Barry Lyndon

Synopsis
BARRY LYNDON is Stanley Kubrick's epic costume drama based on William Makepeace Thackeray's picaresque novel. It tells the story of a young rogue who wanders through life getting lost in various adventures, meeting his share of women and oddball characters. When Redmond Barry (Ryan O'Neal, trying desperately to maintain an Irish brogue) becomes jealous of Captain Quin's advances on Barry's beloved cousin, he challenges the man to a duel. Winning the duel, young Barry is forced to leave his home and his mother, and off on his adventures he goes. He meets thieves, lonely soldier brides, Prussian army leaders, and British widows, inventing new stories about himself at every turn of the road.

BARRY LYNDON is lush and magnificent, sparkling with color, every frame reminiscent of the finest European art. The blues of the Prussian army uniforms and the reds of the British contrast sharply with the majestic green land and mountains in nearly every background. Kubrick often begins a shot close in, then zooms out to reveal the beautiful natural landscape and ornate rooms surrounding the now seemingly insignificant characters. With rousing performances from O'Neal, Marisa Berenson, Hardy Kruger, and Leonard Rossiter, jaw-dropping camerawork, spectacular natural lighting, and a marvelous classical-music soundtrack painstakingly put together by Kubrick, BARRY LYNDON is a dramatic romantic epic that may be Kubrick's most beautiful film.

Production Notes
Filmed on location in England, Ireland, and Germany.

The shoot lasted more than eight months.

Estimated budget: $11 million.

John Alcott ordered custom lenses to film the parlor scene, which was lit entirely by candlelight. This scene is often cited in film schools for its revolutionary use of natural light.

The film features scenes and shot sequences that are directly modeled after period paintings by Gainsborough, Dayes, Hogarth, Watteau, and Fragonard, among other European masters.

When preparing for the role of Redmond Barry, Ryan O'Neal studied fencing for the period of one year prior to filming and underwent 51 costume fittings.

Each of the two parts of the film comes complete with a brief literary description of what is to follow. Part I announces, "By what means Redmond Barry acquired the style and title of Barry Lyndon." Part II announces, "Containing an account of the misfortunes and disasters which befell Barry Lyndon."

Kubrick's love of classical music is revealed in his inclusion of handpicked works by the following composers: Bach, Handel, Mozart, Paisiello, Schubert, Frederick the Great, and Vivaldi.

Some scenes were shot in old houses that were open to the public, so at times Kubrick had to shoot around guided tours.

The IRA sent death threats to Kubrick and O'Neal because the scenes with the English soldiers were shot in Ireland--the IRA did not want to see any kind of real or fictional English army on its homeland.

Reviews
"...Loll in the beauty and cruelty of BARRY LYNDON..." (Entertainment Weekly)