Brutalist architecture emerged in post-War Europe and is characterized by stark functionality over pleasing aesthetic. Brutalist buildings are minimalist, both in design and building materials as a brutal physical and psychological reminder of the great war that spawned it.
The Brutalist tells the story of László Tóth, a skilled brutalist architect, who arrives in Pennsylvania from Hungary to rebuild his life and his career. It is written by Brody Corbet and Mona Fastvold (Vox Lux) and stars Adrien Brody, Felicity Jones, and Guy Pearce as industrialist Harrison Lee Van Buren Sr. who takes the new American Tóth under his wing as his most important client.
Harrison Lee Van Buren (Guy Pearce) Photo by Lol Crawley
The Great American Dream
Upon arrival in Pennsylvania, Tóth observes the emotional and practical disconnect between the advertised American Dream being a land of milk and honey and the grim reality of industrialist capitalism. His heart aches for his homeland where his wife Erzsébet still lives who will eventually join him with his orphaned niece Zsófia (Raffey Cassidy). Until then, he puts his head down and gets to work.
“The Brutalist is a journey of a refugee connected to his past who has also been stripped of that past,” says writer/ director Brody Corbet. Tóth navigates his immigrant experience through his lens of artistic expression in architecture. Brutalism repurposes the bare blocks pain of wartime rationing into an era of freedom.
It is dark in its tone, even in its lighter and more tender moments, especially after his wife and niece arrive. It’s dark in the ship’s narrow corridors and it’s dark in Pennsylvania’s dank alleys.
Zsófia (Raffey Cassidy) & Erzsébet Tóth (Felicity Jones) Photo by Lol Crawley
The Brutalist begins with László’s journey in a cramped ship as a harbinger to manage his hopeful expectations about the promise of America and all it offers immigrants. He’s not naïve, but he has ambition and dreams of being a revered architect in his new homeland. He’s greeted by his furniture salesman cousin Atilla (Alessandro Nivola) who advises him that his wife and niece are still alive. The war has ended, but the traumatic scars of are difficult to heal from, especially as a Holocaust survivor.
Harrison Lee Van Buren lives up to the expectations of a true American industrialist and juices the nuances of exploitative capitalism to the hilt. He’s obscenely wealthy, and his apparent benevolence veil his ulterior motives. He thrives on power and domination, as he subtly lures László into his web. Initially, he appears affable and cordial as he welcomes his new compatriot to his country by offering him a job to renovate a library. But later, he expels László and Atilla without paying them causing a rift between them.
Van Buren senior hires them to build a community center in an indebted servitude financial arrangement where they could technically leave, but are actually chained to their work.
The Brutalist mines the push-pull oppositional nature of capitalism and art. Can they co-exist or must one devour the other in order to thrive? Brutalist architecture is enduring and can withstand great external forces. Art has no such luxury. Beauty is delicate and fragile.
