The Brutalist Is So Long That It Includes a 15-Minute Intermission. To the Director’s Surprise, People Love It

Three and a half hours divided into two by a necessary and meaningful intermission.

The Brutalist and its 15 minutes intermission
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John Tones

Writer

I've been writing about culture for twenty-something years and, at Xataka, I cover everything related to movies, video games, TV shows, comics and pop culture. LinkedIn

Ever since people started talking about The Brutalist, Brady Corbet’s 10-time Oscar-nominated film and a favorite to top best-of-the-year lists, all the chronicles and reviews have emphasized its unusual length of three and a half hours. Even more unusual is the decision to show it in two parts, separated by a 15-minute intermission.

Was the intermission necessary? According to Corbet and co-writer Mona Fastvold, yes. In an interview with IndieWire, they said, “It was always scripted, the intermission. It’s funny, it’s gotten more attention in a way than we expected it to. I personally have a hard time sitting still for three-and-a-half hours, so I needed it. And it was a public-facing decision.” They added: “You know, people sit at home and they watch eight to 16 hours of a limited series with little breaks in between, so if you apply that idea to this film, you’re just binging this movie with a little break in the middle. So, don’t be scared of the intermission.”

Movies are getting longer. These days, there’s a popular calculation to maximize leisure time, evaluating the profitability of cultural works: the longer they are, the more value we place on our time. In the video game industry, the number of hours it takes to complete a game has long been a published detail before release. Movies and TV shows are also getting longer, ensuring that viewers can invest a good part of their day—or the whole day—in devouring a story. In that context, movies like Wicked (160 minutes), The Batman (176), Oppenheimer (180), and Avengers: Endgame (182) are becoming less extraordinary in terms of length. However, none of them include an intermission. Of course, none of them run for 215 minutes.

Intermissions used to exist, but you may not remember them. Decades ago, movie theaters used to pause films multiple times—changing the reel in the projector required a break, which was eliminated with projectors that didn’t need stopping. With the advent of digital cinema, the characteristic flicker in the image and sound that old-timers associated with analog film also disappeared. In other words, the intermission in The Brutalist is technically unnecessary (except for bathroom breaks and stretching, which are no small matters). Yet, the director chose to include it. Again, The Brutalist feels like a movie from another era.

An intelligent break. The interesting thing about The Brutalist is that its intermission is not an arbitrary cut, like those in older films when reels ran out, or in some theaters screening Killers of the Flower Moon (206 minutes) where breaks were inserted for convenience. This thoughtful intermission divides the film into two distinct parts that differ in tone and style. The first half is one thing; after the intermission, it transforms. The break helps the audience prepare for this shift and reinforces the film’s operatic quality—after all, theater and opera still incorporate intermissions.

Everybody loves an intermission. This seemingly minor aesthetic choice has become one of the film’s most celebrated aspects. It is said to reclaim cinema as a total experience, encouraging viewers to reflect on what they’ve seen, discuss expectations for what remains, and engage with the film as more than just passive consumers. Along with its embrace of large formats and its classical yet exquisite style, The Brutalist has become an admirable work and a feast for cinephiles.

Image | A24

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