The Brutalist

This review contains spoilers 

America proclaims to be the land of opportunity for anyone and everyone. If you work heard enough, you can make it here. Everyone has an equal chance. Just grab those bootstraps and pull. And everyone is welcome here...as long as you behave yourself and assimilate. 

Brady Corbet's epic film examines the lie of the American dream and the abuses of capitalism through the lens of a fictional man's journey to and eventual departure from the United States. Adrien Brody plays Laszlo Toth, a brilliant architect who is also unfortunately a Jewish man from Hungary during Hilter's Third Reich. While we don't see this part of his life (the film opens with Laszlo coming out of the depths of a ship to see the Statue of Liberty, inverted and moving dizzily across the screen), we learn that Laszlo survived the Buchenwald concentration camp and was separated from his wife, Erzsebet (Felicity Jones), and niece, Zsofia (Raffey Cassidy), during the war.

In the first half of this 3.5 hour film, Laszlo comes to America--Philadelphia, specifically--to live with his cousin, Attila (Alessandro Nivola), a fully-assimilated man who has changed his last name, his religion, and is working on getting rid of that pesky Hungarian accent. Attila owns a furniture store and offers Laszlo a room and work. Fate finds its way to Laszlo in the form of Harry Lee Van Buren (Joe Alwyn, playing one of the most detestable, punchable characters ever committed to screen), the son of a wealthy industrialist, who hires Laszlo and Attila to re-do his father's study as a surprise. When Harrison Lee Van Buren (Guy Pearce, excellent as a man corrupted by wealth) comes home to find his library re-done in a minimalist, brutalist style, he is furious. His son refuses to pay Attila and Laszlo, and Attila kicks Laszlo out of his home.

Years later, Harrison finds Laszlo working in construction and takes him for a coffee, showing him a lifestyle magazine in which his library was featured to much acclaim. He apologizes for his and his son's actions and pays Laszlo what he is owed and invites Laszlo to his house. Having done his research, Harrison discovers that Laszlo was a celebrated architect in Hungary and now wants to take the man under his wing, putting him in touch with a lawyer who can help bring Erzsebet and Zsofia to America.

Harrison also proposes a new project: a community center for the people of Doylestown, PA, named after Harrison's beloved late mother. And he wants Laszlo Toth the design it. 

After an intermission (which is built into the run time of the film), Erzsebet and Zsofia make it to America, though not without their issues. Erzsebet must use a wheelchair due to osteoporosis from famine and Zsofia is mute due to trauma. But Laszlo is overjoyed to have them home.

Felicity Jones, playing Erzsebet, brings warmth and grounding to a very masculine film. To me, she felt more "human" than any other character in the film. She bolsters Laszlo's self-worth and supports his vision at all costs...and the costs do start racking up, as Harrison brings on other architects to "consult" on the community center, compromising Laszlo's vision. After a train accident results in destroyed materials, Harrison abandons the project and Laszlo, Erzsebet, and Zsofia move to New York City to find jobs. 

For a brief moment, the Toth family is truly free. Free from the fickle demands of Harrison Lee Van Buren (not to mention the unwelcome advances on Zsofia made by son Harry). But in 1958, Harrison revives the project and asks Laszlo to come back. Against the wishes of his wife, Lazlo returns to the project. Meanwhile a pregnant Zsofia and her husband decide to make Aliyah and return to Israel. More on this later.

Laszlo and Harrison travel to Carrara, Italy to purchase marble. During a party in the mines, Laszlo becomes intoxicated and wanders off. Harrison finds him and berates him, saying "If your people hate persecution, why do you make yourself such easy targets." He then proceeds to rape Laszlo in an act of domination.This was a shocking moment I did not see coming and it really slaps you in the face with the film's message that wealthy Americans use and abuse foreigners before discarding them. 

Laszlo continues to work with Harrison on the project, but by this point he is jaded. He knows that people like him--not just Jews, but foreign Jews--will never be truly accepted in the United States. Erzsebet proposes that they move to Jerusalem to live with Zsofia. "This country is rotten" she says. Laszlo agrees.

But before they leave, Erzsebet goes to Harrison's house and calls him an "evil rapist" in front of his family and business partners. Harry grabs her and drags her out of the house, causing even more of a scene. Harrison flees the premises and a fruitless search of the grounds and the unfinished community center commences. The film gives us no answer as to what happens to Harrison. 

However, the film does give us an answer to what happens to Laszlo and his family. In an epilogue, grown up Zsofia travels to Venice with an aging Laszlo to present at a showcase of Laszlo's work. During her remarks, she reveals that the community center (which was completed years later) was inspired by the Buchenwald and Dachau camps. The tight, claustrophobic rooms with high ceilings were the exact dimensions of various buildings that Laszlo, Erzsebet, and Zsofia suffered in and survived. 

It's funny because the film presents this revelation as the work of a man processing his trauma, but I thought it was more of a "fuck you" to Harrison and the people (specifically, the Christians) of Doylestown who demanded a chapel in the community center. What better way to thumb your nose at the people who never accepted you than to put a replica of a death camp in their backyard? 

The film ends with Zsofia telling the crowd something her uncle told her: "no matter what others try and sell you, it is the destination, not the journey".

So, that's The Brutalist. A film about American hypocrisy towards immigrants, a film about the struggle to find a homeland, a film about art clashing with capitalism. I have a few additional thoughts. 

First, it's so interesting to me the way the film juxtaposes sensuality and, well, brutality. During the sequence set in Carrara, Harrison sensually caresses the beautiful marble--putting his cheek to it as he would put his cheek to a lover. Not a few minutes later, he is raping Laszlo in the depths of the mine. There are scenes like this littered throughout the film. Scenes of tenderness and beauty and love followed by scenes of rejection and pain and hate. 

Another thought I had was that when Erzsebet says "this country is rotten", she could easily have said "this world is rotten". The Toths were brutalized in their homeland because of their religion and then they left Europe for a better life in America. When they discovered the lie of America, they fled again to a new homeland...one that has always been the center of controversy. I saw an article that called The Brutalist an "aggressively ambiguous" take on Zionism. That description makes sense to me, as Laszlo and Erzsebet don't want to leave the United States. They want to stay and make it work, but in the end they feel that the cost is too great.  

But what I believe and what I make of this film is that there is no safe homeland, there is no safe haven...not for anyone, anywhere. Because wherever you go, there are Harrison and Harry Lee Van Burens. The American dream is a myth, but so was Hitler's Third Reich. And all countries and cultures are propped up by their own mythologies. We can share myths and stories about our lands, and some may be more true and others less true, but what we all share is a common humanity that pits people against one another. The Harrison Lee Van Buren that Guy Pearce portrays may be specific to the United States of America, but trust and believe that a version of his kind exists in every country on earth and will always look for a victim in the depths of a marble mine to take advantage of.

What I do think is hopeful about The Brutalist is that despite everything, Laszlo never loses his vision or his identity. For all his wealth, Harrison Lee Van Buren has no core sense of self underneath it all. Contrast this to Laszlo, who in his darkest moments of homelessness, addiction, and degradation still knows who he is and what he wants. 

Perhaps that is the ultimate message of The Brutalist: there is no homeland other than one's own values, identity, and vision.

Grade: A