Giving Birth to Fascism

The Childhood of a Leader (2015)

In Brady Corbet’s The Childhood of a Leader, a boy grows up in troubled in troubled times in a troubled household. His father, a United States diplomat is with the mission to secure an end to World War 1, while his German-born mother languishes at home. He eventually transforms into a fascist dictator.

What is remarkable about Brady Corbet’s debut feature is his assured, confident style. Together with cinematographer Lol Crawley, Corbet paints his film with somber hues, extricating color and emotion from each frame. Likewise, Corbet’s mise en scene removes all amount of love or affection for the child. The house, wretched and ruined as it is, mirrors the barren emotional landscape of the family.

The characters are sad, lonely creatures, suffering in their own internal worlds. The father is concerned only about work. The mother, about beauty and religion. Both are devoid of love and affection. The only exception is Mona, Prescott’s dutiful and doting maid who serves as his mother figure throughout the film. She, too, is removed from his life.

Sexuality is front and center of the whole debacle that is Prescott’s childhood. Prescott discovers that his father is having an affair with his tutor, and we later realize that he is the biological son of Chris Marker (Rober Pattinson), a family friend. The mother and the father are as emotionally detached as two pieces of wood.

Prescott’s sexual curiosity is piqued when he views his tutor’s figure through her sheer blouse. He latches on to it and touches her without her permission. Religion has taught him that apologizing will make it all better, and he does.

He is frequently mistaken for a girl, with his flowing locks and androgynous frame. In church, a woman calls him so, and he later wretches in his room.

At the end of the film, we see his head, clean and shaven, as he finally obtains adoration.