Overview
Kubrick adapted William Thackeray’s The Luck of Barry Lyndon and in his hands, the eponymous mock-heroic soldier of fortune, becomes the plaything of fate. Ryan O’Neal is deliberately awkward and at times blank as Kubrick’s Lyndon, who embarks on a tour of 18th-century Europe, encountering battles, gambling houses and stately homes in pursuit of wealth, title and a family to call his own. His rise and fall are charted as a study of self-destruction amidst social ritual and class attitudes.
Ranked joint 45th in the 2022 Sight and Sound Great Films of All Time poll
Related
Palestine 36 Palestine 36
Period drama 2025 120 mins Director: Annemarie Jacir
Acclaimed Palestinian director Annemarie Jacir’s most ambitious work is a powerful exploration of the events leading up to the Arab Revolt of 1936.
The Critic The Critic
Thriller 2023 101 mins Director: Anand Tucker
Ian McKellen is in delicious form as London's most vicious critic, who strikes a Faustian pact with a struggling actor (Gemma Arterton).
Rosalie Rosalie
Period drama 2024 115 mins Director: Stéphanie Di Giusto
Enchanting tale of female empowerment in 19th century France, based on the true story of a famed ‘bearded lady’.
The Peasants The Peasants
Drama 2023 115 mins Director: Hugh Welchman and Dorota Kobiela
Using an advanced oil painting animation technique, The Peasants is a visually thrilling rendering of Władysław Reymont’s Nobel Prize-winning tale.
The Queen of Spades The Queen of Spades
Fantasy 1949 95 mins Director: Thorold Dickinson
Thorold Dickinson's most dazzling success, based on Pushkin’s 1834 tale of black magic and gambling.
An Actor's Revenge An Actor's Revenge
Period drama 1963 114 mins Director: Kon Ichikawa
Kon Ichikawa's wildly melodramatic tale of a kabuki female impersonator who exacts a long-delayed revenge.
A Clockwork Orange A Clockwork Orange
Crime 1971 137 mins Director: Stanley Kubrick
Malcolm McDowell stars in Kubrick’s chilling, thrilling and unsettling cinematic vision of nihilistic violence and social control.
The Shining The Shining
Horror 1980 144 mins Director: Stanley Kubrick
Jack Nicholson revels in his terrifying performance as Jack Torrance, the would-be writer who becomes the minotaur trapped in Kubrick’s supernatural maze.
Eyes Wide Shut Eyes Wide Shut
Drama 1999 159 mins Director: Stanley Kubrick
Kubrick’s final film, released posthumously, is a precise portrayal of a fragile relationship, played out by then-couple Nicole Kidman and Tom Cruise.
2001: A Space Odyssey 2001: A Space Odyssey
Science Fiction 1968 149 mins Director: Stanley Kubrick
Stanley Kubrick took science fiction cinema in a grandly intelligent new direction with this epic story of man’s quest for knowledge.
Full Metal Jacket Full Metal Jacket
War 1987 117 mins Director: Stanley Kubrick
Recruits move from the brutal US Marine training bootcamp – into the nightmare of war.
Lolita Lolita
Comedy 1962 153 mins Director: Stanley Kubrick
With an Oscar®-nominated screenplay by Nabokov himself, Kubrick filmed a tale that was once thought unadaptable.
Sudan, Remember Us Sudan, Remember Us
Documentary 2024 78 mins Director: Hind Meddeb
An award-winning documentary following young activists in Sudan as they oppose a military crackdown.
Wind, Tide & Oar Wind, Tide & Oar
Documentary 2024 84 mins Director: Huw Wahl
Huw Wahl’s immersive, meditative exploration into engineless sailing, shot over three years with a 1960s hand-wound camera.
Seeking Mavis Beacon Seeking Mavis Beacon
Documentary 2024 102 mins Director: Jazmin Jones
Mavis Beacon Teaches Typing taught millions of people touch typing in the late 80s and through the 90s. But who was the real Mavis Beacon?
Akenfield Akenfield
Drama 1975 98 mins Director: Peter Hall
Peter Hall’s extraordinary, long-unseen work of sublime poetic realism traces three generations of one Suffolk family and their lives in the farming industry.
Ellis Park Ellis Park
Documentary 2024 106 mins Director: Justin Kurzel
Snowtown director Justin Kurzel’s first foray into documentary is an intimate portrait of iconic Australian musician and composer Warren Ellis.
Baby Baby
Drama 2024 106 mins Director: Marcelo Caetano
São Paulo’s streets can offer danger or opportunity, and for Baby, a young gay man carving out his own existence, they deliver both.