鈥淭he making of a good building,鈥� observed architect Frank Lloyd Wright, 鈥渋s a great moral performance.鈥�
Like many notable quotes about architecture, it speaks to grandeur, permanence, scale. One imagines L谩zl贸 T贸th, the visionary Hungarian architect who escaped the Holocaust and sailed to the United States to find his American Dream, would heartily agree.
But don鈥檛 go looking on Wikipedia. T贸th, played with deep soul and unrelenting intensity by Adrien Brody in is actually fictional, though you could be forgiven for thinking otherwise, so richly realized is his story in director Brady Corbet鈥檚 audacious new film. Though not for everyone, it's a film that can justifiably be described as 鈥渆pic鈥� in ambition and design. And, wouldn't you know, ambition and design are precisely what the movie鈥檚 about.
Of course, that鈥檚 not all. 鈥淭he Brutalist,鈥� which takes its name from the raw style of architecture that T贸th creates, is also about the incalculable trauma that followed World War II. It鈥檚 about the immigrant experience, and it鈥檚 about what happens when the American Dream beckons, then fails. It also explores a different dream: the artist鈥檚 dream, and what happens when it meets opposing forces, be they geographic displacement or cold economic calculus.
Not to mix our arts metaphors, but it鈥檚 fair to say a story like this needs a pretty big canvas. Corbet, working with co-writer Mona Fastvold, definitely gives himself that, shooting in VistaVision, with its expansive field of view; dividing his film into movements like a symphony; and finally, allowing himself a whopping three hours and 35 minutes, including a built-in intermission. The parallels with architecture here seem clear. Make a building, or make a movie 鈥� but if you鈥檙e thinking small, go home.
鈥淭he Brutalist鈥� spans 30 years in the life of T贸th, whom we first meet in a terrific sequence, darting through darkness. It soon emerges these are the chaotic alleys of an immigrant ship. He鈥檚 been left with nothing, but still lucky: unlike more than half of fellow Hungarian Jews, he's survived the Holocaust. His first view of the United States is the Statue of Liberty towering above the deck 鈥� filmed upside down, a choice we鈥檒l understand better later.
T贸th heads to Philadelphia, where he鈥檚 greeted by cousin Attila (Alessandro Nivola), who'll let him work at his furniture store. Attila also bears monumental news: L谩zl贸's beloved wife, Erzs茅bet (Felicity Jones) has survived her own ordeal in the camps, and is alive in Europe. (Just watching Brody receive this news is a vision hard to shake 鈥� the actor, himself the son of a Hungarian refugee, is doing his best work here since his Oscar-winning performance in 鈥淭he Pianist.鈥�)
A fortunate break comes when Harry Lee Van Buren (Joe Alwyn), the haughty, aristocratic son of industrialist Harrison Lee Van Buren, comes looking for help renovating a library for his father. The perfectionist T贸th begins creating a modernist gem, with daylight shining from above onto a single elegant reading chair and lamp (at moments, this movie's a great advertisement for architecture school).
But then Dad himself 鈥� an impeccably clad, impossibly dapper yet explosive and ultimately monstrous character played to the hilt by Guy Pearce 鈥� shows up too early, infuriated that his library's been torn up. He expels the cousins and they don鈥檛 get paid. T贸th ends up in a church shelter, shoveling coal by day.
But the elder Van Buren comes to see his error, especially when the press picks up on his library. Soon, T贸th is dining with the wealthy at Van Buren鈥檚 palatial Doylestown estate, and learning that Van Buren has tapped him to build a vast community center atop a hill to honor his mother.
The film鈥檚 second part opens with Erzs茅bet arriving in America, along with T贸th's niece Zs贸fia (Raffey Cassidy). Erzs茅bet, given a sensitive, intelligent portrayal by Jones, is suffering deeply from the physical effects of the war. She also quickly sees the darker side of the Van Burens. But T贸th is stuck, mired in a project that will take years, a living hostage to the Van Burens on their estate, fighting for every phase of the project and darned near going mad 鈥� on top of a drug addiction stemming from the war 鈥� as Van Buren demands cuts and compromises, including the height of his building.
A beautiful 鈥� and horrible 鈥� sequence comes in the exquisite marble quarries of Carrara, in Italy, where T贸th travels with Van Buren to choose a final piece. The beauty is in the filmmaking. The horror is in what transpires between the men 鈥� and it's arguably an uncomfortably jarring note, given how suddenly it seems to arrive out of the blue.
A coda, decades later in Venice, reveals something profound about why T贸th was so insistent about the measurements of his Doylestown creation. And so, yes, it takes more than three hours for us to learn the full truth about T贸th's vision.
Not all directors can pull off such a feat and make it worth our while. 鈥淭he Brutalist,鈥� like its protagonist, is not without flaws or incongruities or indulgences. But it hardly seems accidental that one of the film鈥檚 key lines tells us it鈥檚 the destination, not the journey, that matters. Corbet went big here 鈥� really big 鈥� and it paid off.
鈥淭he Brutalist,鈥� an A24 release, is unrated by the Motion Picture Association. Running time: 215 minutes. Three and a half stars out of four.
Jocelyn Noveck, The Associated Press
