Barry Lyndon

Hulde aan Stanley Kubrick!

Om te kunnen stemmen in het 70's tournament heb ik zojuist deze film gekeken en ik kan met een gerust hart zeggen dat ik het een van de beste films allertijden vind!

BARRY LYNDON



An underappreciated masterpiece, Barry Lyndon is a film about one man's (perhaps Everyman's) struggle to attain for himself and his heirs a station of security in life, to become the master of his fate, the captain of his soul.... But Redmond Barry (known, for a time, by the title of Barry Lyndon) is consistently thwarted in the pursuit of his goal for the simple reason that he has been written into existence by William Makepeace Thackeray and framed by Stanley Kubrick: Barry is a prisoner of mise-en-scene, trapped in a work of art. One senses that Kubrick is ennobling and immortalizing this fictional rascal Barry through the very act of creating him on film. Perhaps this is the closest Kubrick comes to displaying something like mercy or compassion toward one of the pitiful creatures he enshrines in his cinematic ice palaces -- palaces in whose rooms the past, present, and future often coexist, as if time were not a process but a place, a maze.

Along with Eyes Wide Shut, Barry Lyndon was one of Kubrick's few financial failures. It was made after the huge disappointment, for Kubrick, of not being able to make his Napoleon film, which would have been hugely expensive. As a result, it shouldn't surprise us that, as is frequent in Kubrick, there are some heated (anti-)war scenes. Just think of it as a compensation period drama, though Kubrick always held hope that he would make his Napoleon film.








Barry Lyndon is perhaps best remembered for its gorgeous cinematography by Kubrick co-conspirator John Alcott. Kubrick resolved, in accordance with the movie's 18th century setting, to shoot in natural light only. The movie is carefully composed, and all the other tech credits are top notch. All this artifice, of course, is part of the plot; however, for many people, the question is whether or not it overshadows the dramatic achievements of the movie. Certainly it doesn't tell a particularly original story; however, the style is steady and absorbing (even if a duel scene in the second half is excruciatingly paced). The question divides people evenly; nobody, however, can deny the overall genius of the film's writer-producer-director, nor the visual splendor of the film. Mandatory viewing for anyone even remotely interested in either Kubrick or cinematography.



Werkelijk alles in de film is perfect! Uitermate strakke regie (maar dat kennen we natuurlijk van Kubrick) acteren, muziek en montage maar wat vooral legendarisch is, is de cinematografie!
Alle shots uit de film lijken zo uit een schilderij te komen.







Meestal duurt het even voordat ik een film van Kubrick goed vind (bv 2001 :A SPACE ODYSSEY)
maar daar had ik nu totaal geen last van, de speelduur is langer dan 3 uur, maar hij verveeld geen seconde.





Kortom: Gaat dit zien!

Het is een lange zit, but it's well worth it