As with many Kubrick films, the use of light and music are fantastic.

Rating: 9/10 (6 March 2002)

I never thought that I'd be the sort of person to come out of a film raving about the use of light. But, to my surprise, after seeing Barry Lyndon, I am. As in most Kubrick films, the use of light is unbelievable. Almost every scene is so expertly and beautifully lit. Lighting is something you can usually ignore in a film, but after only a little examination of it in Barry Lyndon, you realise what a profound influence on the film it can have.

Kubrick wanted this film to be as faithful to the era as possible, so he ordered that all of the costumes be meticulously designed in complete accordance with not only the techniques of the period, but the fabrics. As a result, they no longer look like costumes, but like clothes - it's a big difference.
Also to make the film seem realistic, Kubrick used only natural/candle light. It makes sense if you think about it. There was no electric light at the time, yet in all other period films, that's how everything is lit up (as opposed to how it actually looked). The difference is phenomenal (just think how different the light is in a lit room compared to outside in the daylight). As a result, the actors aren't mercislessly covered in light, but bask in it.
In one scene, set in a large hall, the set is lit up exclusively by candles - from chandeliers, from along the walls, from on the tables). In such indoor scenes, you've probably never seen actors' faces lit by anything other than overhead electric lights. Here, they are lit from the side with a much softer, orange light, and the effect is surprisingly refreshing. Due to the lack of intense brightness that candles produce in such a large room, Kubrick had to specially modify his camera. He took a camera that had not been manufactured anymore for years, broke it apart, and got NASA (!!!) to modify it for him. The result was a camera that had an f-stop (I think it was f-stop) that was higher than any cameras being used even today! And this was all just for one few-minute-long scene! And this insane perfectionism had serious results! The use of music in this film is about as breathtaking as I've ever seen/heard in any film - And I'm not usually a big fan of classical music! One scene (a crescendo-ing sequence of scenes actually) is, because of the way it is fit with music, one of the most profound and beautiful scenes I've ever seen. Fans of Martin Scorsese might be interested to see Barry Lyndon, because - if I'm not mistaken - this is Scorsese's favourite film.