Like Stepping Into a Classical Painting

Rating: 9/10 (8 August 2007)

I'm reading Thackeray's "Vanity Fair" even as I write this comment, and what strikes me about "Barry Lyndon" now that I've read something by the author who wrote it is how much the film recreates the experience of reading Thackeray. "Vanity Fair" is nearly 700 pages of nothing much happening, yet it's all fascinating. That's "Barry Lyndon."
Ryan O'Neal plays the eponymous protagonist, and Marisa Berenson his beleaguered wife in this costume drama that follows the exploits of our dear rogue Lyndon from young manhood to weary middle age. And that's really it for lead characters. Neither O'Neal nor Berenson registers much, but no matter. The true stars here are the film's magnificent and jaw-dropping production design, followed closely by its score, which, like in other Kubrick films, incorporates previously existing classical compositions that are perfectly matched with the material. Every shot in this film looks like a painting, which was Kubrick's intention and why he used such a square aspect ratio. The meticulous details of 18th Century court life make this movie endlessly fascinating, even if many viewers have complained that it's emotionally distant (a criticism that could apply to more than one Kubrick film).
I loved "Barry Lyndon" the first time I watched it, thought it was hollow and lacking the second time I watched it, and then went back to thinking it a masterpiece the third time I watched it. Let's see how I feel after a fourth viewing. As for now, it's my third impression that sticks.
Grade: A