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Writer's pictureThomas Duncan
Jan 87 min read

Barry Lyndon (1975) ft. Andrew Corns and Sara Shea



Guests:


Cast:

  • Stanley Kubrick, Writer/Director

  • Leonard Rosenman, Music

  • John Alcott, Cinematographer

  • Michael Hordern (voice) as Narrator

  • Ryan O'Neal as Redmond Barry (later Redmond Barry Lyndon)

  • Marisa Berenson as Lady Lyndon

  • Patrick Magee as the Chevalier de Balibari

  • Hardy Krüger as Captain Potzdorf

  • Gay Hamilton as Nora Brady

  • Godfrey Quigley as Captain Grogan

  • Steven Berkoff as Lord Ludd

  • Marie Kean as Belle Barry

  • Murray Melvin as Reverend Samuel Runt

  • Frank Middlemass as Sir Charles Reginald Lyndon

  • Leon Vitali as Lord Bullingdon

  • Dominic Savage as young Bullingdon

  • Leonard Rossiter as Captain John Quin

  • André Morell as Lord Wendover

  • Anthony Sharp as Lord Hallam

  • Philip Stone as Graham

  • David Morley as Bryan Patrick Lyndon


*Recognition:

  • Barry Lyndon was released on December 18, 1975.

  • On a budget of $11 million, it would gross roughly $31.5 million with the majority of the total coming from the worldwide audience.

  • Critics were tepid at the time with more than one critic referring to Lyndon as the equivalent of a "coffee table book" film.

  • Despite this, Barry Lyndon was nominated for 7 Oscars: Best Picture, Director (Kubrick), Adapted Screenplay (Kubrick); and won 4: Art Direction, Cinematography, Costume Design, and Original Score (Leonard Rosenman).

  • However, as with many Kubrick films, over time, the film has gained a more positive reaction.

  • The Village Voice ranked the film at number 46 in its Top 250 "Best Films of the Century" list in 1999, based on a poll of critics.

  • Director Martin Scorsese has named Barry Lyndon as his favourite Kubrick film, and it is also one of Lars von Trier's favourite films.

  • Barry Lyndon was included on Time's All-Time 100 best movies list.

  • In the 2012 Sight & Sound Greatest Films of All Time poll, Barry Lyndon placed 19th in the directors' poll and 59th in the critics' poll.

  • The film ranked 27th in BBC's 2015 list of the 100 greatest American films.

  • In the 2022 Sight & Sound Greatest Films of All Time poll, Barry Lyndon placed 12th in the directors' poll and 45th in the critics' poll.

  • In a list compiled by The Irish Times critics Tara Brady and Donald Clarke in 2020, Barry Lyndon was named the greatest Irish film of all time.

  • Barry Lyndon currently holds an 87% among critics on RT, an 89 score on Metacritic, and a 4.4/5 on Letterboxd.


Plot Summary: Barry Lyndon is a meticulous and mesmerizing work from Stanley Kubrick, a filmmaker whose precision often feels like both a blessing and a dare. Adapting Thackeray's novel, Kubrick crafts a period piece that is at once authentic and yet modern. The story follows Redmond Barry (Ryan O’Neal), a charming but ultimately hapless opportunist, as he schemes his way from a modest Irish upbringing to the heights of English aristocracy, only to tumble back down through a cascade of personal failures.


Kubrick doesn’t just tell Barry’s story—he dissects it. Every scene is composed like a tableau, every gesture underlined with a note of irony. The film's grandeur—the lush landscapes, the candlelit interiors—feels like a mirror held up to Barry’s own aspirations. It’s a long, unhurried film, but within its deliberate rhythm lies a deep, bittersweet observation: no matter how grand the climb, time and circumstance have the last word.


Did You Know:

  • Warner Bros. would only finance this movie on the condition that Stanley Kubrick cast a Top 10 box-office star (from the annual Quigley Poll of Top Money-Making Stars) in the lead. Ryan O'Neal was the number two box-office star of 1973, topped only by Clint Eastwood. Ironically, this was his only time in the top 10, as exhibitors, who voted the list, attributed the success of Love Story (1970) (one of the top grossers at the time) to O'Neal's co-star Ali MacGraw, and named her to the list in 1971. The only actors Kubrick could cast in the role while still receiving the financial backing of Warner Bros. for his decidedly non-commercial project were O'Neal and Redford. The other Top 10 stars were too old or inappropriate for the role (particularly in the case of Streisand, who would not assay a "male" role until Yentl (1983)). Both O'Neal and Redford were Irish, both had box-office appeal and both were young enough to play the role, though Redford was five years older than the 32-year old O'Neal in 1973. At the time, O'Neal was the bigger star, having also garnered a Best Actor Oscar nomination for "Love Story". However, Kubrick apparently offered the part to Redford first, who turned it down, and thus O'Neal was cast. Redford's star would soon eclipse O'Neal's, as he would zoom to the top of the box-office charts the next year after the successes of The Sting (1973) and The Way We Were (1973), clocking in at number one in 1974, a position he would also anchor in 1975 and 1976. O'Neal dropped off the Top 10 after 1973, which to this day, represents his sole appearance on the list.

