Brady Cobert’s period drama, The Brutalist, makes a number of interesting choices, including its unusual structure. In the two months since its release at the end of 2024, The Brutalist has earned an incredible 97% on Rotten Tomatoes. Other reviews of The Brutalist agree that everything, from the cinematography to the score to the performances, carried forward the film’s drama and themes. Indeed, Adrien Brody has already been nominated for an Oscar for his powerful performance as László Tóth, and The Brutalist itself has a “Best Picture” Oscar nomination.

One potential hurdle for viewers of The Brutalist, however, is its runtime. Clocking in at just over three and a half hours, The Brutalist easily has the longest runtime of any 2024 movie. To break things up, there is an intermission between the film’s two acts, “Part 1: The Enigma of Arrival” and “Part Two: The Hard Core of Beauty.” Adding together the two acts, the intermission, and opening previews, theatergoers can easily expect to spend up to four hours in the theater. Nevertheless, the pacing and tension of The Brutalist mean that it more than earns its runtime.

The Brutalist’s Two Acts Are Each Roughly 100 Minutes Long

They Are Broken Into Two Parts And An Epilogue

Each part of The Brutalist is as long as a feature film in their own right. The total runtime of The Brutalist is 215 minutes. With a 15-minute intermission placed approximately in the middle of the film, each act of The Brutalist is roughly 100 minutes long, or an hour and 40 minutes.

“Part 1: The Enigma of Arrival” tells the story of the first six years László spends in America. It establishes his connection, or lack thereof, to family, introduces László to his friend Gordon (Isaach De Bankolé) and heroin, and reveals the start of László’s relationship with Harrison Van Buren (Guy Pearce). The first act is dominated by tension surrounding László’s wife Erzsébet (Felicity Jones) and niece Zsófia (Raffey Cᴀssidy) who are stuck in Hungary. Although tense, “Part 1” ultimately ends on a high note, and if “Part One” was a stand-alone movie, it would seem to have a happy ending.

Then “Part Two: The Hard Core of Beauty” comes crashing in. In “Part 2” the darkest scenes of The Brutalist occur, and almost everything that seemed good and successful in “Part 1” comes apart. By separating the two acts, The Brutalist highlights how quickly the American dream can come unraveled. There is, however, a third part to The Brutalist, “Epilogue: The First Architecture Biennale.” The epilogue completely reframes everything that came before it, and the narrative and theming of The Brutalist would not be complete without it. The epilogue also means that “Part Two” is slightly shorter than “Part One.”

The Brutalist’s Intermission Is 15 Minutes Long

The Perfect Amount Of Time To Stretch And Reflect

Since the two acts of The Brutalist are so long, the 15-minute intermission is both necessary and compelling. It comes just as Erzsébet finds documentation to bring her and Zsófia to the United States: a pH๏τograph of her and László’s wedding. During “Intermission,” the pH๏τograph and a countdown dominate the screen, encouraging audiences to meditate on what happiness looks like for the Tóths. It also gives audiences a chance to stretch and refresh themselves before settling in to “Part 2” of The Brutalist, where viewers and László alike must reevaluate “Part One’s” status quo.