036 - Barry Lyndon

Synopsis: The rise and fall of an 18th century Irish lad

Director: Stanley Kubrick

Actors: Ryan O'Neal, Marisa Berenson, Patrick Magee

Date: 1975

How viewed: Already in my collection

Rating: 3/5

David Meyer says:

It's a textbook in the dress, manners, morals, mores, warfare, conversational styles, art, dining, lighting, and politics of its time. 

I say:

Every shot is beautifully composed with fantastic colour and design, but the film is so long (3 hours) and so slow, that you're tempted to fast-forward just to move the story along! At one point the narrator (and there's a lot of narration, which is irritating, as the film should tell the story) says (about one particular episode) "anyway, to cut a long story short'...  pah! In fact the film is so long that there's an intermission!! In Part 1 Barry (Ryan O'Neal) grows up in Ireland, falls for his cousin Nora, fights a duel with her intended, joins the British army and fights in France, deserts, is forced to join the Prussian army, after the war finishes up in Berlin and joins forces with a fellow Irish gambler (Magee), and makes some fortune and friends in high places. In Part 2 he marries a rich widow (Berenson) and loses all her money. So, you can tell that at least in the first half there's relatively a lot more action, and indeed the battle scenes are brilliant, but the second half is a bit of a struggle, although at times Berenson's hair is a thing of wonder and threatens to take over the screen! I suppose though, at the end of the day, you can cope with a long slow film if the story is gripping, and you can identify with, or at least believe in, the main characters. The problem here is Ryan O'Neal, who personifies one of my pet hates, which is Americans cast as English (or in this case Irish) characters, (or vice versa). Why, oh why do they do it? Well, reading the background on IMDb it says Warner Bros would only finance the film if Kubrick used one of the Top 10 Stars of the time (1973) which left him (because of age and gender) with a choice of O'Neal or Robert Redford (and Redford refused).