BARRY LYNDON will be shown on the big screen as part of “See It Big!” series
BARRY LYNDON (Stanley Kubrick, 1975)
Museum of the Moving Image
35th Ave. at 36th St., Astoria
Friday, December 30, $12, 7:00
Sunday, January 1, free with museum admission, 6:00
718-777-6800
www.movingimage.us
The Museum of the Moving Image concludes its “See It Big!” series, in which major motion pictures that deserve to be seen on the big screen are shown in the museum’s recently renovated and expanded theater, with one of the most elegantly visual pictures ever made, Stanley Kubrick’s lush, romantic epic, Barry Lyndon. Based on William Makepeace Thackeray’s 1844 serialized picaresque novel The Luck of Barry Lyndon, Kubrick’s extravagant three-hour tale follows the shenanigans of one Redmond Barry, played with endless charm by Ryan O’Neal. The man soon to be known as Barry Lyndon has a remarkable knack for survival — or maybe it’s just plain old Irish luck — as he rises in English society via a series of duels (with epees, guns, and bare knuckles), military battles (the Seven Years’ War), and, most prominently, sexual conquests. Consisting of two sections, “By What Means Redmond Barry Acquired the Style and Title of Barry Lyndon” and “Containing an Account of the Misfortunes and Disasters Which Befell Barry Lyndon,” the film features glorious music by Bach, Vivaldi, Handel, Mozart, Schubert, and the Chieftains in addition to absolutely divine locations and costumes that lay the groundwork for the sumptuous Oscar-winning art direction by Ken Adam, Vernon Dixon, and Roy Walker and cinematography by John Alcott; virtually every scene contains beautiful shots based on famous paintings, a treat for the eyes and the ears. (Leonard Rosenman took home an Academy Award as well for his adapted score.) The overly long story does drag at times, but it flows better once you get used to O’Neal in the title role. The underappreciated film also has a great supporting cast, with Marisa Berenson as Lady Lyndon, Patrick Magee as the Chevalier de Balibari, Hardy Krüger as Captain Potzdorf, Steven Berkoff as Lord Ludd, Leonard Rossiter as Captain John Quin, and Gay Hamilton as Nora Brady. The Museum of the Moving Image is screening a restored 35mm print of Barry Lyndon on December 30 at 7:00 and January 1 at 6:00.