' Barry Lyndon' on Criterion: Stanley Kubrick's Sumptuous Masterpiece
Barry Lyndon
Every time I watch  Barry Lyndon   my eye is immediately drawn to the candles. Theyâre in dozens of scenes in Stanley Kubrickâs 1975 classic historical drama  sometimes as the only form of lightâa miraculous achievement of cinematography that required special camera lenses borrowed from NASA. With any Kubrick work  thereâs a magisterial sense of control and overreach present in every frame  an approach that helped make him the (sometimes clichÃ©d) embodiment of the auteur filmmaker. In  Barry Lyndon   that attention to extravagant detail lies in those candles  which can make the most epic manse feel chillingly intimate.
The behind-the-scenes features on the Criterion Collectionâs remastered release of  Barry Lyndon   out this month  make it clear just what a struggle it was to light scenes with tiny flames. Capturing even a still image with so little illumination is a challenge; using a film camera was much harder  necessitating the use of gigantic lenses developed for NASAâs moon landings. Beyond that  candles themselves are ill-suited to the hermetic environment of a movie set. â[They] would burn down very quickly  people had to refuel every time â¦ and they give off an enormous amount of smoke â the focus puller Douglas Milsome recalls in a documentary included on the Criterion disc. âYou would open all the windows  put the [fans] on  extract all the dirt and dust and the smell  because it eats up oxygen.â
Related Story Stanley Kubrick's Unmade Film About Jazz in  the Third Reich
Barry Lyndon  is the kind of film that deserves to be seen on the biggest screen possible. Thereâs a good reason itâs revived with some frequency at major repertory cinemas  sometimes with a live orchestra to replicate its memorable score (which consists entirely of classical pieces  especially Handelâs âSarabandeâ from his Keyboard suite in D minor). But the Criterion effort to replicate Barry Lyndonâs cinematic impact is impressive. The Blu-ray has a similarly hypnotic impact at home as it does in the theater  drawing the audienceâs focus to the surprising details in the background of each long  stately shot. Itâs a movie that actually makes the past look otherworldly  unlike many period pieces  which strive to make history seem easy to slip into.
Based on the novel The Luck of  Barry Lyndon  by William Makepeace Thackeray  Kubrickâs film chronicles the rise and fall of an opportunistic 18th-century Irishman who ascends  through a mixture of luck and ambition  to success and nobility and then experiences a similarly dramatic decline. Barry (Ryan OâNeal) is a frustrating  foolish  and often unknowable protagonist  prone to hot-headed and cowardly behavior  capable of both great empathy and callousness for those closest to him.
Every time I watch   [TGT]    my eye is immediately drawn to the candles. Theyâre in dozens of scenes in Stanley Kubrickâs 1975 classic historical drama  sometimes as the only form of lightâa miraculous achievement of cinematography that required special camera lenses borrowed from NASA. With any Kubrick work  thereâs a magisterial sense of control and overreach present in every frame  an approach that helped make him the (sometimes clichÃ©d) embodiment of the auteur filmmaker. In   [TGT]    that attention to extravagant detail lies in those candles  which can make the most epic manse feel chillingly intimate.
The behind-the-scenes features on the Criterion Collectionâs remastered release of   [TGT]    out this month  make it clear just what a struggle it was to light scenes with tiny flames. Capturing even a still image with so little illumination is a challenge; using a film camera was much harder  necessitating the use of gigantic lenses developed for NASAâs moon landings. Beyond that  candles themselves are ill-suited to the hermetic environment of a movie set. â[They] would burn down very quickly  people had to refuel every time â¦ and they give off an enormous amount of smoke â the focus puller Douglas Milsome recalls in a documentary included on the Criterion disc. âYou would open all the windows  put the [fans] on  extract all the dirt and dust and the smell  because it eats up oxygen.â
Related Story Stanley Kubrick's Unmade Film About Jazz in  the Third Reich
 [TGT]   is the kind of film that deserves to be seen on the biggest screen possible. Thereâs a good reason itâs revived with some frequency at major repertory cinemas  sometimes with a live orchestra to replicate its memorable score (which consists entirely of classical pieces  especially Handelâs âSarabandeâ from his Keyboard suite in D minor). But the Criterion effort to replicate  [TGT] âs cinematic impact is impressive. The Blu-ray has a similarly hypnotic impact at home as it does in the theater  drawing the audienceâs focus to the surprising details in the background of each long  stately shot. Itâs a movie that actually makes the past look otherworldly  unlike many period pieces  which strive to make history seem easy to slip into.
Based on the novel The Luck of   [TGT]   by William Makepeace Thackeray  Kubrickâs film chronicles the rise and fall of an opportunistic 18th-century Irishman who ascends  through a mixture of luck and ambition  to success and nobility and then experiences a similarly dramatic decline. Barry (Ryan OâNeal) is a frustrating  foolish  and often unknowable protagonist  prone to hot-headed and cowardly behavior  capable of both great empathy and callousness for those closest to him.