Review of Barry Lyndon (1975) by Aaron D — 10 May 2009

A 3 HOUR period piece from Stanley Kubrick that explores the rise and fall of Barry Lyndon, an Irish con man intent on climbing the ladder of the English gentry. Yo've gotta love Kubrick and period pieces to sit through this one. The first 70% of the Part I is really, really slow, depicting young Barry's early misadventures. The film picks up after he has been assigned to become the servant of the Chevalier de Balibari.

The costumes are gorgeous, the sets, interiors and locales are absolutely eye catching, thanks to the team of art directors, cinematographer and costume design (all winning Academy Awards for their work). Kubrick meticulously research the period and completed the screenplay based on the book by William Makepeace Thackeray.

Kubrick introduced some innovations in this movie, such as using super fast lenses developed by Zeiss for the Apollo moon landings. He needed a way to shoot the interior candle light scenes that did not use any electrically powered lighting.

The classical music in this film is great. The score by Leonard Rosenman includes baroque and classical music by Bach, Vivaldi, Paisiello, Mozart, Schubert and Handel's Sarabande. Beautiful music!