Is The Brutalist based on a true story?

RadioTimes.com gave the film a glowing five-star verdict, praising its history-led approach and how it "speaks volumes about America and its uneasy relationship with immigrants".

Brody's character, László Tóth, is a Hungarian-Jewish architect who emigrates to Pennsylvania following the war. There and after a series of hardships, his talent is finally recognised by wealthy American industrialist Harrison Lee Van Buren (Pearce). But his struggles are far from over.

Given the film's clear reverence for history, you might be wondering whether it's based on a true story. Read on for everything you need to know.

Is The Brutalist based on a true story?

The simple answer is no, The Brutalist is not based on a true story, and is an entirely fictional film.

Although it is clear that director Brady Corbet carried out extensive research into post-war life in Pennsylvania and the Brutalism architectural movement, none of the events depicted happened in real life and László Tóth is not based on a real person – nor are any of the film's other figures, including Guy Pearce's Harrison Lee Van Buren.

Interestingly, there is a notable real person named László Tóth who would have been alive during the events of the film and also hails from Hungary, but that is where the similarities end.

The real Tóth is a geologist who was born in 1938 and later moved to Australia – and he is most famous for vandalising Michelangelo's Pietà statue in 1972 after claiming that he was Jesus Christ. He was later committed to a psychiatric hospital.

Speaking to USA Today, co-writer Mona Fastvold confirmed that the name similarity was merely a coincidence, and added: "László Tóth is like John Smith in Hungary – it’s one of the most common names. We’ve spent a lot of time in Hungary, so that name just felt good for a Hungarian character."

That said, Fastvold and Corbet did look at some real architects when crafting the character – including Paul Rudolph, Louis Kahn, and Marcel Breuer, the latter of whom was also Hungarian-Jewish (although he moved to the US before the war, not after.)

"There was a book called Marcel Breuer and a Committee of Twelve Plan a Church, and narratively, that was one of the biggest inspirations," Corbet has explained.

"It’s a pretty dry account of the struggles Breuer went through to realise Saint John’s Abbey in Minnesota, and there’s some inferences of the bigotry he faced. But just as it is in the movie, no one says the quiet part out loud."

Meanwhile, speaking in the film's press notes, Corbet explained how he felt that focusing on Brutalism allowed him to strike at a truth about the post-war mentality in the US.

"For us, post-war psychology and post-war architecture – including Brutalism – are linked, something we bring to life in the movie through the construction of the Institute, a manifestation of 30 years of trauma in László Toth, and the ramification of two World Wars," he explained.

"We found it poetic that the materials that were developed for life during the war were then incorporated into residences and corporate projects in the ‘50s and ‘60s by the likes of Marcel Breuer and Le Corbusier."

He added of post-war America: "It’s a time period that has always fascinated me, primarily in the way that post-war psychology had this extraordinary imprint and influence on post-war architecture."

The Brutalist is now showing in UK cinemas.

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