Beau is Afraid (2023 man being afraid film)

[Noodle Lizard]

I mean, the beginning couldn't really be real either. It's heightened from the very start. I don't think there's much to suggest that any of it's a dream/hallucination (except for the obvious bits), it's just a surreal film.

[Mister Six]

I'm sure I've got the wrong end of the stick but was this just a fever dream after he took some pills in the bath and died?

I think it's all just literally happening to him. At least, I hope it is. I find the need for there to be a rational/mundane explanation kind of boring, doubly so if it amounts to "it was all a dream".

[Armin Meiwes]

Yeah agreed, it's just a film set in a different reality - a reality where an extremely anxious man's worst fears keep coming to pass.

[JamesTC]

My reading was that the whole thing was a Truman-esque scenario. At him mother's house we are an advert for the housing estate he lives in at the beginning. The mother of the family he stays at tells him to stop incriminating himself because she knows he is being tested.

[checkoutgirl]

I think it's all just literally happening to him. At least, I hope it is. I find the need for there to be a rational/mundane explanation kind of boring, doubly so if it amounts to "it was all a dream".

What about the boat bit at the end. How did they set that up if it's really happening? Must have taken some effort organizing those hundreds of people to be there at just the right time. In a big room with massive screens and the place filled with water. That's practical.

Also he buys that figurine for a present and as he gets to the mother's house there's a 20 foot high version of the same figure opposite the front door. I thought that was an obvious hint that it's his imagination creating this world.

I mean there's too many bizarre things happening for it to be real. He's on an experimental drug and has mental issues. He sees a video on screen that shows his future by pressing fast forward! How could that really happen?

I agree it not being real makes it more mundane, and that's kind of the problem with it for me.

First hour was good though.

[Mister Six]

What about the boat bit at the end. How did they set that up if it's really happening? Must have taken some effort organizing those hundreds of people to be there at just the right time. In a big room with massive screens and the place filled with water. That's practical.

Called it:

It's not a film for people who ask "But WHY is Gregor Samsa an insect now?! How did that happen?! Why didn't he turn back to normal at the end?!"

It's really happening, and that's just how his world operates. Same way cats just talk in Murukami books and blood crawls around town in One Hundred Years of Solitude.

My reading was that the whole thing was a Truman-esque scenario. At him mother's house we are an advert for the housing estate he lives in at the beginning. The mother of the family he stays at tells him to stop incriminating himself because she knows he is being tested.

Yes, and you see the photos of Roger (Nathan Lane) and Grace (Amy Ryan) in among the employee portraits making up the logo or whatever it was that's posted up on the wall. But at the same time, it's all fantastical and impossible, even ignoring the giant penis-monster - how did Roger & Grace's television show Beau the future?

The film is an expression of the fear instilled in the minds of people with overbearing, neurotic parents that the world is unsafe, unreliable, not to be trusted, but at the same time everything that befalls them is their own fault. Even when they can recognise that it was their own parents that fucked them up, they're still held responsible for their own actions.

The logic of the film is sporadic and inconsistent (even if it's all a plan, how does Grace know to hit Beau at the exact right moment he was scared out of his apartment, menaced by a serial killer and chased by a cop?) by design. It's a rational world until it's not, and the only rules there are made to undermine Beau's agency and empowerment, so that he can be blamed for his lack of both.

And it's not a dream or Purgatory or anything like that - it's just what this world is. An entire universe designed to destroy a single hapless man, unless he can pass the tests that he is constitutionally incapable of tackling. Like I said before, I think it's a deliberate inversion/perversion of Joseph Campbell's Hero's Journey. And if you think about it in those metafictional terms, in a Hero's Journey tale the entire world of the story is designed to test the hero in ways he can overcome, and with each victory reward him and push him further towards apotheosis - the culmination of his character growth. But in Beau is Afraid, the world is designed to do the opposite; Beau has already reached his apotheosis and it's left him a nervous wreck. The tests he is given are ones he's incapable of surmounting because of what his mother did to his psyche as a child. And so he is punished, as the protagonist who fails, rather than lauded as the one who wins, even though in either case it's the story deciding what will happen, not the protagonist.

