Brady Corbet's new film may be as epic as its architectural namesake, but it proves more than a little polarising
As an architectural style, Brutalism is renowned for its divisiveness. To its proponents, it represents boldness and modernity – buildings as philosophy. To its detractors, it is ugly, unsubtle and hubristic. The Brutalist, the latest offering from director Brady Corbet, has already proven similarly controversial among critics and audiences.
Based on a script co-written with Corbet’s filmmaker wife Mona Fastvold, the film tells the fictional story of László Tóth (Adrien Brody), a Hungarian-born Jewish Holocaust survivor and visionary architect who arrives in America after the end of World War II. The opening scene sees László emerging from the dark bowels of a ship into dazzling daylight, the Statue of Liberty towering overhead. Cinematographer Lol Crawley frames Lady Liberty upside down, prefacing the rollercoaster of trials and tribulations to come. Eventually, László is taken under the wing of wealthy industrialist Harrison Lee Van Buren (Guy Pearce), who becomes his benefactor. Together, they plan to build an imposing monument to Harrison's deceased mother atop a hillside in Pennsylvania. As the project is beset by delays, accidents and cost overruns, László's private life is thrown into turmoil by the belated arrival of his wife Erzsébet (Felicity Jones) and niece Zsófia (Raffey Cassidy) from Europe. Erzsébet has become wheelchair-bound due to famine-induced osteoporosis.
The film is divided into three parts with a runtime of over three hours, including a 15-minute intermission. The visuals are stunning, particularly a dream-like sequence inside a Carrara marble quarry. The score by musician Daniel Blumberg throbs with a muscular power. Much like László’s buildings, this is a sprawling, ambitious and daring piece of work, which isn't necessarily a good thing. The Brutalist is bursting at the seams with 'important things to say', often to the detriment of the narrative and characters. In no particular order, it touches on (deep breath): the immigrant experience in America, the specifically Jewish immigrant experience in America, Judaism more generally, antisemitism, Zionism, Christianity, racism, capitalism, nepotism, power, wealth, greed, drug addiction, the philosophy of architecture, love, sex, sexual violence, the corruption of the American dream… I could go on, but then we'd need another interval.
The performances are a mixed bag. Brody is superb throughout, but Jones, usually such a convincing performer, feels oddly miscast here. Her cod-Hungarian accent drifts in and out – despite claims that AI was used to enhance the Hungarian vowel sounds – and her character goes nowhere. The final revelation of The Brutalist and subsequent epilogue are so utterly bizarre and ambiguous that you leave the cinema perplexed.
Of course, there’s nothing Hollywood loves more than a lengthy epic about brilliant but troubled men – and they are always men. As usual in such films, the female characters function only as accessories to the male protagonist’s journey. The Brutalist has already scooped three Golden Globes and is hotly tipped to do well at the upcoming Oscars. But consider the central plot device of the film: the Van Buren Institute, a white elephant. We’re supposed to believe this building is incredibly significant and important in a way mere mortals couldn’t possibly comprehend. What it really symbolises, much like the film itself, is self-indulgent vanity.
By Barney Pell Scholes
The Brutalist is out now. a24films.com/films/the-brutalist