Brady Corbet’s The Brutalist is epic. In fact, it’s a three hour and 35 minute epic that afforded Felicity Jones a rather unique performance opportunity. Her character, Erzsébet Tóth, doesn’t appear on screen until about halfway through the film, after its 15-minute intermission.
The Brutalist begins by focusing on Adrien Brody’s László Toth, a famous architect who flees post-war Europe with hopes of building a new life in America. Separated from his wife, Jones’ Erzsébet, during the war, he settles in Pennsylvania alone with hopes she’ll join him there soon. Eventually, László gets what appears to be a dreamy offer from a wealthy industrialist, Guy Pearce’s Harrison Lee Van Buren. After coming to learn about László’s famed work overseas, Harrison hires him to craft his own dream project, to build a grand scale community center in honor of his late mother. It’s an opportunity for László to establish a foundation in his new home no doubt, but it’s also one that’s riddled with complications involving legacy and power.
While Jones may not appear on screen during that period, Erzsébet’s presence is felt via her own voice over and what she means to László. Essentially, the audience spends half the film awaiting her arrival and fantasizing about how it might play out. When the moment does finally come, anticipation is through the roof, and Jones makes the most of it. When Erzsébet enters the picture, alongside their niece Zsófia (Raffey Cassidy), it quickly becomes abundantly clear that she is an undeniable force determined to build the best possible life for her family in their new home.
With The Brutalist now playing in select theaters, Jones joined me for a Collider Ladies Night interview to revisit the path she’s carved for herself in cinema thus far, and to discuss making The Brutalist with Corbet, including her experience working on one particularly intense emotional beat that might very well be one of the best scenes of 2024.
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