Page 5 | Has anyone seen the Brutalist? Contains spoilers [Title edited by MNHQ at OP's request]

NetZeroZealot · 2025-01-25T22:59:21+00:00

I think it’s the sort of film I’d enjoy but at over 3 hours long I need someone whose seen it to recommend it! and I’m not sure it’s DH’s cup of tea!

category12 · 03/02/2025 21:24

SirQuintusAurelius · 03/02/2025 21:10

@category12 thanks . re the throwing out, it looked very much like he was the last one and the guy was locking up - hence the vigorous throwing him out - so I assumed that he was mistaken in thinking the friend was still in there

Maybe you're right. I'd have to watch again.

Which to be honest, I don't think I would rewatch it. Glad I saw it, for sure.

SirQuintusAurelius · 03/02/2025 21:45

LOL @category12 . Yes I feel the same. I'm glad I saw it and I enjoyed it and thought it was a good film. It's too long to want to watch it again!

Lentilweaver · 03/02/2025 23:02

SirQuintusAurelius · 03/02/2025 18:16

Is anyone on this thread actually interested in discussing the film????

If anyone has seen it [SPOILERS/Comment on film content] I'd be interested to know your thoughts on....

what was the point of the bit where he lost his friend in the club and was insisting that he must be still inside because he wouldn't have left him and he got chucked out? [I didn't get this at all - was it to show his drug use? or to show his friend would in fact leave him?]

what was the significance of the song played over the credits with the lyrics One for you one for me? It's a very up beat Italian pop song I wondered if it meant that everything comes with a price - if you take one, I will take one. I read this about it but didn't think it was very insightful.
www.gq-magazine.co.uk/article/the-brutalist-end-credits-song-explained

I would love to discuss it but shouldnt.we put a spoiler alert in the title?
There were many baffling bits.

ColourByNumbers88 · 05/02/2025 22:29

@heldinadream completely agree with your review. What a thought provoking, amazing film. Actually felt quite wowed by it. Adrien Brody deserves the Oscar. Didn't really understand the 18 certificate.

The comments on length don't make sense to me. How many series do you binge watch on Netflix? I'd compare it with doing that. Never felt like I was watching the clock. If anything I felt the Epilogue was rushed. It was a brilliant daytime watch film.

veraswaistcoat · 05/02/2025 23:22

ThatMerryReader · 26/01/2025 02:21

Not another holocaust movie please...So utterly hackneyed now.
I am not wasting 3 hours of my life in another dull as a dishwasher movie about this theme.

Now that's a nasty comment !

veraswaistcoat · 05/02/2025 23:31

Just seen it and we were surprised by the interval. Didn't know anything about that. It's a hugely interesting film and takes a bit of settling into. Eg The sounds were amazing but then you realise you really feel part of the scene. Then there's the music. The same with the shots of things like other people in the room. Things happen and then end suddenly without being " finished" but then we don't need the answers to everything. It covered so many themes, concepts and attitudes reflecting I think the mess the world was in. The acting by Adrian Brody was just wonderful.

fatandtrying · 07/02/2025 18:31

Barkingupthewrongroof · 26/01/2025 00:42

I’ve decided that I’ll watch it when I can watch it at home. Cinemas are always freezing these days and for 3 hours I think I’d like home comforts and snacks that aren’t cinema priced.

I take my blanket to cover me up at the cinema! recline the chair and get all snug!

SirQuintusAurelius · 07/02/2025 22:20

I take my blanket to cover me up at the cinema! recline the chair and get all snug!

That sounds so awesome. I'd love to do that but would be too scared of being judged and people looking at me critically. Obv I need to give less fucks. I'm so impressed with you @fatandtrying

2025ohdear · 07/02/2025 22:27

SirQuintusAurelius · 07/02/2025 22:20

I take my blanket to cover me up at the cinema! recline the chair and get all snug!