[JamesTC]

That is two A24 movies which end with huge genitalia.

[Claude the Racecar Driving Rockstar Super Sleuth]

A reality with completely amorphous rules is basically indistinguishable from fantasy anyway. The more interesting question is, "What does it all mean?".

I think there may have been some subtext to the scene in which a man fights a giant penis monster.

[Armin Meiwes]

Called it:

It's really happening, and that's just how his world operates. Same way cats just talk in Murukami books and blood crawls around town in One Hundred Years of Solitude.

Yes, and you see the photos of Roger (Nathan Lane) and Grace (Amy Ryan) in among the employee portraits making up the logo or whatever it was that's posted up on the wall. But at the same time, it's all fantastical and impossible, even ignoring the giant penis-monster - how did Roger & Grace's television show Beau the future?

The film is an expression of the fear instilled in the minds of people with overbearing, neurotic parents that the world is unsafe, unreliable, not to be trusted, but at the same time everything that befalls them is their own fault. Even when they can recognise that it was their own parents that fucked them up, they're still held responsible for their own actions.

The logic of the film is sporadic and inconsistent (even if it's all a plan, how does Grace know to hit Beau at the exact right moment he was scared out of his apartment, menaced by a serial killer and chased by a cop?) by design. It's a rational world until it's not, and the only rules there are made to undermine Beau's agency and empowerment, so that he can be blamed for his lack of both.

And it's not a dream or Purgatory or anything like that - it's just what this world is. An entire universe designed to destroy a single hapless man, unless he can pass the tests that he is constitutionally incapable of tackling. Like I said before, I think it's a deliberate inversion/perversion of Joseph Campbell's Hero's Journey. And if you think about it in those metafictional terms, in a Hero's Journey tale the entire world of the story is designed to test the hero in ways he can overcome, and with each victory reward him and push him further towards apotheosis - the culmination of his character growth. But in Beau is Afraid, the world is designed to do the opposite; Beau has already reached his apotheosis and it's left him a nervous wreck. The tests he is given are ones he's incapable of surmounting because of what his mother did to his psyche as a child. And so he is punished, as the protagonist who fails, rather than lauded as the one who wins, even though in either case it's the story deciding what will happen, not the protagonist.

Good explanation/description!

[JamesTC]

I think there may have been some subtext to the scene in which a man fights a giant penis monster.

Not sure about the man fighting it but I assumed the giant cock and bollocks monster was supposed to be a physical manifestation of the fear that his mother instils in him about any sexuality whatsoever.

[Mister Six]

I think there may have been some subtext to the scene in which a man fights a giant penis monster.

At the very least, I think the penis monster is a metaphor for the removal of both a male role model from Beau's life and him being brainwashed into terror at the thought of ever orgasming. A metaphorical castration that represents metaphorical castration. Not sure about the man fighting it - haven't thought about that scene in much depth. Might just have been a way to get Beau out of the house and write out the soldier character. :)

EDIT: Jinx!

Good explanation/description!

Cheers!

[Easy_To_Assemble]

Managed to catch this one yesterday. I liked it better than the headlines of middling reviews would suggest, adn it certainly has more to chew on than Hereditary and Midsommar, which serve their purpose once you know what happens.

Although, it seemed to be about something other than what I initially thought it was, the unreliable narrator bit is especially well done in this film. Notably the earlier part,

Spoiler alert

where i was convinced this was a film about paranoid schizophrenia, due to everyone seemingly targeting him in terrifying, irrational ways. Even if the film was only about that, it works fantastically, as we rarely see portrayals of mental illness done in the very unhinged, cartoonish, fragmented way it often plays out. We're constantly inundated with Directors feeding us "dark" imagery around mental illness, which usually just ends up being an Editor's jumpcut wankfest, and bears absolutely no relation to how it often plays out for sufferers

[close]

We later get glimpses that he may not actually be the innocent, blameless victim. But by that point, it's hard to take anything or anyone at face value.

I like the idea of all the film's references and ideas being plucked from Aster's own brain, but apparently, quite a bit of it is influenced by stuff like Oedipus, The Odyssey and suchlike (the suburban family are supposed to be directly referencing the Lotus Eaters).

