The Brutalist

I first heard of director Brady Corbet in 2018 with the release of his film Vox Lux, a movie with some big names attached to it that failed to ignite at the box office. It was making the rounds at some of the smaller awards shows across the world but never got much further than that. Still, the striking imagery in the poster and the trailer caught my attention. But the film never made it to my hometown, and the home video release was just as null and silent. Almost before that film was out, there was some mumbling about the director selecting The Brutalist as his next film. But delay after delay kept pushing that film back until it finally released in September of 2024 to a limited audience in Venice, Italy, receiving critical acclaim. We in the United States didn’t get a chance to see it until a few months later, just in time for it to qualify for this year’s Academy Awards.

The showing I attended ran for a total of three hours and thirty-five minutes, but that length is a bit deceptive. That included a fifteen-minute intermission, which means the film proper is only about three hours and twenty minutes long, being beaten for sheer length in recent years by Killers of the Flower Moon, which had a slightly shorter overall time but did not include the intermission, at least not one sanctioned by the director. What is so impressive, though, is that when I exited the theater after seeing The Brutalist, I felt like I had seen a standard-length film, not some epic period piece drama about a subject I generally have no interest in. So well made is this film, it kept me interested for what should have been an excessive amount of screen time. This was a real concern for me when I checked in at the theater, but it ended up not being an issue at all.

The Brutalist tells the story of László Tóth (Adrien Brody), a Jewish architect who has been forcibly separated from his wife, Erzébet (Felicity Jones), and orphaned niece, Zsófia (Raffey Cassidy), after  being sent to the Buchenwald concentration camp. The film opens as he has emigrated to the United States. For a short while, he stays in Philadelphia with his cousin, Attila (Alessandro Nivola), and his wife, Audrey (Emma Laird), but she doesn’t like him being there and, after a remodeling job ends on a bad note, she lies to her husband, telling him László made a pass at her. Attila kicks László out of the house, forcing him into charity housing while he works a construction job. He has also picked up an addiction to heroin after being given the drug to deal with a busted nose.

One day on the job, a man shows up to speak with László. This man is Harrison Lee Van Buren (Guy Pearce), a wealthy landowner whose house László was earlier hired to renovate. Harrison is a man who dislikes surprises and, when he saw the renovations being done, commissioned by his son as a surprise gift, had the men fired, which led to them not getting paid. Harrison has had a change of opinion after the work László did gained media attention and has since dug up information on the man who designed it all. He wants to hire László to build a massive building in tribute to his late mother, a community center comprising a library, a theater, a gymnasium, and a chapel. 

László gets to work designing the building, amidst all sorts of setbacks, including from people who don’t like the idea of having a Jew be in charge of building a Christian chapel. Harrison uses his wealth and influence to get Erzébet and Zsófia out of Europe and reunited with László, and gives the three of them a place to stay while working on the new building, but it becomes more and more obvious that he is not a good person at heart, despite what he is doing for them. He, and his family, make it perfectly clear that they tolerate László because of his talents, but when a major setback threatens to derail the entire project, László is immediately fired and forced to vacate the little shed he and his family have been living in. 

Harrison is a contemptible man, but his views on the world and the occupants therein are accurate to a man in his position at that time in history. He is a white businessman of considerable wealth in the 1940s, and he sees those of lesser means, especially minorities, as nothing more than tools that he can use and dispose of at will. He expresses this world view unapologetically, even using strong racial slurs right to people’s faces without a care that these people are the ones that are going to be working for him. This mindset leads to a moment where it is hinted at that sexual assault may have happened between his son and Zsófia at one point, as well as a moment late in the film where he, himself sexually assaults László. He sees this as nothing more than putting László in his place and reasserting his position of dominance. 

While László Tóth is not a real historical figure, he is based loosely on several real-life architects and designers. These include Paul Rudolph, Ludwig Mies van der Rohe, László Moholy-Nagy, Marcel Breuer, and Ernő Goldfinger. We see the influences of Breuer’s work specifically in Tóth’s furniture designs throughout the film. We see even more of these influences both in the work Harrison has had commissioned but also in the images shown of the buildings László designed and built in Budapest prior to the war. 

Brutalist architectural style came into being after World War II when architects utilized the simplicity of untreated materials and simple designs to highlight their structures’ features. When we first see what László has in mind for Harrison’s new building, it looks like a bunch of rectangular pillars stacked vertically, reaching for the sky; the two middle pillars having notches cut into them. It takes a second to notice that those notches, coupled with the gap between the two center pillars, create a negative space in the shape of a cross. It’s simple, yet it is elegant and powerful. The exterior of this structure is devoid of decorations or ornamentation, yet every bit of it calls attention to itself. It’s a beautifully designed structure, a true testament to brutalist architecture, yet it ultimately exists on the back of human brutality and barbarism. The ultimate example of the hypocrisy of it all is the Italian marble altar in the center where light at certain times of the day will shine down on it in the form of a cross. 

In my humble opinion, this is the film to beat when it comes to the acting nominations. Adrien Brody, Guy Pearce, and Felicity Jones are all nominated for this film, and they are all deserving of the win. This goes double for Brody, who is shockingly good in this film. I haven’t been this impressed with one of his performances since The Pianist, another World War II-era film. So much of this film relies on Brody to be the emotional heft, and he effortlessly carries it. Once Felicity joins him, things get complicated. The expected reunion between them would be one of overwhelming love and passion, but that’s not what happens. Instead, their reunion feels tense as they lie together in bed, not quite sure how to deal with each other. We get the sense that he loves her and vice versa, but the only time we see any real passion between them is late in the film when, out of her pain medication for severe osteoporosis, he gives her some of his heroin. This leads to an evening of romance that ends with her almost dying from the drug. 

The ending of the film is a little unclear. Zsófia has married and is moving her and her husband to Jerusalem to make Aliyah. László laments that they are not welcome in America despite his talents and abilities. Before they too leave to join Zsófia and her family, Erzébet pays one last visit to Harrison while he is entertaining guests. She accuses him of raping László and, after a scuffle where she is forcibly hauled out of the room, Harrison disappears. A search of the house and the grounds, including the still-incomplete new structure, ensues, but we never see if he is ever found. 

This is a film of epic length that spans a lot of years, not even including the epilogue in that. Yet it feels more intimate in scope than it does epic. This is a film about a man and his place in a world that seems to not want him even though he brings great beauty into it. In many ways, this is a parallel to the many people who add much to the world yet face prejudices for even existing. Harrison represents that unhappy part of the population that feels that way. This is a sad film, but it is also an affirming film as we see László being celebrated in his old age for all the beauty he has created over his lifetime. His body has become frail and worn out and will soon be gone from the world, but his works will live on and represent him long afterwards. 

Academy Award Nominations:

Best Picture: The Brutalist

Best Director: Brady Corbet

Best Actor: Adrien Brody (won)

Best Supporting Actor: Guy Pearce

Best Supporting Actress: Felicity Jones

Best Original Screenplay: Brady Corbet and Mona Fastvold

Best Original Score: Daniel Blumberg (won)

Best Cinematography: Lol Crawley (won)

Best Editing: Dávid Janscó

Best Production Design: Judy Becker and Patricia Cuccia

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Release Date: December 20, 2024

Running Time: 215 Minutes

Rated R

Starring: Adrien Brody, Felicity Jones, Guy Pearce, Joe Alwyn, Raffey Cassidy, Stacy Martin, Emma Laird, Isaac de Bankolé, and Allesandro Nivola

Directed By: Brady Corbet