That sounds so awesome. I'd love to do that but would be too scared of being judged and people looking at me critically. Obv I need to give less fucks. I'm so impressed with you @fatandtrying

I saw one woman, on her own, get out a blanket and a flask of (I'm assuming) tea and done sandwiches to watch one of the downtown films. Looked blissfully relaxing

Maggiethecat · 07/02/2025 23:26

When I went I had my flask of tea, packed lunch and got very cosy in my recliner!

kalokagathos · 08/02/2025 14:05

Masterpiece of a film. So many layers to explore you don't know where the time goes. Brody is a titan of an actor. Love him!

veraswaistcoat · 08/02/2025 23:20

There's some very interesting threads about this film on Reddit.

PullTheBricksDown · 08/02/2025 23:26

Piggywaspushed · 26/01/2025 15:27

I thought Oppenheimer was an hour longer at least than I wanted it to be. I got to the spectacular explosion and made the mistake of looking at the time o my phone.

And a 3 1/4 hour film rated 18 sounds too much for me.

Me too. Oppenheimer was fine but terribly full of its own importance and at least half an hour could have been cut. Under two hours is the sign of a film that knows what it wants to do and has been properly edited.

Don't think I'll go to the Brutalist.

OnGoldenPond · 09/02/2025 01:21

Twinstudy · 26/01/2025 12:22

I didn't realise it was 3 hours long! I'd suggested we go see it when it's on at our independent cinema but I hate overly long films. Might wait til I can watch at home when I can pause it for a wee 😂

There is a 15 minute interval in the middle to allow for a loo break!

veraswaistcoat · 09/02/2025 13:51

I have thought about bits of this film in the days that followed more than any other one I've ever seen.

Fandango52 · 10/02/2025 12:06

TheaBrandt · 27/01/2025 07:05

Lots of bizarre reasons listed not to see it! We were glad we had. Also happened to read in Sat Times it’s been a labour of love for the director / producer budget slashed Covid etc. it’s very good Adrien Brody is amazing. A grown up film.

Just coming on to say I completely agree with this. Adrien Brody is outstanding in it - as is Felicity Jones - and the whole film is a massive achievement. I’m very glad I went to see it in the cinema, as it is spectacular. I’d like to watch it again at some point, as it’s so thought provoking, but I’ll probably wait until it’s available for streaming as I’d like to take a few breaks while watching it 😂

Fandango52 · 10/02/2025 12:09

veraswaistcoat · 09/02/2025 13:51

I have thought about bits of this film in the days that followed more than any other one I've ever seen.

Me too. I went to see Conclave the other day and really enjoyed that, but I was left with way more food for thought after watching The Brutalist - it deserves to win big at the Oscars IMO and I feel sad that its length and themes have put people off watching it.

I also find it strange that people seem put off because they thought the film was based on a true story and they’ve since found out it’s fictional. I don’t think any promotional material about the film has ever suggested it’s anything other than fictional.

AzurePanda · 10/02/2025 12:54

@Fandango52 this has really puzzled me too, nowhere has there been any suggestion it’s based on a true story so I don’t understand why people seem irritated that it isn’t. Sarah Ditum wrote a whole article in The Times saying discovering that it wasn’t based on a true story fundamentally ruined the film for her - bizarre! I’ve never heard this complaint in relation to any other film.

Fandango52 · 10/02/2025 13:00

AzurePanda · 10/02/2025 12:54

@Fandango52 this has really puzzled me too, nowhere has there been any suggestion it’s based on a true story so I don’t understand why people seem irritated that it isn’t. Sarah Ditum wrote a whole article in The Times saying discovering that it wasn’t based on a true story fundamentally ruined the film for her - bizarre! I’ve never heard this complaint in relation to any other film.

Yes, I was thinking about that exact article when I posted. Most of the article focused on her feeling cheated that the film’s team had talked up its authenticity and that it been billed as a true story, but I haven’t found anything that shows that. How strange.

category12 · 10/02/2025 14:41

Fandango52 · 10/02/2025 12:09

Me too. I went to see Conclave the other day and really enjoyed that, but I was left with way more food for thought after watching The Brutalist - it deserves to win big at the Oscars IMO and I feel sad that its length and themes have put people off watching it.

I also find it strange that people seem put off because they thought the film was based on a true story and they’ve since found out it’s fictional. I don’t think any promotional material about the film has ever suggested it’s anything other than fictional.

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I didn't look into it beforehand so I don't feel like I was mis-sold anything.

