"The Brutalist" and Its Real-Life Inspirations

What László Toth Owes Marcel Breuer, Erno Goldfinger and Tadao Ando

Marcel Breuer in his Wassily Chair/Getty Images

When I first heard of “The Brutalist”, I thought here’s a movie made for me. How could I not be excited, after decades as a Los Angeles architecture junkie? The great works of Rudolph Schindler, Richard Neutra, Frank Lloyd Wright, John Lautner, Paul Revere Williams, A. Quincy Jones, etc. are more than photographs, since I’ve been inside many of them. I also spent years writing a novel about a couple, both Los Angeles architects who, after meeting on a project, get married at the Schindler House. When the husband later embarks on an affair with a client, he falls in love at the Stahl House, a.k.a. Case Study House #22. Architecture has so defined my decades in Los Angeles that when I carved out the time—five hours, door-to-door— to see “The Brutalist”, I expected greatness.