Barry Lyndon (1975)

Stanley Kubrick’s meticulously designed epic recounts the picaresque exploits of an 18th-century Irish adventurer.

Following the collapse of his long-gestating Napoleon project, Stanley Kubrick turned to this lesser-known novel by the author of Vanity Fair, set at the time of the Seven Years War. Famed for his perfectionism, Kubrick went to extraordinary lengths to research and recreate the look of the period, taking inspiration from the era’s great visual stylists, painters such as Thomas Gainsborough and William Hogarth.

Determined to film by natural or historically accurate light sources, Kubrick and his cinematographer John Alcott acquired super-fast lenses to capture scenes lit only by candles. The pristine, painterly look of the finished film was decried by some critics, who found the amoral escapades of the title character (Ryan O’Neal) emotionally uninvolving. Barry Lyndon’s reputation has soared in the years since.

“Sublime and elusive, Barry Lyndon is Kubrick’s most sad, mysterious and misleading work – flickering like the candlelight by which some of it was famously lit.” Elena Smolina

“Mournful, funny and exquisitely beautiful, the film that puts the lie to the notion of Kubrick being cold and unfeeling.” Sean Hogan

“In Kubrick’s opulent presentation, Thackeray’s opportunist is not only a still-living caricature of many of us, but also, above all, a merciless image of a society based on innate and hereditary superiority.” Michal Kriz

“The most beautiful film about the triumph of human ambition and then its decadence, made by cinema’s mightiest hermit.” Michel Lipkes

1975 USA, United Kingdom
Directed by
Stanley Kubrick
Produced by
Stanley Kubrick
Written by
Stanley Kubrick
Featuring
Michael Hordern, Ryan O'Neal, Marisa Berenson
Running time
187 minutes

Ranked in The Greatest Films of All Time poll

Sight and Sound

Who voted for Barry Lyndon

Critics

Marten Blomkvist
Sweden
Maria Bonsanti
Italy
Tara Brady
Ireland
Paolo Cherchi-Usai
USA/Italy
Michel Ciment
France
Diedrich Diederichsen
Germany
Laura Dos Santos
UK
Simon Duffy
UK
Shmulik Duvdevani
Israel
Bilge Ebiri
Turkey/USA
Gian Luca Farinelli
Italy
Ilaria Feole
Italy
Wostry Ferenc
Hungary
Thomas Flew
UK
Ka Ming Fung
Hong Kong
Rico Gagliano
USA
Kaya Genc
Turkey
Ryan Gilbey
UK
Anne Gjelsvik
Norway
Tim Grierson
USA
Hauvick Habéchian
Lebanon
Phil Hoad
UK/France
Sean Hogan
UK
Miklós Kiss
Netherlands
Michal Kriz
Czech Republic
Esin Küçüktepepınar
Turkey
Hans Langsteiner
Austria
Michael Leader
UK
Michel Lipkes
Mexico
Geoffrey Macnab
UK
Luis Martínez
Spain
Andro Martinovic
Montenegro
Todd McCarthy
USA
Karsten Meinich
Norway
Kim Morgan
USA
James Naremore
USA
Christina Newland
UK/USA
Kim Newman
UK
Cristiana Paternò
Italy
Olivier Père
France
Marcin Pieńkowski
Poland
Brian Robinson
UK
Joshua Rothkopf
USA
Tobias Rydén Sjöstrand
Sweden
Elena Smolina
Russia/USA
Eternality Tan
Singapore
Meredith Taylor
UK
Alexandru Tirdea
Romania
Willi Winkler
Germany

Directors

Roy Andersson
Ari Aster
USA
Richard Ayoade
UK
Alex Barrett
UK
Andrew Birkin
UK
Henry Blake
UK
Mong-Hong Chung
Taiwan
Thomas Clay
UK
Zach Cregger
USA
Ricky D'Ambrose
USA
Oriol Estrada
Spain/Dominican Republic
Richard Eyre
UK
Daniel Graham
UK
Ben Hopkins
Germany
Richard Kelly
USA
Daniel Kokotajlo
England
Joe Lawlor & Christine Molloy
Ireland
Mike Leigh
UK
Richard Linklater
USA
Bertrand Mandico
France
Pia Marais
South Africa/Germany
Marcos Mereles
UK
Laszlo Nemes
Hungary
Ruben Östlund
Sweden
Hlynur Pálmason
Iceland
Charlie Shackleton
UK
Guillermo del Toro
Mexico
Eskil Vogt
Norway
Theodore Witcher
USA

Rent new and acclaimed films, including those in cinemas now

Features from as little as £2.50, become a BFI Member to get a discount.

Explore rentals on BFI Player