But it just feels like it ought to be a biopic 😂

I came out and checked if it was based on a real person and it wasn't.

And it did annoy me a bit because of the rape. I feel like sexual violence is often used as a shorthand in fiction and I find it hard to bear, and I'm not sure it was justified. They had so much time to establish the themes, it felt lazy to me.

Fandango52 · 10/02/2025 15:41

category12 · 10/02/2025 14:41

I didn't look into it beforehand so I don't feel like I was mis-sold anything.

But it just feels like it ought to be a biopic 😂

I came out and checked if it was based on a real person and it wasn't.

And it did annoy me a bit because of the rape. I feel like sexual violence is often used as a shorthand in fiction and I find it hard to bear, and I'm not sure it was justified. They had so much time to establish the themes, it felt lazy to me.

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Yeah I know what you mean - it does seem like it could conceivably be based on a real person’s life.

The rape scene was horrific - I absolutely agree. I was a tiny bit prepared for something awful to happen around the quarry scenes due to a review I’d read that hinted at something horrible happening then though. I also think it fit into the storyline, mainly because of an interview I read (www.slantmagazine.com/film/alessandro-nivola-interview-the-brutalist/) where the actor who played the main character’s cousin said the director wanted to make a film about an artist getting fucked over by his patron. Given that, the title alone gave me a lot of food for thought - ie is the ‘brutalist’ of the title just Laszlo, or metaphorically is it also America (as Laszlo is constantly frustrated in trying to achieve the American dream) and perhaps also van Buren? I know we only use the world ‘brutalist’ to describe Brutalist architecture, and we’d probably use the word brute or bully to describe someone who’s nasty and domineering, but I still think it’s an interesting thing to explore.

Maggiethecat · 10/02/2025 15:41

category12 · 10/02/2025 14:41

I didn't look into it beforehand so I don't feel like I was mis-sold anything.

But it just feels like it ought to be a biopic 😂

I came out and checked if it was based on a real person and it wasn't.

And it did annoy me a bit because of the rape. I feel like sexual violence is often used as a shorthand in fiction and I find it hard to bear, and I'm not sure it was justified. They had so much time to establish the themes, it felt lazy to me.

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I didn’t find that scene to be gratuitous at all as it probably reflects that immigrants get screwed in so many ways.
This was a culmination of the disdain and disrespect with which they’re viewed.

burnoutbabe · 10/02/2025 17:08

TheaBrandt · 27/01/2025 14:26

Christ I lasted 20 minutes watching The Substance i actually thought i was going to faint! I had to leave the room!

There is a male on male rape in The Brutalist it is awful but quite quick and is integral to the plot it’s not gratuitous. Appreciate this is all very subjective I am quite squeamish!

I actually totally missed that is what was happening in that scene - i assumed he was trying to strangle him. went right over my head until the dinner party scene later.

so not exactly gratuitous.

overall quite wanky. weird scenes that felt incomplete - did the son sleep with the neice? why did nieice suddenly speak?? what happened to harrison in the end?

4/5. I preferred conclave far more.

category12 · 10/02/2025 17:21

Maggiethecat · 10/02/2025 15:41

I didn’t find that scene to be gratuitous at all as it probably reflects that immigrants get screwed in so many ways.
This was a culmination of the disdain and disrespect with which they’re viewed.

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Yeah, but turning it from metaphor into actual... I just felt it was unnecessary and could have been achieved in other ways.

category12 · 10/02/2025 17:29

burnoutbabe · 10/02/2025 17:08

I actually totally missed that is what was happening in that scene - i assumed he was trying to strangle him. went right over my head until the dinner party scene later.

so not exactly gratuitous.

overall quite wanky. weird scenes that felt incomplete - did the son sleep with the neice? why did nieice suddenly speak?? what happened to harrison in the end?

4/5. I preferred conclave far more.

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I think it hinted at Zsofia being sexually assaulted by the son - her readjusting her clothes as they rejoined the group.

Yeah, I guess the film centred on Brody's character and his viewpoint but I did want to know more about the women. Like how she met Benjamin and when she started speaking again etc. And what was happening to them in Russia.

I liked Conclave a lot, but the ending was a bit neat.