---
title: "Barry Lyndon: the reviews"
canonical: "https://film.one/film/barry-lyndon/reviews"
title_page: "https://film.one/film/barry-lyndon"
critics_score: 75
critics_reviews: 19
licence: "© Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL."
---

# Barry Lyndon (1975): what the critics said

Critics' score 75 from 19 reviews: 15 positive, 0 mixed, 4 negative.

Most critics admire it, and the admiration has grown: several reviews note that a film met with bafflement in 1975 is now spoken of as one of Kubrick’s finest. The praise sits almost entirely with the look of it. The candlelit, natural-light photography and the compositions modelled on Hogarth and Gainsborough are singled out in nearly every review, along with the dry narration and Ryan O’Neal’s casting as a shallow, unreadable opportunist.

The reservations sit just as tightly, on pace and coldness. Even warm reviews, Empire and RogerEbert.com among them, concede the film holds the viewer at a distance and can leave them unmoved. The dissenters go further: The New Yorker in 1975 finds it bloodless and short of drama, The Guardian of the same year finds it slow to the point of drowsiness, and Paste, writing on the recent restoration, calls the three hours a slog. The spread is wide, with nothing in the middle, and the coldness complaint has outlasted the rest of the early scepticism.

## Radio Times — Adrian Turner

Rating 5/5. 

The critic praises this as an awesome, hypnotic period film with authentic 18th-century atmosphere and ravishing photography. They single out the beautiful visuals and the grand gamble of its slow pace as strengths.

[Read the review](https://www.radiotimes.com/movie-guide/b-utvuji/barry-lyndon/)

## Time Out — Tom Huddleston

Rating 5/5. 25 July 2016. 

The re-release is extraordinary for its dry wit, visual splendour and exploration of identity, even if it is Kubrick's least satisfying film. The candlelit photography is singled out as uniquely gorgeous.

[Read the review](https://www.timeout.com/movies/barry-lyndon)

## Little White Lies — David Hayles

Fi1m's normalised score 90/100 (inferred from the text). 26 July 2016. 

Forty years on, this majestic tragi-comedy stands as a testament to Kubrick's craft and may be his greatest film. The casting of Ryan O'Neal as the inscrutable opportunist and the black comedy duelling scenes are singled out for praise.

[Read the review](https://lwlies.com/in-praise-of/barry-lyndon-greatest-stanley-kubrick-film)

## Slant Magazine — Eric Henderson

Fi1m's normalised score 90/100 (inferred from the text). 7 July 2025. 

The review celebrates the film's status as a visually unparalleled masterpiece with an unforgivingly precise, labored quality that captures Barry's rise and fall through stunning compositions and period authenticity. It highlights how the artifice serves the story of social climbing and natural order, enhanced by the new 4K restoration.

[Read the review](https://www.slantmagazine.com/dvd/barry-lyndon-4k-uhd-blu-ray-review-stanley-kubrick/)

## The Independent — Xan Brooks

Fi1m's normalised score 90/100 (inferred from the text). 23 June 2025. 

The critic hails the film as a brilliant masterpiece that has grown in stature over time after a poor initial reception. He singles out its deliberate, remorseless pace and stunning natural-light visuals for particular praise.

[Read the review](https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/films/features/barry-lyndon-stanley-kubrick-b2773810.html)

## The Telegraph

Fi1m's normalised score 90/100 (inferred from the text). 19 July 2025. 

The critic calls Barry Lyndon Kubrick’s slow-burn masterpiece and greatest film, highlighting its stunning visuals and unforgettable characters in a re-release context.

[Read the review](https://www.telegraph.co.uk/films/2025/07/19/stanley-kubrick-why-barry-lyndon-greatest-film/)

## Variety — Variety Staff

Fi1m's normalised score 90/100 (inferred from the text). 31 December 1974. 

The review deems the adaptation elegant and handsome, praising Ryan O'Neal's performance capturing the character's shallow opportunism and the superb casting, concept, and execution overall.

[Read the review](https://variety.com/1974/film/reviews/barry-lyndon-1200423507/)

## Financial Times — Robert Smith

Fi1m's normalised score 80/100 (inferred from the text). 17 July 2025. 

The piece positions Barry Lyndon as a now-celebrated masterwork on its 50th anniversary re-release, contrasting its initial bafflement with its technical achievements and growing influence.

[Read the review](https://www.ft.com/content/f1a897cc-f593-4ad1-9351-b0628a46929e)

## Sight and Sound — Phil Hoad

Fi1m's normalised score 80/100 (inferred from the text). 23 July 2016. 

Kubrick's picaresque film captures a continent torn between noble ideals and dissolute reality, with visual references to Hogarth and Gainsborough adding tension. Schubert's music is singled out for providing sympathy for the antihero.

