Barry Lyndon story
Barry Lyndon is a 1975 period drama film written and directed by Stanley Kubrick, based on the 1844 novel The Luck of Barry Lyndon by William Makepeace Thackeray. It stars Ryan O'Neal, Marisa Berenson, Patrick Magee, Leonard Rossiter and Hardy Krüger. The film recounts the early exploits and later unravelling of a fictional 18th-century Irish rogue and opportunist who marries a rich widow to climb the social ladder and assume her late husband's aristocratic position.
23 total · 2 choice · 7 major · 14 minor
| Theme | Level | Motivation |
|---|---|---|
| life in the Napoleonic era | choice | The viewer is shown images of life military, aristocratic, and common in various places in Europe during the Napoleonic Wars. |
| rise to prominence from humble beginnings | choice | Barry's fortune rose and fell in stellar proportions as he became a drafted soldier and then a monied Lord. |
| coping with the death of a child | major | Barry and Lady Lyndon were distraught when their son died after a horse accident. |
| father and son | major | Barry and his natural son |
| husband and wife | major | Barry and Lady Lyndon |
| mother and son | major | Lady Lyndon and Lord Bullington; Barry and his mum |
| stepfather and stepson | major | Barry and Lord Bullington |
| the desire for prestige | major | Barry wanted everhigher status, first by marrying and then by getting a title |
| what if I had to fight to the death | major | Barry and John fought a duel that Barry though was to have a lethal conclusion; later Barry fought Bullington; there was also a duel over gambling debts |
| brother and brother | minor | Bullington and Barry Jr. |