  • Production was moved from Ireland to England after writer, producer, and director Stanley Kubrick received word that his name was on an I.R.A. hit list for directing a movie featuring English soldiers in Ireland. Consequently, several scenes were dropped.

  • Stanley Kubrick used to play the soundtrack's classical music during takes to get the actors and actresses in a better mood. He was reportedly influenced by Sergio Leone's method in Once Upon a Time in the West (1968).

  • In order to provide as much light as possible in the candle-lit scenes, Stanley Kubrick used custom-made candles. Each candle had three wicks instead of one, and used a highly volatile wax. This resulted in the candles burning down very quickly, which is why many of the candles seen are so short.

  • Stanley Kubrick instructed Marisa Berenson to keep out of the sun in the months before production in order to achieve the period-specific pallor he required.

  • Marisa Berenson described Stanley Kubrick as being uncharacteristically shy around her, and that he would often prefer to communicate his direction with numerous handwritten notes.


Best Performance: John Alcott (Cinematographer)/Stanley Kubrick (Writer/Director)/Ryan O'Neal (Barry)

Best Secondary Performance: Leonard Rosenman (Music)/Leon Vitali (Bullingdon)/Michael Hordern (Narrator)/Stanley Kubrick (Writer/Director)

Most Charismatic Award: Score/Marisa Berenson (Lady Lyndon)/Leonard Rossiter (Quin)/Stanley Kubrick (Writer/Director)

Best Scene:

  • Duel at Dawn

  • Battle of Minden

  • Captain Potzdorf

  • Gambling Scams

  • Barry v. Lord Lyndon

  • Carriage Ride

  • Brawl with Bullingdon

  • Bryan's Deathbed

  • Bullingdon Comes to the Club

  • Final Duel

Favorite Scene: Final Duel/Carriage Ride/German Trist

Most Indelible Moment: Final Duel/Carriage Ride


In Memorium:


Best Lines/Funniest Lines:

Lord Bullingdon: Well then, look you now... from this moment, I will submit to no further chastisement from you. I will kill you, if you lay hands on me ever again! Is that entirely clear to you, sir?


Redmond Barry: I cannot find it.


Sir Charles Lyndon: Have you done with my Lady?

Redmond Barry: I beg your pardon?

Sir Charles Lyndon: Come, come, sir. I'm a man who would rather be known as a cuckold than a fool.


Redmond Barry: I'm under arrest? Captain Potzdorf, sir! I'm a British officer.

Captain Potzdorf: You are a liar! You are an impostor. You are a deserter. I suspected you this morning, and your lies and folly have confirmed this to me. You pretend to carry dispatches to a British general who has been dead these ten months. You say your uncle is the British Ambassador in Berlin, with the ridiculous name of O'Grady. Now, will you join and take the bounty that is on your head sir, or will you be given up?

Redmond Barry: I volunteer.


Lord Bullingdon: Dear child, what a pity it is I am not dead for your sake. The Lyndons would then have a worthy representative, and enjoy all the benefits of the illustrious blood of the Barrys of Barryville... Would they not, Mr. Redmond Barry?


Narrator: A lady who sets her heart on a man in uniform must be prepared to change lovers quickly.


Narrator: Lady Lyndon was soon destined to occupy a place in Barry's life, not very much more important than the elegant carpets and pictures which would form the pleasant background of his existence.


Narrator: It is well to dream of glorious war in a snug armchair at home, but it is a very different thing to see it first hand. And after the death of his friend, Barry's thoughts turned from those of military glory to those of finding a way to escape the service to which he was now tied for another six years. Gentlemen may talk of the age of chivalry, but remember the ploughmen, poachers and pickpockets whom they lead. It is with these sad instruments that your great warriors and kings have been doing their murderous work in the world.


Redmond Barry: I'm not sorry. And I'll not apologize. And I'd as soon go to Dublin as to hell.


Narrator: Barry's father...had been bred, like many other young sons of a genteel family, to the profession of the law... And there is no doubt he would've...made an eminent figure in his profession...Narrator: ...had he not been killed in a duel, which arose over the purchase of some horses.


Narrator: First love! What a change it makes in a lad. What a magnificent secret it is that he carries about with him! The tender passion gushes instinctively out of a man's heart. He loves as a bird sings or a rose blows from nature.


Redmond Barry: I cannot find it.


Narrator: Barry was clever enough at gaining a fortune, but much less capable of keeping one. For the qualities and energies which lead a man to achieve the first are, too often, the very cause of his ruin in the latter case.


The Stanley Rubric:

Legacy: 6.5

Impact/Significance: 6.38

Novelty: 8.88

Classic-ness: 9.5

Rewatchability: 6.38

Audience Score: 8.45 (77% Google, 92% RT)

Total: 45.55


Remaining Questions:

  • Is this the most picturesque movie ever made?

  • What does love mean in the film? And does anyone really love anyone else?

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