[Read the review](https://www.bfi.org.uk/sight-and-sound/features/barry-lyndon-euro-cynic)

## The AV Club — Jacob Oller

Fi1m's normalised score 80/100 (inferred from the text). 15 July 2025. 

The critic praises the film's baroque candlelit visuals and meticulous detail in a new 4K restoration, noting how it reveals ironic human rot and suppressed emotions beneath 18th-century opulence. The godlike narrator and cinematography underscore timeless themes of ambition and folly in a restrained yet critical view of humanity.

[Read the review](https://www.avclub.com/cult-of-criterion-barry-lyndon)

## Empire — Ian Nathan

Fi1m's normalised score 70/100 (inferred from the text). 13 April 2006. 

The critic calls it a superb, meticulous adaptation that is philosophically stimulating. He praises Kubrick's obsessive visual detail and stately tableau but notes it can leave audiences unmoved emotionally.

[Read the review](https://www.empireonline.com/movies/reviews/barry-lyndon-review/)

## RogerEbert.com — Roger Ebert

Fi1m's normalised score 70/100 (inferred from the text). 1 January 1975. 

Ebert finds the film technically awesome and emotionally distant in classic Kubrick style, praising its audacious directorial vision that dictates the viewer's detached perspective on the story.

[Read the review](https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/barry-lyndon-1975)

## The New York Times — Vincent Canby

Fi1m's normalised score 70/100 (inferred from the text). 19 December 1975. 

Canby calls the film handsome and assured, praising its brilliant images and cool examination of an 18th-century world as strange as Kubrick's futuristic ones, while noting its long and leisurely pace.

[Read the review](https://www.nytimes.com/1975/12/19/archives/screen-kubricks-barry-lyndon-is-brilliant-in-its-images.html)

## The Times — Kevin Maher

Rating ★★★★☆. 17 July 2025. 

The chief film critic praises the film’s painterly, candlelit visuals inspired by Hogarth and notes its evolved appreciation as a modern depiction of alienation, despite initial dismissal as emotionally cold.

[Read the review](https://www.thetimes.com/culture/film/article/the-stanley-kubrick-film-that-inspired-all-future-shadowy-interiors-pcrdnnrcp)

## The Guardian — Derek Malcolm

Fi1m's normalised score 40/100 (inferred from the text). 11 December 1975. 

Derek Malcolm found the film slow and overly deliberate in its pacing, suggesting it risked lulling viewers into drowsiness despite its visual ambitions. He acknowledged Kubrick's technical control but questioned whether the measured approach served the story effectively.

[Read the review](https://www.theguardian.com/film/from-the-archive-blog/2015/dec/10/barry-lyndon-stanley-kubrick-derek-malcolm-review-1975)

## The New Yorker — Pauline Kael

Fi1m's normalised score 30/100 (inferred from the text). 22 December 1975. 

The critic finds the film a deliberate but ultimately vain and bloodless exercise in visual perfectionism, criticizing its lack of drama, energy, and emotional engagement despite its exquisite compositions. They single out the static, painterly images and Kubrick's dehumanizing approach as the main issues.

[Read the review](https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/1975/12/29/kubricks-guilded-age)

## The Skinny

Fi1m's normalised score 85/100 (inferred from the text). 25 July 2016. 

The piece highlights Barry Lyndon's rehabilitation in critical esteem since its 1975 release and presents it as one of Stanley Kubrick's greatest achievements. It singles out the film's fastidiously composed tableaux, fine-grained cinematography, and Michael Hordern's ironic narration for particular praise while noting its humor and the value of seeing it on the big screen during its BFI re-release.

[Read the review](https://www.theskinny.co.uk/film/opinion/what-to-watch-this-week-25-31-jul)

## Eye for Film — Donald Munro

Fi1m's normalised score 40/100 (inferred from the text). 17 November 2025. 

The critic praises the film's stunning visuals achieved with natural and candlelight, its Hogarth-like sets, and faultless acting, but finds the three-hour length and unsatisfying ending contribute to its mixed reception. Kubrick's stately period piece misses the cultural mark for 1975 audiences and feels better suited to the 1980s.

[Read the review](https://www.eyeforfilm.co.uk/review/barry-lyndon-1975-film-review-by-donald-munro)

## Paste — Garret Martin

Fi1m's normalised score 30/100 (inferred from the text). 31 July 2025. 

The film is a visual wonder and aesthetic experiment of unmatched painterly beauty, but its calculated distance and emotional coldness make it a slog that is easier to admire than to like or enjoy over its long runtime.

[Read the review](https://www.pastemagazine.com/movies/physical-specimens/new-4k-reviews-blu-ray-releases-barry-lyndon-stanley-kubrick-shane-western-alexander-oliver-stone)

---
© Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL. Our review: https://film.one/film/barry-lyndon.md