Barry Lyndon

published on Dec 03rd, 2006 // 0 Comments

Barry Lyndon is a simple tale - detailing the rise and fall from grace of anti-hero Redmond Barry (Ryan O’Neal) - through chance, deception war and peace

I have taken the ribbon from around my neck and hidden it somewhere on my person. You are free to look for it wherever you like, and I shall think very little of you if you do not find it

Adapted from the William Makepeace Thackeray novel titled THE LUCK OF BARRY LYNDON (1844) – this is perhaps Kubriks most accomplished and masterful work.

Barry Lyndon is a simple tale – detailing the rise and fall from grace of anti-hero Redmond Barry (Ryan O’Neal) – through chance, deception, war and wealth. Through various adventures and misdaventures Lyndon scales the heights of the English class system, but once there the descent is inevitable. That as they say, is that – as a story it is no more or less, but it is in it’s telling that this movie is remarkable.

My first experience of watching Barry Lyndon was filled with more than a little trepidation – I knew it was long… over three hours and added to this was the disturbing notion of Ryan O’Neal in the lead role? I was prepared for disappointment but could not have been more wrong… the tale of Barry Lyndon mesmerises.

Every detail, every costume, every piece of music throughout the film is true to the period. Every scene is shot using natural light. Each beautifully structured sequence is harmonised by the combination of light, music and a restrained and natural pace, where nothing feels forced – for me, most powerfully in the scene where Lyndon, hesitatingly, to the ebb and flow of music, glides across a balcony and the screen to begin his seduction of the future Lady Lyndon.

I came away from Barry Lyndon, not with the feeling that I had just watched a ‘beautifully detailed costume drama’ – but that I experienced, a sumptuous and tragic tale, of another time and above all, in the moment.