I think there is much that is superfluous. How about the jarring but pretty Venice travelogue? (warning: spoilers ahead) I was impressed with all the performances and generally enthralled by the first half of The Brutalist, although the landscape and mansion that are supposed to be in the suburbs of Philadelphia never resemble anything there. But the second half! Is he only attracted to his wife after he shoots her up with heroin? And there is never any sign of Van Buren lusting after Laszlo prior to the rape.