Analysis / Barry Lyndon

The Lyndons as a dysfunctional household

A costume drama like Barry Lyndon may seem like an unlikely place to examine domestic abuse and dysfunctional households, but the Lyndons endure many issues common to them as the film's second act goes on:

• Barry, a social climber, marries Lady Lyndon solely for the money and doesn't respect her as a person at all. He socially isolates her from her former company (a textbook emotional abuse tactic), uses her money for his own gain and openly cheats on her with the maids^note And, considering how much of a power imbalance there is between master and servant, the maids were almost certainly coerced into it-- or worse, only to tearfully apologise to his wife before continuing on with his vices— a classic example of the cycle of abuse in action.
• Barry beats his adopted son Lord Bullingdon far beyond the age children could be corporally punished in those days, culminating getting into a brawl with him when the latter becomes a young adult. Meanwhile, he spoils his biological son Brian Patrick (whom Lord Bullingdon beats anyway; another example of the cycle of abuse in the Lyndon household), much like how real abusive parents tend to pick favourites with their children, before the former dies in an accident.
• Upon the death of Brian, Barry gives zero emotional support to Lady Lyndon, instead drinking himself into a self-pitying stupour.
• In the middle of all this, at the advice of his mother (who is equally cold towards her in-laws) he isolates Lady Lyndon (already described as being quite "melancholy" by the narration) from the only person who still supported her, the Reverend Runt, which causes her to spiral down into a suicidal depression— which only ends in her taking enough poison to make her extremely sick, leading to a truly disturbing sequence when she screams and writhes in agony from the poison for several minutes on screen
• All in all, Barry and his mother are textbook examples of domestic abusers (whether to Lord Bullingdon or Lady Lyndon), and their methods and the effects thereof are disturbingly realistic, even with two centuries between it and the modern day (especially for those who have either been affected by it or have seen its effects on other people).