Ultimately, I'm glad for films that take risks, even if it risks a convoluted, slightly grandstanding film. It's ultimately better than playing by the rules, and I find the accusations of pretension a bit lazy. Don't pretend you actually want a cinescape of beige Marvel movies

[beanheadmcginty]

Thought this was great. I love films where a load of mad shit happens and I don't necessarily know what the hell is going on. Predictable films where everything happens consistently and logically are nowhere near as much fun.
I really enjoyed noticing his giant bollocks in the early scene when he gets in the bath and assuming I'd just misidentified his knee or something, and then having it confirmed a fair bit later in the film. 

[Mobbd]

Saw this yesterday. I didn't know much about it going in (my fault) and it was a last-minute swerve on deciding that Inland Empire didn't fit my summer day mood after all. Something a bit more coherent like Midsommar or Hereditary would be fine! Jesus. The battering I got from this film. It literally gave me a nightmare.

On balance, I enjoyed it. Some great images. It's going to piss a lot of people off. Haha.

Didn't enjoy the final act with Cousin Andy. Bit too far yet a bit too Hollywood-obvious. Also, I thought he had finally killed his mother in the previous scene so I found it confusing in a way I did not with the other transitions between acts. (On that note, it was surprisingly narratively coherent once you accept the baseline Surrealism: it helped that additions to his body like the ankle bracelet and his changes of outfit and his facial scarring remained consistent and travelled with him).

The woodland scene felt like the least necessary part, which unfortunately contributed to the slight feeling of drag, but I was glad of the respite from so much shouting and unreasonable behaviour from everyone. The animation in the play-within-a-play was beautiful.

Toni and Jeeves were hilarious. The people on his crime-ridden street were just amazing, perhaps especially the tattooed guy who got Brown-Reclused.

What a fucking nightmare though. I still feel stressed out the next day.

Good stuff. 3.5 skulls.

[Mobbd]

My reading was that the whole thing was a Truman-esque scenario. At him mother's house we are an advert for the housing estate he lives in at the beginning. The mother of the family he stays at tells him to stop incriminating himself because she knows he is being tested.

I think that's right, yes. His mother has been pulling the strings all along. She controls him (and his brother) just as she has an iron grip of everything else in her life as an egotistical business leader.

It still might all just be in his head, I suppose, but I see him as the victim of an overbearing mother either way, whether she literally put him in that apartment building and gave him the therapist and then faked her own death as a way to get back at him for not visiting often enough OR if these events are paranoid fantasies resulting from a sort of Munchausen-by-Proxy abuse in early life. I see her as the villain one way or the other.

One of my favourite moments was "are you still so stupid not to get it yet? It wasn't a dream, it was a memory!" and seeing the brother with the dog bowl and a castaway beard.

[holyzombiejesus]

Just got back from seeing this and, hmmm, kind of wish I hadn't. I really enjoyed the first hour and would really like to see some decent photos of the signs and graffiti. I burst out laughing at that drawing of a man with a big arse and cock saying "cum!" that had been scrawled on his Beau's wall when the flat got trashed. (I realise that I may be appreciating the wrong aspects of the film by focusing on this...)
After that I felt it went downhill. Almost everything about it out me on edge. His injuries, his dirty clothes, the ever present feeling that the rug was going to be pulled again. I hate fever dream/ 'surreal' films, there's something about them that genuinely makes me want to back away. I'm also off work with anxiety at the moment and this made it much worse. I did laugh a fair bit though so not entirely grim.

Also, wasn't one of the logos/ production company names at the start, the same as his mum's company?

[holyzombiejesus]

Mark Kermode's review states

a joke about the soundtrack CD for Bette Midler's For the Boys is so niche as to be almost subatomic.

Can anyone explain the reference? It was the CD his mum complains that he gave her twice, wasn't it?

[Mobbd]

I burst out laughing at that drawing of a man with a big arse and cock saying "cum!"

Heh, I spotted that one too. Also the guy pissing (or cumming?) into his own mouth while saying "don't mind if I do!"

