Directed by Stanley Kubrick (UK/USA, 1975, 187 min.). 35mm.

A work of astounding beauty and great moral complexity, Kubrick’s period masterpiece traces the rise and fall of young Irish upstart Redmond Barry (later to become Barry Lyndon) as he seeks to secure a place in the English aristocracy by any means necessary. To cultivate the film’s soft and lavish aesthetic, Kubrick lit every scene with candles, rather than artificial studio lights. Superfast camera lenses, designed for NASA, captured the dimly lit rooms beautifully. To achieve shot compositions that echoed 17th-century paintings, Kubrick and his cinematographer, John Alcott, looked to the fashionable painters of the time: Jean-Antoine Watteau, Thomas Gainsborough, and William Hogarth.