Kubrick and “Eyes Wide Shut” – The Color Red

Barry Lyndon

The red uniforms of the English military winding like an artery through the landscape signify the state and its control of the individual. Later a red sail interrupts the sublime landscape of Barry and Lady Lyndon at their leisure, one of the only such moments in the film. In the very next scene, the young Lord Bullingdon literally comes between his parents in his red coat, denoting the onset of Barry’s demise.