Part of Weekend Classics
Stanley Kubrick bent the conventions of the historical drama to his own will in this dazzling vision of a pitiless aristocracy, adapted from a novel by William Makepeace Thackeray. In picaresque detail, BARRY LYNDON chronicles the adventures of an incorrigible trickster (Ryan O’Neal) whose opportunism takes him from an Irish farm to the battlefields of the Seven Years’ War and the parlors of high society. For the most sumptuously crafted film of his career, Kubrick recreated the decadent surfaces and intricate social codes of the period, evoking the light and texture of 18th century painting — with the help of pioneering cinematographic techniques and lavish costume and production design, all of which earned Academy Awards. The result is a masterpiece — a sardonic, devastating portrait of a vanishing world whose opulence conceals the moral vacancy at its heart. (Synopsis courtesy of the Criterion Collection)
“One of the few period pieces on celluloid so transporting that it seems to predate the invention of cameras…. The film's greatness can make a viewer feel like a speck in the cosmos — like Barry, who shrinks down to one tiny particle in Kubrick's featherbed of light, then vanishes altogether.” —Jim Ridley, Nashville Scene “One of the most beautiful of all Stanley Kubrick’s films, originally released in 1975, this slyly savage tale of social climbing in the 18th century is also arguably his funniest…. This is a masterclass in cinematography — famously, Kubrick used nothing but natural light in all but a few scenes.” —Wendy Ide, The Guardian “A rich cinematic experience which fully deserves to once more be seen on the big screen and enjoy its status as one of Stanley Kubrick’s greatest achievements.” —John Bleasdale, Cinevue
