book one redone - Coldbacon

Barry Lyndon (1975)
Stanley Kubrick
Barry Lyndon is one of the greatest films of all time, and anyone who says
otherwise is a deadbeat. Often, the first thing people complain about is the
music. They, deadbeats, say it’s not really top notch classical music. I
couldn’t agree more. The song that runs through the Barry meets Lady
Lyndon scene reminds me of a slowed-down, heavy-handed outtake from
Beethoven’s much maligned Triple Concerto. Meanwhile, the music in
the bandaged child scene is like a watered-down version of the
momentous adagio in Beethoven’s Seventh. And this is precisely
Kubrick’s genius. By using only the heavy outlines of great music—but
without the complexity and nuance of the real thing—Stanley he is able to
harness the emotional power of it without actually competing for your
intellect. 1 For example, if Kubrick had used Beethoven’s Emperor
Concerto, with its gentle curves and quietly sublime melody, the film
would have simply to stop every few minutes and let the girl pass.
Likewise, if he had used the not merely emphatic and shallow, but the
truly furious, say Beethoven’s 5 th , it would have been a mismatch—a huge
white Hermitage with soft, raw oysters, a delicate Mosel with confit d’oie.
Tragedy—avoided. For the record, I suspect Kubrick is really more of an
oysters Bienville; 2 there is little danger of his flavor being overpowered—
by much.
1 That all said, that synthesizer crap in A Clockwork Orange really is pretty damn
foryourdrivingpleasure. In fact, some German synthpop group should probably
make that into a song.
2 Sometimes called the “Father of Louisiana,” Jean Baptiste Le Moyne, Sieur de
Bienville, was chosen to command the expedition for Louis XIV to found a colony
in Louisiana. Responsible for founding the settlement of New Orleans, Jean
Baptiste became an early governor of Louisiana. This succulent dish named in his
honor was originally created at Antoine’s by Chef Auguste Michel. However, it
became known as Arnaud’s dish after Arnaud Cazanave, proprietor of Arnaud’s
Restaurant, tasted Michel’s concoction and began serving it in his restaurant.
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