Movie Review: The Brutalist

February 17, 2025

By Bessy ADUT

This is a brutally long movie, thankfully the intermission was placed in the film itself, however, it is most certainly worth seeing and I am going to start mentioning the accomplishments of this film.

The film premiered at the 81st Venice International Film Festival and won 5 awards including the Silver Lion. Afterwards nominated for the 30th Critics’ Choice Awards, 10 Awards at the 97th Academy Awards, and 7 at the 82nd Golden Globe Awards. Also, the American Film Institute called The Brutalist one of the top ten films of 2024. The film was also screened at other top world film festivals such as the Toronto International Film Festival and more.

Mikey Madison & Adrien Brody

Mikey Madison & Adrien Brody

The film has received mostly positive response from the critics. The average rating of the film is 8.7 out of 10. Film is praised for the portrayal of the immigrant experience of the time as well as Adrien Brody’s touching performance along with all his accompanying actors. The Guardian’s Peter Bradshaw gave the film a five-star review. Film’s cinematography by Lol Crawler was highly praised. Vogue reviewed the film’s cinematography, wardrobe, score, and production design as stylish and ambitious. NPR also included the film in their best of films in 2024. The film didn’t get much attention at the box office until after earning 10 Oscar nominations. A24 was also offering free screenings for publicity.

There has been some controversy about AI. Editing was completed by Hungarian editor Dávid Jancsó and he revealed during an interview some artificial intelligence was used for the Hungarian accent in dialogue. It sparked a backlash on social media. The director responded "The Brutalist is a film about human complexity, and every aspect of its creation was driven by human effort, creativity, and collaboration. We are incredibly proud of our team and what they’ve accomplished here.”

Film’s moving soundtrack was composed by Daniel Blumberg who worked on the short film Gyuto with the director before.

In terms of cinematography, the film was shot using the VistaVision process which involves shooting horizontally on 35 mm film stock and 70 mm film prints were made. Director Corbet explains the choice of VistaVision was an aesthetic choice to access the 1950s period.

Filming was done in 2020 but stopped during pandemic and continued in 2021 to be finished in 2022. Filming was postponed several times due to the effects of the pandemic on the cast and crew. We see the rewards of persistence and patience here. The Brutalist was the second feature film of Brady Corbet after Vox Lux. New York based Andrew Lauren Productions (ALP) developed the screenplay and financed the film.

And without further ado, it’s time to talk about the plot of the film. Film has 3 parts. In the first part: The Enigma of the Arrival, Part 2 the Hard core of Beauty, Part 3 The First Architecture of Biennale.

We are introduced to Hungarian-Jewish László Tóth who is a Holocaust survivor who is forcibly separated from his wife and orphaned niece after being sent to the Buchenwald concentration camp when he has immigrated to the United States. László goes to stay with his cousin Atilla and his Catholic wife. He receives the good news that his wife and niece are alive but they are stuck there due to his wife’s bad health.

László starts working with his brother as a modern architect and they get their first gig together as well as a furniture business. He lives modestly sleeping in his cousin’s storage room. László notices his cousin has assimilated and acts like a Catholic to get by. They are commissioned to rebuild a library at Bucks County mansion. Atilla’s catholic wife slanders László as if he hit on her and asks him to move out. They also get fired from the job when Harrison arrives home with his sick brother unaware of his son’s surprise. After this incident, László becomes a heroin addict to deal with his pain and he works as a laborer. Harrison makes a comeback with an apology and an offer after finding out he was an accomplished architect in Europe. László gets paid and given a place to stay during the time of the project and he can bring his wife and niece over too. They start building up the community center as requested with their dilemmas.

In 1953, László greets Erzsébet and Zsófia and discovers that due to their suffering in wartime, Erzsébet is confined to a wheelchair from osteoporosis caused by famine, and Zsófia is mute. As László continues to work on the project he clashes with contactors a lot and does a lot of sacrifices to continue and finish his work. We understand Harry assaulted Zsofia. Many years after she chooses to marry Binyamin, make Aliyah, and move to Jerusalem when she is pregnant.

I don’t want to even give away in my spoilers section but some other horrible stuff happens near the ending of the film that gets sadly carved in your memory and hard to shake off. It just shows how disadvantaged immigrants are being taken advantage of would be the simplest way I can put it. In the end, Erzsébet bravely confronts Harry and his family. Harry is so embarrassed he runs away and hides nowhere to be found when the ugly truth comes out.

Film begins and ends very strongly with two meaningful, symbolic images. The final scene concludes with a view of the illuminated upside down, which parallels the shot of the Statue of Liberty at the beginning of the film. Everything is distorted and corrupt.

Epilogue: The First Architecture Biennale

Movie ends in the 1980s after Ezsébet, we don’t see her again after the confrontation scene. László's work is held in Viena. We see the family now Zsófia’s daughter looks just like her and gives a beautiful, meaningful speech. She explains her grandfather’s architecture and how it was inspired by concentration camps. It was a way of processing trauma and turning something destructive into a creative expression. She ends her speech with some wise words László once told her: "No matter what the others try and sell you, it is the destination, not the journey.” Destination matters.

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