give it a thumbs up. The 3 star rating shows my indecision on whether or not to recommend this very long flick.
There are some picturesque battle scenes from the Seven Years War, featuring the British, French, and Prussian armies. Most of our time is spent with the upper crust of Europe, a tiresome bunch to begin with. My God, they were almost as rich as baseball players! |
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