The first Kubrick film I've seen without connecting with it at all. Not the story, not the acting, not the soundtrack. I couldn't even make out if it was meant to be a darkly comic tale, a straightforward tale, a parable or something else altogether.

It opened promisingly with Leonard Rossiter mugging for the camera (if comedy was intended), but the comedy slowly ebbs out of the tale and everything is presented so transparently. You even get the delight of a narrative telling you how it will end (even if it is wrong to say Barry ends up poor).

Ultimately I felt like Barry did having claimed Lady Lyndon. I'd been in the presence of something beautiful, that said almost nothing and led my attention to wander.

It's not even the prettiest film about duelling. Ridley Scott can claim that honour in my mind.

5/10