Hate it or love it

Rating: 7/10 (17 May 2012)

IMDb Top 250: 217
Barry Lyndon is a tough film. On one hand, it's beautiful: the countryside is gorgeous, the costumes are amazing, the sets are luscious, and they tried to get as many candlelight shots in as possible. But on the other hand, there's a very plain, straightforward story about an indifferent character with little substance and far too much time. There's a distinct division in taste in this film.
The Revolutionary War era is severely underrepresented in film, and with good reason: it's difficult to make an interesting story. When your film opens to a sexual game played between cousins, it's easy to be put off. It's also easy to be put off by the sternness everyone carries. And the white faces. The era is unfriendly to film, but Kubrick made it as digestible and believable as possible.
However the story is pure nihilism. Barry starts out likable if boyish, but develops into something else, which like Alex deLarge leads to some mixed emotions. But Barry isn't charismatic, and seems very wooden at times. It's difficult to read him. All of the characters are flawed, but not in an interesting way: Lord Bullingdon (say that name a few times, how can you not hate him) is a snake, lacking honour. Lady Lyndon is a miserable mess who we can never sympathize with, and Ma Barry is not unlike her counterpart in The Manchurian Candidate. No one is consistently likable, so the story is never appealing. Especially since it doesn't go anywhere, or have any meaning. Sure, that's the point, but 3 hours to tell a story that could be summed up in a sentence is ridiculous. I'm all for epic length films, as long as they're engaging: Barry Lyndon is not.
Barry Lyndon is a divisive film, so to help you if you decide to watch it, here are my pointers: first, brush up on your history by looking up the Seven Years War. Next, take a picture of a candle and see how it turns out. And lastly, know the moral of the story, that you're not important. With those pointers, you'' have a much more enjoyable time watching the film than I did, because despite its high production values it just couldn't grab me. Not Kubrick's best. 7.5/10