Barry Lyndon: The human comedy

Entry Number: 1

Film: Barry Lyndon

Year Of Release: 1975

Director: Stanley Kubrick

Rating: ?

*Warning: Major spoilers*

If you haven't, go watch this movie first, and then come back to this review.

As of writing this, I have seen Barry Lyndon three times. The first time, I was taken away by the stunning visuals and Kubrick's amazing directorial vision. The second time, I was invested heavily in the emotion of the film. At this point, I held the film very highly. So I decided to write my first review on it. And the review turned out fine, but something was missing. I scrapped it, and tried again. And once again, the review was fine, but something was missing. Repeat this a few times, and I finally came to the conclusion that I had to watch the film a third time, this time with a paper to write off details. And the details I wrote down, where all so ironic. It seemed that each situation Barry gets himself in is drenched in irony and tragicomedy. That's it. The missing piece. Barry Lyndon is a comedy.

And if you have seen Barry Lyndon, this probably seems like a stupid statement. Barry's tale is tragic. It's a cautionary tale about an egoist eating himself up. And I will explain why I mean this, but I'm gonna give some context to those who know nothing about the film first.

The film is set during the 18th century and follows young Irishman Redmond Barry who climbs up the social end economic ladder for the first part of the film, only to fall down during the second part.

When Barry Lyndon was released in 1975, it was rather divisive. Kubrick's direction was as always a subject of praise, but the one thing critics took note of was the cinematography. John Alcott's cinematography was groundbreaking. The entire film was filmed with natural lighting, giving each shot a cold and distant feel. Every frame is stunningly composed. If you asked me to choose the 10 most well-photographed films of all time, this would certainly be one of them.

But the length was a subject of divide. Some meant the film was overlong, boring and uninteresting. But I think the real reason for people saying this is the subject of the film. Barry Lyndon is a film in the period piece genre, a genre of film that often is about great figures that changed the world for the better. T.E. Lawrence (Lawrence Of Arabia), Malcolm X, William Wallace (Braveheart), MLK (Selma) and Oskar Schindler (Schindler's List) are some famous examples. Barry Lyndon is a different case. Kubrick flipped the genre on it's head by making it about an insignificant prick.

And you can write off Barry as an insignificant prick and nothing else, but he is in my opinion one of the most interesting characters in cinema history.

The first scene where we see Barry is a scene where he is playing cards with his older cousin Nora Brady. We learn from the narrator that he is attracted to her. She starts flirting with him by hiding a ribbon under her dress while he is looking away, and asks him to find it. He knows where it is, and knows that he wants this, but still can't bring himself to find it. In the end she has to guide his hands to it. This tells what kind of character he is: he is weak-willed.

We then learn that Nora Brady is going to marry Captain John Quin for money, as Barry's family is poor. But Barry insists that Nora belongs to him and only him, and as a result of this challenges John Quin to a duel. And through this we gets some more character traits: he is ignorant and self-centered. 

The duel between Barry and John Quin is in my opinion one of the most ironic moments in the whole film. I have so far counted 4 layers of irony.

1. At the start of the film, we see Barry's father die in a duel, which was apparently over some horses. To lose your life over something so insignificant is already ironic, but then you notice that Barry is following in his father's footsteps by risking his life for Nora.

2. We learn that John Quin helped Barry and his family after his father's death, and a duel is what he gets in return for his kindness.

3. Nora is marrying John Quin to get money for the family, but Barry clearly doesn't see that they are in desperate need of money.

4. In the end, he manages to win the duel and has to flee the country. And when he meets Captain Grogan again, Grogan tells him that the duel was staged to get Barry out of the way, and Nora is now married to Grogan. In the end, he doesn't even get what he wants.

There is many moments like this in the film. In the end it is so tragic that it becomes comedic. This is what I mean by calling Barry Lyndon a comedy.

I do think Kubrick intended Barry Lyndon to be a tragicomedy. The one consistent theme throughout his filmography is how he views humanity and society as absurd and surrealist, and I really do feel there is no film that is more absurd in how it presents humanity than Barry Lyndon.

It's a world where thieves are more well-spoken than those who are considered gentleman. A world where the military men are fighting each other with fists instead of fighting the enemy, and when they do fight the enemy, they walk right into the shots with a band playing happy music. It's a world where it's okay to teach your child some manners in private through a beating, but when you do it in public, you get shamed and hated.

One of my favorite things with the film is how emotions and conversations are told through subtle looks. The white make-up that gentlemen wear only enhance the hatred in their eyes making them look like hateful ghosts. And then we have one of my favorite moments in the film where an entire seduction is played out through looks, all set to a piece from Schubert that wakes indescribable emotions in me.

As I said, Barry himself is one of the most interesting characters I know of. If you had asked me what Barry's goal was after my first two viewings, I would have said "To find happiness". But this viewing I asked myself: "What is happiness to Barry?"

It is not coincidence that the film starts with the death of Barry's father, as I think that Barry is searching for a father figure throughout the film. The first one he finds is Jack Grogan who shows him compassion, understanding and truth. When Grogan dies in the battle, Barry has one of his few moments of empathy in the whole film. The second is Chevalier Du Balibari who also shows warm empathy and understanding. As a thanks for this, Barry saves his life, one of the few times in the film where he puts himself infront of others.

And then comes Bullingdon and Bryan. As a result of Barry isolating his wife and Bullingdon's mother Lady Lyndon, Bullingdon becomes angry at Barry. Instead of being a good father figure himself and try to understand Bullingdon's feelings, he fails by mistreating Bullingdon severly. Bryan is another case. Through Bryan, I think Barry understands that he is too old to be looking for a father figure, and needs to become one himself. Through this realisation he finds the happiness he has been looking for, but that happiness is taken away all too quickly. During the climactic duel between Bullingdon and Barry, he realises that he needs to be a father figure to Bullingdon and spares him. But Bullingdon, just like younger Barry, fails to recognise this because of his ignorance.

One of the more interesting moments in the film for me is the moment where Barry meets the young and lonely German woman and her infant child. The two become lovers, but Barry leaves as he sees no happiness with her. This is ironic and tragic. It is the perfect life really. To live with a beautiful woman and to see her son grow in a little cabin. I think this was Barry's best chance at finding happiness, but his ignorance once again keeps him from seeing this.

After beating Bullingdon publicly, we get this amazing shot of Barry contemplating what he has just done. It starts as a close up on him, but eventually zooms out until he is only a small part of the picture. He thinks he is the whole picture, but in reality he is only a little part.

Barry Lyndon's message is simple. Egoism is a one-way street. As the ending says: "It was during the reign of George III that the aforesaid personages lived and quarreled. Good or bad, handsome or ugly, rich or poor, they are all equal now." For those who don't understand it, Barry Lyndon, Lady Lyndon and Lord Bullington are as a result of their ignorance all equal in their unhappiness. It's cynical, tragicomic, and the perfect way to close this masterpiece.

Rating: 10/10

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