The Brutalist is a 2024 epic period drama film directed and produced by Brady Corbet, who co-wrote the screenplay with Mona Fastvold. It stars Adrien Brody as László Tóth, a Jewish-Hungarian architect and Holocaust survivor who emigrates to the United States in the late 1940s in search of the American Dream. The supporting cast includes Felicity Jones, Guy Pearce, Joe Alwyn, Raffey Cassidy, Stacy Martin, Emma Laird, Isaach de Bankolé and Alessandro Nivola. Shot largely in the rarely used VistaVision format, the film is a co-production of the United States, the United Kingdom and Hungary.
László and Erzsébet Tóth reunite in the United States after World War II (IMDB)
Plot
Structured in four chapters spanning 1947–1980, the narrative follows László’s tumultuous rise and fall. After arriving in Philadelphia, the celebrated Bauhaus-trained architect struggles with poverty, anti-immigrant prejudice and opioid addiction before receiving a monumental commission from industrialist Harrison Lee Van Buren (Pearce). The project’s decade-long construction is repeatedly derailed by financial crises, corporate meddling and personal betrayals, straining László’s marriage to Erzsébet (Jones) and his relationship with his mute niece Zsófia (Cassidy). In the epilogue, a 1980 retrospective at the Venice Architecture Biennale reframes László’s buildings as elegies to wartime trauma and questions the cost of artistic ambition.
Cast
- Adrien Brody as László Tóth
- Felicity Jones as Erzsébet Tóth
- Guy Pearce as Harrison Lee Van Buren
- Joe Alwyn as Harry Lee Van Buren
- Raffey Cassidy / Ariane Labed as Zsófia
- Stacy Martin as Maggie Van Buren
- Alessandro Nivola as Attila Miller
- Emma Laird as Audrey Miller
- Isaach de Bankolé as Gordon, among others
Production
Corbet announced The Brutalist in 2018 after the premiere of Vox Lux. Andrew Lauren Productions, Brookstreet Pictures and Killer Films were among the backers, with Corbet and Fastvold drawing on family history and post-war architecture for inspiration. Principal photography took place in Pennsylvania, New York, Hungary and Italy, with Lol Crawley serving as cinematographer. Daniel Blumberg composed the score, later winning an Academy Award for his work.
Release
The film premiered on 1 September 2024 at the 81st Venice International Film Festival, where Corbet received the Silver Lion for Best Director. A24 opened it in limited US release on 20 December 2024, followed by roll-outs in Hungary (23 January 2025) and the United Kingdom (24 January 2025). It grossed US $50.2 million worldwide against a US $9.6 million budget.
Reception
Critical response
On Rotten Tomatoes the film holds an approval rating of 93 percent, with the critics’ consensus praising its “structurally beautiful” design and Brody’s “soulful” lead performance. Metacritic assigns a weighted average score of 84/100, indicating “universal acclaim”.
Accolades
Venice Film Festival – Silver Lion (Best Director)
82nd Golden Globe Awards – Best Motion Picture – Drama; Best Director; Best Actor (Brody)
97th Academy Awards – Best Cinematography, Best Original Score, Best Actor (Brody); seven additional nominations including Best Picture
The American Film Institute named it one of the ten best films of 2024.
