They Are All Equal Now: the Barry Lyndon Thread

A few Kubrick films get their own thread; this one should too.

Rep screening this afternoon. I've seen it many times the past decade. Too many times--felt myself crossing over to time-to-take-a-hiatus.

One fascinating thing for me has always been the film's willful, almost perverse retreat into the distant past. Strangelove and 2001 and A Clockwork Orange are completely in the moment--the first and third politically, 2001 technologically and, a people quickly discovered, as a head film. At a time when the fallout from the '60s is still in full swing, Barry Lyndon seemingly removes itself from all of that.

But...You don't need to point out the two dozen ways this notion is absurd; I know how absurd it is. But it occurred to me this afternoon that I could discern a Nixon parable buried in there. Humble origins, deceitfully climbs the ranks to status and wealth. But still feels like an outsider--can't quite finish that journey. Others--Potzdorf (initially), his oldest son, the reverend--see right through him. Disaster strikes, becomes a pariah, is banished to the wilderness at the end.

And I'm quite sure every last bit that is found in the novel. I know.

"as people quickly discovered," "every last bit of that"

I want to see it again, it's been a while. I remember it being very beautiful visually, and remember enjoying the story, but like all of Kubrick's films it is kind of cold.

I think/imagine I remember him having the same unwarranted bravado as John McCabe in McCabe & Mrs. Miller, but ultimately like McCabe he is a passive character - he tries to make things happen, but ultimately things happen to him

I do become more and more impressed with Ryan O'Neal's performance. He's great in key moments where he doesn't say anything, just tries to process his response, and when he really has to emote during Bryan's deathbed scene, I'm amazed at well he pulls that off.

The story is a fictionalisation of a real event which is told more historically in Wedlock by Wendy Moore. Thackeray was aware of the wedding which crushed and nearly ruined a very well educated heiress at the time.
I think Lyndon focuses on the rake who cons her into marriage and Wedlock on thecheiress. I read it several years ago so not remembering all details. Think there is a great after story about discovery she helped finance though.

Barry Lyndon taught me that you have to believe in yourself no matter what, and manifest positivity

One fascinating thing for me has always been the film's willful, almost perverse retreat into the distant past. Strangelove and 2001 and A Clockwork Orange are completely in the moment--the first and third politically, 2001 technologically and, a people quickly discovered, as a head film. At a time when the fallout from the '60s is still in full swing, Barry Lyndon seemingly removes itself from all of that.

Folk revivals on both sides of the Atlantic plus the folk horror movement in cinema...could you make a case for it tapping into that zeitgeist?

the (very strong) case against is that this is kubrick, whose primary mode is the opposite of "in the moment" = uncanny inadvertent prophecy

(this is the only kubrick film i even like really, but i absolutely love it)

I like the idea of Kubrick demanding a private screening of Blood on Satan's Claw while researching Barry Lyndon.

... while "Morris On" plays in the background.

remember it being very beautiful visually, and remember enjoying the story, but like all of Kubrick's films it is kind of cold.

How do you define "cold"? Is it pejorative? I don't think so.

Kubrick was living in Hertfordshire by this time, so I think his main influences would have been costume dramas on the BBC, and maybe Culloden. You could even see Barry Lyndon as a comment on Tom Jones (1963).

I looked up “LEGO Barry Lyndon” and found this sub 1k views animation where barry shoots everyone pic.twitter.com/LLB9rJBIvI

— Chris Alsikkan ™ (@AlsikkanTV) June 6, 2024

t/s: kubrick vs lego brick

I went to see it at the cinema way back in 2016 - it seems like yesterday. I remember catching part of it on television and being mesmerised by the cinematography, although on a visual level it has aged in a one-step-forward, one-step-back way, e.g. the fog filters and zoooooom lenses are vintage 1975, the graduated sky filters are vintage early-80s New Romantic music video, the geometric compositions are timeless. I wrote a blog post about it at the time, which mostly consists of moaning about the tiny tiny screen at the Curzon Bloomsbury and deliberately not saying anything about the low-light lenses because that would be too obvious. In retrospect the whole section about flying into London business-class on Singapore Airlines is pretentious and I should have cut it.

Barry Lyndon reminded me a little bit of The Long Good Friday, in the sense that both films are about a man who has a certain amount of competence, but with massive internal problems, who suddenly finds himself crashing headlong into a far greater force than he can cope with. Which is basically the plot of all of Stanley Kubrick's films and also Big Top Pee-Wee. A white man, or group of white men, who are convinced that they're top of the world, suddenly find themselves destroyed by the indifference of nature and/or forces beyond their control and farmers. Whether it's a payphone that only accepts coins or a broken computer or a broken suitcase etc.

I've seen 2001 on the big screen a couple of times, and it's impossible to ignore the utter total whiteness of it - but it works, because Kubrick's films are fundamentally piss-takes of mid-century modern white men. People who believed that they were masters of the universe. Most obviously in Doctor Strangelove, but it runs through all of his films. They star metaphorical variations of Frank Lloyd Wright and Henry Kissinger, people who believed on a deep emotional level that they were within touching distance of achieving godhood. In the case of Barry Lyndon he believed that he was within touching distance of becoming a British noble, which is just one step down from godhood, but very similar.

In the book Lyndon is an asshole moron who lies about everything, whereas in the film he is genuinely good with his fists and does at least one brave thing. So he's not a total loser. It's fascinating to imagine a scenario where he wins, but he wouldn't have taken anybody's advice, and as his mother points out his family line was doomed in the long run even if he had just settled down.

One thing I remember is that O'Neal and Berenson barely have any scenes together and share only a few words, and I suspect that people who were expecting an epic romance were incredibly disappointed with the film. I can't help but feel that it would have been even better with a younger Oliver Reed as Barry Lyndon. But the producers only agreed to fund the film if it had a bankable box-office star, which is why it has Ryan O'Neal. I feel slightly sorry for Marisa Berenson because it was supposed to be her big break.

The film also reminds me of Nik Kershaw at Live Aid, or Thomas Dolby sharing a stage with Stevie Wonder and Herbie Hancock. Because if it had been made a year earlier or a year later it wouldn't have had Ryan O'Neal, it would have had someone else. But on the other hand he was prepared to play a mostly-asshole who loses in the end, whereas e.g. Burt Reynolds or Robert Redford would have probably asked for script changes. From the perspective of 2024 it's really odd that all of the big male film stars of 1975 seemed to be in their forties. Not necessarily a bad thing but really odd by modern standards.

Seeing Ryan O'Neal and Keir Dullea pop up in 00s TV like Bones or Law & Order playing decidedly very different characters from their Kubrick roles always feels dissonant in a way that doesn't for any other Kubrick lead.

Saw a screening of this yesterday at the Metrograph in NYC. Sadly the print looked a little washed out so I don't think I got the full effect of the colors. I can tell the difference just in the stills from Ashley's blog post.

imdb points out that Marisa Berenson has only 13 lines in total (!) and her first line comes 12 minutes after she first appears.

Criterion/4K announced:

https://www.criterion.com/films/29008-barry-lyndon

There's a one-off screening in a couple of weeks I hope to attend.