The Brutalist

A movie that truly lives up to its title. This film is like being punched in the stomach, over and over again. In fact, I was actually queasy by the end, and found myself having to cover my eyes in two scenes, yet it was the subtly in which it all unfolds that makes it honest, human, devastating, and truthful. Erzsébet deserves all the praise for her performance and power in this one. The cinematography, wardrobe, and typography of this movie had me totally engrossed— all stunning. I thought the first half was a little drawn out, but the second half flew by, and in the end, I actually felt the speed was rushed. I wanted more time during the epilogue to take it all in. There are a few really poignant exchanges of dialogue throughout the movie, but it left me wishing for more in the end. This is truly dark to watch against the background of what’s happening in our country presently and I want to add a TW for sexual violence— not only was it personally triggering, but it also brought me back to a key reflection from a war & gender class I took — and that is the deafening reminder that in the end, sex is often the highest, and ‘final’ form of abuse used to strip someone of their humanity and assert dominance and power over another. My last thought: for as full of suffering as the human condition is, and as much as Lászlo himself has endured, I still think this movie could have offered a few additional moments of levity, or maybe redemption(?) especially considering that while Lászlo did appear to be a man divorced from his purpose— largely (in my opinion) due to his identities as they existed in relationship to the power dynamics and oppression— he also never gave up on his personal (even selfish) pursuit of purpose (in its art from), which I can’t help but imagine, or maybe wish, would — or could ? — have meant something more than depicted in this harrowing, sorrow film.