43/27
Filming took place in Budapest, Hungary and in Carrara, Italy
Plot
When visionary architect Laszlo Toth and his wife Erzebet flee post-war Europe in 1947 to restore their heritage and witness the birth of modern America, their lives are forever changed by a mysterious, wealthy client. Filming took place over a total of 34 days, from March 16 to May 5, 2023. (2024).
“Brutalist” is full of surprises
The characters are not what you expect them to be – not in a Scooby-Doo ending, but in the subtler, more gradual ways that real people reveal themselves – they reveal themselves over time, in a new context, or under the pressure of circumstances. The circumstances here are the horrors after World War II. Adrian Brody’s Laszlo, a Jewish architect who escaped the clutches of bloody Europe, falls into the welcoming arms of America (or collides with them) in a frenetic opening sequence that evokes associations with being literally born next to the Statue of Liberty.
What is the lesson?
His journey becomes one of constantly overcoming the various horrors of life – existential, professional, familial, intimate – without taking his eyes off the prize of great achievement and without assessing the value of this prize from the start. Is it a shameful discovery that his success was born not in spite of his trauma, but because of it? Do we owe violence to him?
Are our lives gasoline burning on the way to somewhere more meaningful?
To the forces of culture, country, power and those who possess it, creating our cruel legacy (and homeland)? The film is charming, engaging and not at all boring (did you know it’s long?). It seems to be based on an old novel, a mysterious tome, which I would gladly dig up in search of some details the film refuses to share.
But there is no novel
This old man’s search for meaning becomes our own. And any further understanding of Laszlo’s arrival, of his family’s machinations, of his country and his rootlessness, for better or worse, seems to be up to us.