Spoilers · the ending
Barry Lyndon: the ending, explained
Stanley Kubrick · 1975
This page gives the ending away. Not seen the film yet? Its spoiler-free guide is here.
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Spoilers · the ending
Stanley Kubrick · 1975
This page gives the ending away. Not seen the film yet? Its spoiler-free guide is here.
What happens
Bullingdon wounds Barry's leg in a duel, and it is amputated. Barry loses his wife's fortune and position, takes a small yearly allowance, and goes back to Ireland with his mother. The man who climbed so high is left with nothing.
The last image
A final title says that all the figures in the story, high or low, are now equal in death.
What it says
Barry rose by display and chance, so he falls the same way. The ending strips away rank and cruelty and shows how little they weighed. The world that shaped him stays as beautiful as ever, and hardly notices he is gone.