Brady Corbet’s epic “The Brutalist” premieres at the Venice Film Festival

Brady Corbet The Brutalist was the topic of conversation on the Lido on Sunday, when the historical epic, seven years in the making, finally celebrated its world premiere in the historic Sala Grande cinema at the Venice Film Festival.

The premiere audience erupted in applause as the credits rolled on the three-hour, 35-minute epic, giving Corbet and his cast a festival-best 13 rousing standing ovations. Stars Adrien Brody and Felicity Jones looked moved to tears at times by the effusive response to the film.

The Hollywood Reporter The film received enthusiastic reviews, with chief critic David Rooney describing The Brutalist as a “monumental symphony of the immigrant experience” with a “stunning” performance by Brody as Tóth.

The Brutalist has all the thematic depth and intellectual rigor befitting its subject matter: the historical trauma and artistic vision that led to the great works of mid-century American Brutalist architecture. Yet Corbet also gives his audience a pause amid the film’s alternately elegant and propulsive story. There’s a 10-minute intermission midway through the lengthy running time, allowing moviegoers a bathroom break or a pause to reflect on the work’s evolving treatment of themes.

The Brutalist tells the story of Hungarian-born Jewish architect László Tóth (Adrien Brody), who emigrates to the United States in 1947 to live the “American Dream.” At first he must toil in poverty, but soon he lands a contract with a mysterious and wealthy client, Harrison Lee Van Buren (Guy Pearce), that will change the course of the next 30 years of his life. Felicity Jones plays Tóth’s wife Erzsébet, while Joe Alwyn plays the wealthy industrialist’s moody son. Corbet and his wife, Norwegian filmmaker and actress Mona Fastvold, co-wrote the film’s screenplay.

“The Brutalist is closer to the seething ideas and dark vision of power in the director’s debut film, The childhood of a leader than his more polarizing treatise on contemporary celebrities, VoxLux”, THRRooney writes, “But it represents a giant leap in the scope of both, addressing such important issues as creativity and compromise, Jewish identity, architectural integrity, the immigrant experience, the arrogant insularity of privilege, and the far-reaching effects of the past.”

Corbet and The Brutalist The cast kept it smart and traditional on the red carpet, with the director wearing a black tuxedo and Fastvold in a floor-length, off-the-shoulder ensemble. Ivorian film star Isaach de Bankolé, who plays Tóth’s boyfriend Gordon, jazzed things up with a chic black jacket with a large Angela Davis patch over sleek white pants and two-tone sneakers. Raffey Cassidy, who plays Tóth’s niece Zsófia, looked almost gothic in a black tiered blouse and a sheer headscarf that framed her face. Brody, who greeted fans at the barrier with “Adrien! Adrien!”, arrived with his girlfriend Georgina Chapman. The fashion designer was spotted filming her boyfriend on his big afternoon, which stretched into the early evening when the screening ended.

Several personalities from the film world were spotted in the crowd attending the premiere, including actresses such as Oscar winner Julianne Moore (with manager Evelyn O’Neill in tow) and Cailee Spaeny (Priscilla), as well as the French filmmaker and artist JR (Faces Places). Brody, wearing a Dior tuxedo with a dramatic lapel brooch, turned heads as he posed for selfies and greeted fans lined up at the barricade on a sweltering Sunday in Venice.

An auteur’s work through and through and a triumph of the director’s determination. The Brutalist Production took more than seven years — with several false starts and funding problems — and was shot on 70mm film stock in the mid-century VistaVision format. The beautiful, retro format reportedly required the filmmakers to transport 26 reels of film, weighing around 300 pounds, to Italy for the film’s world premiere.

At the film’s early morning press conference, Corbet became emotional as he spoke about his difficulties in bringing his vision to the screen.

“It was an incredibly difficult film,” he said. “I’m very emotional today because we worked on it for seven years and it felt urgent every day for almost a decade.”

Trevor Matthews and Nick Gordon of Brookstreet Pictures produced with Brian Young, Andrew Morrison of Kaplan Morrison, Andrew Lauren of Andrew Lauren and DJ Gugenheim of Andrew Lauren Prods.

The screening was a major return to his stomping grounds in Venice for Corbet, who shot his first film here. The childhood of a leaderand won the award for best debut film. He returned with the film with Natalie Portman and Jude Law Vox Lux. He also directed episodes of the Tom Holland-starring The crowded room for Apple TV+.

Corbet thanked the Venice Film Festival for “supporting my films when no one else did,” saying Venice “really made my films possible.”