Barry Lyndon at the BFI

The Stanley Kubrick season is well under way at the BFI and having been fortunate enough to see the hilarious classic Dr Strangelove already, on Saturday I was one of the lucky ones to see a new print of Kubrick's Barry Lyndon. Which may well be the best photographed film ever made.

Barry Lyndon is a beautifully captured drama about the life of Redmond Barry, an Irishman of low order who dreams of something more. The film breaks into two halves, the first detailing his eventful life leading him to fight during the Napoleonic era for both Britain and the Prussian's before becoming a gambler's associate. The second part explores how Redmond Barry loses his success, through his marriage to the wealthy noble Lady Lyndon. Ryan O'Neal in probably the only film of his I've seen, was aparently the Tom Cruise of his day when he made this film, and if thats true its a bold, courageous performance as a character who is widely unlikeable but hugely entertaining. As to is Marisa Berenson, who was also in Caberet, as Lady Lyndon. Her performance is beautiful, elegant and regal despite having barely any lines.

This is Kubrick's film though. Shot with a Carl Zeiss lens manufactured for NASA and adapted the film, it obtains 0.7 fstop and creates a naturalistic effect using natural lighting and candles. Although the film used some source lighting, it's minimal and the film's dreamlike historical effect is captivating. Kubrick also employs a zoom throughout to flatten the images and create a painterly effect. It's the closest cinema or the moving image has come to showing living painting.

There's a strong case that this might be Kubrick's finest cinematic achievement. Other films may have greater reputations or cult following, and from the point of view of genre, The Shining, or Dr Strangelove are going to always be highly regarded, but for a cinephile, with a passion for truly visual stories told with a masterful hand, Barry Lyndon is not only the greatest period film ever shot, but also one of the greatest film ever created. Like a fine wine it gets better with age and shold be sought out and watched on the biggest screen available.