Director
Stanley Kubrick
Leading Actors/Actresses
Ryan O'Neal, Marisa Berenson, Patrick Magee
Supporting Actors/Actresses
Leon Vitali, Marie Kean
Genre
Drama, History, Adventure
Language
English
Awards
Won 4 Oscars: Best Cinematography, Best Music, Scoring Original Song Score and/or Adaptation, Best Art Direction-Set Decoration, Best Costume Design
Date of Release
1975
Producer
Stanley Kubrick
Setting and Context
Europe during the reign of King George III
Narrator and Point of View
Point of view is that of Redmond Barry aka Barry Lyndon with an unknown narrator.
Tone and Mood
Dramatic
Protagonist and Antagonist
Protagonist if Redmond Barry and Antagonist is Lord Bullingdon
Major Conflict
Redmond duels Captain Quinn for the love of Norah and leaves for Dublin only to find out that it was all a ruse to get Redmond out of the picture so that Quinn and Norah could marry.
Climax
Redmond become Barry Lyndon after marrying into great wealth. His stepson defeats him in a duel and he leaves Lady Lyndon for the sum of 500 guineas a year as long as he stays out of England.
Foreshadowing
The duel of Redmond's father and then Redmond and Quinn foreshadows that Redmond will be fighting this way his whole life.
Understatement
Captain Grogan as a father figure to Redmond is understated
Innovations in Filming or Lighting or Camera Techniques
The use of candles in the film as the sole source of lighting for many scenes. Kubrick and cinematographer John Alcott used lenses created by NASA with the lowest f-stop (referring to aperture) in the history of film in order to get the shots.
Allusions
Rev. Samuel Runt refers to brute beasts with no understanding when presiding over Redmond and Lady Lyndon's marriage ceremony. He is alluding to Redmond being this beast.
Paradox
Redmond is a man who is full of fight and is willing to duel any man at any time for what he believes in. Paradoxically he loses his will to fight at the end of the film letting Lord Bullingdon to shoot him in a duel and then leaving Lady Lyndon for 500 guineas.
Parallelism
Redmond's's father's duel at the beginning of the film parallels the duel with Captain Quinn and Lord Bullingdon.