The "cum!" one slightly reminds me of one I used to see IRL in Wolverhampton. It just said "poo."

[hayduke_lives]

Mark Kermode's review states

Can anyone explain the reference? It was the CD his mum complains that he gave her twice, wasn't it?

Not fully, but this got a laugh out of my partner... apparently the actor playing the older version of Beau's mother is a Broadway legend, so there's something ridiculous about giving someone of that stature a Bette Midler CD. I don't know, subatomic seems about right!

[Captain Crunch]

I caved and went to see this on Monday.  The running time does take the piss but the first hour and a bit are amazing, exactly what I was after.

The street scenes at the start seem to be lifted from the kimgary type videos (cw, these are very upsetting films of skid row areas showing open drug use, filmed from a car):

https://www.youtube.com/@kimgary2051

I imagine you would love this film if you like looking for nods and references.  I got the Lynch / Wizard of Oz / Rocky Horror (obviously) ones but they're all very obvious, there must be a lot more in there.  I was lucky to see it in an empty cineworld, seeing it in a full tofuplex with all the 'experts' nodding and chuckling and hmmmming must be unbearable. 

[Captain Crunch]

Also I was surprised to recognise the woman from poverty porn smash I, Daniel Blake, she must have a very memorable face. 

[Oh, Nobody]

Saw this absolute belter yesterday and didn't even fall asleep. First act is basically perfect, get this man on a Judge Dredd movie.

I like that act two is just Beau visiting a Todd Solondz movie.

Spoiler alert

Genuinely thought they were setting up him blowing Parker Posey's head off with a massive cum blast but I haven't seen anybody mention that online so maybe it's just me.

[close]

Great bonus joke at the end of the credits.

[Claude the Racecar Driving Rockstar Super Sleuth]

Great bonus joke at the end of the credits.

We naffed off before that. What happens?

[Oh, Nobody]

We naffed off before that. What happens?

Oh it's not an extra scene or anything. The production company for the movie is called 'Mommy Knows Best LLC'

[chocky909]

This is 'available'.

[selectivememory]

Just watched this and fucking loved it. The surreal and unsettling world of the film was beautifully realised. It had such a distinctive feel to it, and it never felt like he was just flinging random shit at the wall.

The bit where he found himself acting out a life in the play-within-a-play was stunning stuff I thought, especially visually. Very Kaufmanesque, which is a good thing in my book if it's done well. Actually, I felt the whole thing was clearly influenced by Kaufman, though with much less emphasis on dialogue than one of his films. And maybe more stylistically than thematically.

I think it ran out of steam a little in the final act. The idea of the show trial was funny, but I felt like he didn't quite know how to end it.

But still, overall, very funny and disturbing. Four and a half bags of popcorn and a little tin of paint to wash it down with.

[chocky909]

Wow, what an experience. I was wary about how an almost completely symbolic film would fare given how totally Mother! failed once you realised there were no real stakes. Beau is infinitely more successful because it is divided into sections that play out traditionally with threat, escape, protagonist, enemy etc which Mother! did not.

I'll have to have a few days to think but i reckon this will be even more rewatchable than Hereditary and Midsommar. Very happy it isn't a total shitshow. I was fearing Southland Tales bad...

[Cuntbeaks]

As a previous poster commented,I also thought he died at the beginning and it was all simply his dying brain's last moments.

It was basically a series of hallucinogenic vignettes and it reminded me a great deal of Head, which is no bad thing.

[SteveDave]

Due to being a tired old man, I'm having to watch this in two parts. So last night we watched up until the play he watches of his life when he turns into an old man. So far I'm enjoying it but not loving it. It all feels a bit like an indulgent cut 'n' shut.

I'm sure it'll be like "Uncut Gems" though and I'll regret not watching it all in one go.

[Sebastian Cobb]

Also I was surprised to recognise the woman from poverty porn smash I, Daniel Blake, she must have a very memorable face. 

I like how her trajectory is from a grim Loach film, to Strickland's in Fabric, to this. I hope she keeps it weird.

Although I did enjoy seeing her crop up, I think I could've done without the whole play section tbh, it's when I first felt it dragging a bit.