Stanley Kubrick’s achievement with this motion picture represents an artistic pinnacle that surpasses even Michelangelo's accomplishments. A movie must possess the groundbreaking nature seen in Chaplin or Jean-Luc Godard to truly qualify as art, and a masterpiece needs exceptional music, direction, and acting. This film without question meets those standards; it is astonishingly a flawless work of art exhibiting visual beauty that significantly exceeds what most viewers can grasp. For over two hours, the experience feels like entering an exhibit showcasing paintings or photographs—strikingly realistic, lovely, occasionally brutal, and at times unsettling. The camera techniques used are sensual rather than overtly explicit. The film’s photographic and pictorial precision is unlike anything else. Individual shots, even those that remain still, would be worthy of inclusion in a high-quality photography collection. There's no question it stands as the finest movie released during 1971. It rightfully earns comparison to cinema's equivalent of Michelangelo’s "Pietà."

Source on TMDB