Spoiler Warning: The next article has some main spoilers for The Brutalist. Should you’ve but to look at the Golden Globe-winning drama, please train excessive warning, or come again after watching it.
The Brutalist was one of many greatest motion pictures of 2024, and truthfully among the finest theatrical experiences I’ve had since I noticed There Will Be Blood like 5 or 6 occasions 17 years in the past. I used to be fortunate sufficient to catch a pre-release screening again in November, and ever since then, I’ve been ready for my probability to see Brady Corbet’s $10-million epic once more. That chance introduced itself shortly after the beginning of the brand new 12 months, and as wild because it sounds, I liked it much more the second time round.
The entire three-and-a-half-hour epic about Adrien Brody’s Jewish Hungarian immigrant chasing the American Dream and beginning an bold and decade-spanning challenge was so spectacular, emotional, and epic, however two scenes specifically had been much more highly effective on a second viewing. I simply have to speak in regards to the expertise and the way I’ve a better appreciation for The Brutalist’s ending.
I Cannot Get Over Erzsébet’s Power And Anger Whereas Confronting Harrison
Much like how revisiting Conclave made for a greater expertise, particularly when it got here to every thing earlier than the surprising papal ending, watching The Brutalist a second time allowed me to benefit from the second as a substitute of anticipating what was coming subsequent. That is extremely true for the scene the place Erzsébet Tóth (Felicity Jones) confronts Harrison Van Buren (Man Pearce) in regards to the rich industrialist raping her husband earlier within the film after years of emotional and psychological abuse throughout the development of the neighborhood middle.
Don’t get me improper, the scene was highly effective, uncooked, and shifting the primary time round, however I observed one thing that I didn’t even consider throughout my first viewing: that is the one scene within the film the place Erzsébet makes use of a walker as a substitute of a wheelchair. My interpretation of this key scene is that Erzsébet, who has determined to go away America for Israel together with her husband, is so consumed by anger that she builds the power to not solely stroll once more however confront the person who took every thing from her companion and belittled him right into a shell of a person.
If Felicity Jones is nominated for an Oscar (I’m satisfied she’ll obtain a Greatest Supporting Actress nod), this would be the scene taking part in throughout the Academy Awards. It’s that highly effective and monumental.
The Epilogue, With The ‘It Is The Vacation spot, Not The Journey’ Speech Introduced Me To Tears
I’ve to confess that the shift to the epilogue in The Brutalist was so jarring the primary time round I missed numerous it. In case you forgot, after Erzsébet confronts Harrison, who disappears and is presumed to have killed himself, the film jumps from the late Fifties to 1980 the place we’re transported to a retrospective of László Tóth’s work held in Venice. In the course of the presentation, his niece, Zsófia (Ariane Labed) talks about his work and the inspiration behind it, which boils all the way down to his expertise surviving the Holocaust and years-long quest to reunite together with his spouse.
I couldn’t assist however cry all through the scene the place Zsófia talks in regards to the huge Van Buren Group Heart, seen a number of occasions in The Brutalist’s trailer, being designed to resemble the 2 focus camps the place László and Erzsébet had been imprisoned throughout World Warfare II. All these little particulars, which appeared random or pointless with out the right context, had been truly a part of a everlasting monument to their love and reminders of the struggling they endured all these years in the past.
The final line – “It doesn’t matter what the others try to promote you, it’s the vacation spot, not the journey” – broke me and left me sitting in tears because the credit started to roll.
Reality be instructed, I’ll find yourself watching The Brutalist at the least yet one more time within the theaters, possibly extra, as a result of there’s simply a lot to like about one of many greatest A24 motion pictures in fairly a while.