The Brutalist

include SPOILERS for The Brutalist ’s ending !

The 2024 Best Picture - nominated film , The Brutalist , has seen argument centered around its final vista , and there are a few reason why . The Brutalist’scastis led by veteran picture show star Adrien Brody , who ’s been nominated for Best Actor at the 2025 Oscars for play László Tóth , a Hungarian - Judaic architect who was distinguish from his married woman during World War II . He immigrates to America fall out the warfare and feel some success due to a loaded helper , Harisson Lee Van Buren ( Guy Pearce ) , who takes an involvement in his study .

Like manymovies that are propose for Best Picture , The Brutalisthas been the subject of some of the cinema world ’s hottest debate . by fromThe Brutalist’sAI tilt , the filmhas receive comparative critical plaudits and praise from flick fans . However , the movie ’s conclusion is a root of divisiveness , with the director , Brady Corbet , even commenting on how spectator might perceive his filmand its substance . There ’s a mess to get out down regardingTheBrutalist’sclosing scenes , with broader questions about art and filmmaking .

The Brutalist Movie Poster

What Happens In The Brutalist’s Final Scene

The Movie Ends With Two Confusing Scenes

The Brutalist’sendingis undoubtedly a reason for confusedness , as the final two scene offer an unrequited mystery proceeded by a aloof epilog . Erzsébet Tóth ( Felicity Jones ) go to Pennsylvania to publicly accuse Harrison Lee Van Buren of sexually attack her hubby . Van Buren leaves the way , and it ’s let on that he ’s melt . After this moment , which is arguably the most dramatic scene in the film with the highest stakes , the picture cuts aside from Van Buren ’s mansion , never excuse what materialize to him .

give how dread things were looking when viewers last assure László , to have the last setting render him being honored at a high-pitched - visibility ceremony suggest an tremendous change in fate for him .

Next , The Brutalist’sepilogue depicts Zsófia giving a speech at a Biennale for László Tóth , exhibiting his architectural body of work from the past two decade and celebrating his life . give how awful things were looking when viewers last saw László , to have the final scene depict him being honored at a high - profile observance evoke an enormous change in luck for him . Zsófia shares some exhibition about László ’s vocation and pop the question some insight into his artistic philosophy , yet it ’s all disconnected from the previous scene , with so many questions left unreciprocated .

Adrien Brody raising his eyebrows in The Brutalist

The Ambiguous Nature Of The Brutalist’s Final Scene Has Stirred Debate With Viewers

equivocalness is always going to stir public debate among film viewers , as it can createconfusion and frustration about unsolved narrative elements . When a picture is pore around a person ’s life , in this causa , László Tóth , it makes sense that audiences would require some resolution to his story . That said , The Brutalistisn’t just about one man ’s lifetime ; László Tóth is the representative of innumerable artist and immigrant who might have shared similarly dismal experience , and in that sense , the point of his career are n’t vital to the story .

Guy Pearce has been nominated for an Oscar for wreak Harrison Lee Van Buren in The Brutalist . Here ’s what we jazz about the character ’s origins .

The frustration about the film ’s intentionally confusing final scenes is fair , butthe purpose of ambiguity is n’t to mix up viewing audience ; it ’s to allow them to engage with their own creative thinking . in the end , it does n’t matter what happened to Tóth or Van Buren after the motion picture ; what matters is the events that transpire between them and the unconscious process of constructing the community center . The real gaps left behind can be filled in by the viewer , allow each person ’s experience withThe Brutalistto be unique and thought - provoking .

Adrien Brody and Felicity Jones sitting together at a dinner table in The Brutalist

What Director Brady Corbet Has Said About The Brutalist’s Ending

Brady Corbet Doesn’t Want To Demystify His Film’s Ending

Brady Corbet talk withEWabout the ambiguous termination to his movie . Zsófia ’s soliloquy is the good insight viewers have into Tóth ’s life history and his psychology toward the biotic community center task , but it ’s not clear how much of it is performative or just simply her view . On the affair , Corbet said , " So there ’s themes that I have always been happy to unpack for hoi polloi to the good of my power , but I never ever undressed them whole because for me , thenthe film ’s variety of magic in the conversation around them lay off to exist . "

Guy Pearce ’s reference , Harrison Van Buren , is a major player in parts one and two of The Brutalist , but he is wholly absent from the epilog .

To Brady Corbet , the discussion hem in his movie ’s ending is important . By shedding too much light on the final scenes and their meaning , he ’d be free consultation of the opening of having that conversationand declare oneself their own thoughts and possibility . One of the primary purposes of great artwork is to ask questions , prompt the viewer to imagine introspectively or about external aspects of the world they are n’t familiar with . If Brady Corbet enjoin everyone whatThe Brutalistwas about , he would n’t be asking questions , he ’d be answering them . The plastic film verbalise for itself .

Guy Pearce as Van Buren in The Brutalist

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Cast

Felicity Jones in The Brutalist

Harrison and Harry standing together in similar suits and poses in The Brutalist

Headshot Of Adrien Brody

Headshot Of Guy Pearce In The 77th annual Cannes

Movies

The Brutalist