"Barry Lyndon" (1975)

In Barry Lyndon, we meet Barry Lyndon (Ryan O'Neal) as a naive, selfish, petty young man and we leave him as an older but no more wiser or less selfish individual -- though more pitiful and destitute. In between, he duels, cheats (in multiple senses of the term), fights in the Seven Years War (for more than one side), and marries for wealth and power rather than love. We rarely feel anything for him because director Stanley Kubrick refuses to allow a deep sense of emotion to arise. Kubrick is typically detached and cool, examining the insignificant life of Barry as if he were a laboratory frog being dissected. Though Lyndon is an opaque, albeit narcissistic, slate, there's plenty of colorful and extraordinary things happening around him. Kubrick pays a tremendous amount of attention to the period detail of 18th century Europe, and the lavish and extravagant sets and costume are beautiful. Lyndon's vapidness is right at home amongst the upper class luxury he sneakily and opportunistically climbs his way into. Most of these characters are so trapped inside their privilege and their wealth that they can think of little better to do than to cook up the next scheme to liven up the emptiness of their existence. They're monsters aiming to be gods but Kubrick keeps reminding us that they're mere mortals, just really fucking awful ones.

 Grade: ★★★★