Barry Lyndon

Barry Lyndon is a young Irish lad who is an adventurer not so much by nature as by necessity in 18th-century Europe. Barry has enough luck and wit to climb to the top of the social ladder when, many experiences the richer, he marries the wealthy widow Lady Lyndon. He does not, however, have the willpower to stay there. He ends up back where he came from.

Barry Lyndon is a peculiar film for whose existence it is extremely hard to spot any motivation. I had a feeling that there was enough dramatic material to make the film exciting, but that has evidently not been Kubrick's intention. Barry's experiences are observed from a distance. We are not meant to be able to identify with him, and Kubrick carries this alienation from the action on the screen through to perfection. It is impossible to feel anything but indifference towards the foppish Ryan O'Neal's Barry.

The film does not even try to bring the space around the characters to life. They move through a series of well-composed tableaux or still images that are incredibly beautiful but also very dead.

Barry Lyndon is a showy film that is interesting to watch because it is so thoroughly different, but it could certainly use a little more soul... Stanley Kubrick at his worst.