WELCOME TO AMERICA.
That running time may cause some hesitation. That’s not including a fifteen-minute long intermission that’s part of the film, like in the old days. I decided to make a whole thing out of it, going to a theater that offered extra comfortable seats and a menu. I had lunch during the film’s first half, and bought a coffee during intermission. Sitting through The Brutalist turned out to be anything but brutal. My day in the company of Brady Corbet’s lauded epic wasn’t cheap, but incredibly rewarding.
Arriving in the U.S.
The story begins after World War II. Hungarian architect László Tóth (Adrien Brody) survived Buchenwald and makes his way to Philadelphia to stay with his cousin Attila (Alessandro Nivola) and his family while he’s trying to create a new life for himself – and hopefully his own family, as he was forcibly separated from his wife Erzsébet (Felicity Jones) who was sent to Dachau. She also survived, but finding a way to reunite with her isn’t easy.
In the U.S., László is hired along with Attila to renovate a large room in a mansion that belongs to wealthy industrialist Harrison Lee Van Buren (Guy Pearce). His son Harry (Joe Alwyn) tells them what he believes his father wants, a fresh new library. László employs all the knowledge he gained while getting his Bauhaus education in Germany before the war, but when Harrison comes home and learns what they’ve done, he’s outraged and fires them without paying. Some time later, the tycoon comes looking for László and offers him money and an apology. Harrison becomes the architect’s patron and has a bold project for him.
A new place that overwhelms you
There are those who were surprised that this film isn’t based on a true story, that it’s entirely a product of director Brady Corbet and his partner Mona Fastvold’s imagination. Obviously it was inspired by historical events, experiences and art from the past, lending the film authenticity. Corbet and Fastvold gained attention with their first film together, The Childhood of a Leader (2015), adapted from a Jean-Paul Sartre story, chronicling a boy who one day will become leader of a fascist state. There are themes we recognize in The Brutalist as well.
It’s a powerful, gripping portrait of a Holocaust survivor, the confusion of the opening scene capturing what it might feel like to have survived something like that and arriving in a new place that overwhelms you. Is it a paradise for László? Of course not, it never is for a refugee and the film makes it clear how challenging an immigrant’s experience might be. Attila has adapted like a ”good” American, marrying a nice Catholic girl and Americanized his surname, which seems strange to László. When Harrison becomes the architect’s patron, he gains the freedom to go all in on his brutalist style and control the project that he’s been hired to do, which is liberating… but he’s also, and will always be, at the mercy of a wealthy capitalist who takes an interest in László because he offers him something, yet looks down on anyone else who is of little immediate use to him. It’s a Trumpian attitude perfectly embodied by Pearce in a great performance as an essentially pitiful man.
Adrien Brody, the actor who’s just as impressive a brutalist as he was a pianist two decades ago.
Jones is also very good as Erzsébet who’s finally, painfully, reunited with László. And then there’s Brody, the actor who’s just as impressive a brutalist as he was a pianist two decades ago; his László is a tortured figure we’re not always supposed to love, but nonetheless compelling.
A rich, dark illustration of a newcomer’s American experience and how an unbearably cruel past influences an artist, brilliantly brought to life with Lol Crawley’s magnificent cinematography and Daniel Blumberg’s eclectic, unforgettable music score.
The Brutalist 2024-U.S.-Hungary-U.K. 202 min. Color. Widescreen. Directed by Brady Corbet. Screenplay: Brady Corbet, Mona Fastvold. Cinematography: Lol Crawley. Music: Daniel Blumberg. Production Design: Judy Becker. Cast: Adrien Brody (László Tóth), Felicity Jones (Erzsébet Tóth), Guy Pearce (Harrison Lee Van Buren), Joe Alwyn, Raffey Cassidy, Stacy Martin, Alessandro Nivola.
Trivia: Co-produced by Corbet. At an early point, Joel Edgerton, Marion Cotillard, Mark Rylance, Sebastian Stan and Vanessa Kirby were considered for roles.
BAFTA: Best Director, Actor (Brody), Cinematography, Original Score. Golden Globes: Best Motion Picture (Drama), Director, Actor (Brody). Venice: Best Director.
Last word: “Mona’s grandfather was a mid-century designer and my uncle is an architect and attended an architectural school in Arizona while I was living there with my mother. I’ve always had a curiosity and an interest in architecture, especially as it relates to making a movie. […] Brutalism, for me, felt like the correct visual allegory for exploring post-war trauma because it is a style of post-war architecture that came about in the 1950s and feels very much in dialogue with the previous period of the two world wars.” (Corbet, Script Magazine)