Beau is Afraid (2023 man being afraid film)

[Timothy]

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.

Best part of the film imo! I loved that.

[purlieu]

Watched this tonight. Main take away from it: The Wall as written by Franz Kafka.

I really enjoyed the first half. It was possibly the best portrayal of anxiety I've ever seen on screen, the way he's constantly terrified of everybody and everything, but it's never obvious quite how much of that is justified and how much is in his head. I thought it was really gripping and unnerving.

The second half disappointed me. It certainly wasn't bad in any way, but from the theatre onwards it began to be very overtly about the parent issues subtext, and I just felt it was... I don't want to say obvious, but maybe less strikingly original? I preferred when that was merely a part of the tapestry of Beau's anxiety rather than focused on as the source of it. That's more down to what I want from a film than a criticism of it, though.

Sort of surprised to see people trying to justify it with dream / hallucination stuff - it's quite clearly surrealist, there can't be realistic explanations for any of it.

[Mobbd]

I really enjoyed the first half. It was possibly the best portrayal of anxiety I've ever seen on screen, the way he's constantly terrified of everybody and everything, but it's never obvious quite how much of that is justified and how much is in his head. I thought it was really gripping and unnerving.

This is the conclusion I've been drifting to, months after seeing it. That stuff is really good and it still plays on my mind.

[Capt.Midnight]

I was dubious going in, but I enjoyed this more than I expected. The second half (after the theatre) was where it really dragged for me. The actual theatre section I really enjoyed for the cosy yet unnerving dreamlike ambience.

[chocolate teapot]

I love it. It feels like alice in wonderland, wizard of oz for adults and adult fears.

[holyzombiejesus]

Anyone else seen this? (Apologies for shitty Independent link.)

https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/films/news/beau-is-afraid-explained-ari-aster-b2435846.html

[Noodle Lizard]

Anyone else seen this? (Apologies for shitty Independent link.)

https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/films/news/beau-is-afraid-explained-ari-aster-b2435846.html

(here's the full interview: https://www.vanityfair.com/hollywood/2023/10/ari-aster-beau-is-afraid-postmortem-reaction-awards-insider)

Yes, it came off as a bit precious, as if Aster's annoyed that audiences didn't find the film as brilliant as he did. If acknowledging its genius relies on noticing stuff that's so hidden that "nobody" has managed to find it, that's probably his fault at the end of the day. There are plenty of films with hidden depth, but they have to be intriguing enough on the surface to make people want to explore deeper.

I wasn't a fan of the film myself, but I know some of you were. Did any of you discover this secret story he's talking about which reframes the film in a way which makes it better? The example he gave makes it sound like the same sort of Easter Eggs he put into Hereditary and Midsommar, which are fun touches but hardly revelatory.

[holyzombiejesus]

If acknowledging its genius relies on noticing stuff that's so hidden that "nobody" has managed to find it, that's probably his fault at the end of the day.

Yep, that's exactly what I was thinking.

[ASFTSN]

Watched this last night, I really enjoyed it, especially but (not only) the first half. Definitely earns its place alongside other good 'hand-wringing big-budget existentialist surrealism films' like Anomalisa, Synechdoche, Being John Malkovich. I actually thought the long running time was good, the feeling of never having any idea what comes next being allowed to stretch out like that.

Why did Jeeves and the dead son both serve in 'Caracas'? Was that some hint at an alt-history conflict thing?

[PlanktonSideburns]

Love the idea of noticing something, rewinding, press pause, look at a painting on a wall way off in the background

Hang on.... this film isn't shit at all!!

[phantom_power]

I wasn't expecting this to be as funny as it was. Just little things like the picture of Beau's grandmother on the wall near the end. Lots of funny little touches like that.

It reminded me a lot of Mother, surreal and allegorical. I am not great at deciphering those sorts of films but I loved the imagery and the sense of anxiety and dread the film instilled in me. My reading was that it was about how you can catastrophise the future and it can end up a self-fulfilling prophecy, and then that concept is taken to a ridiculous extreme. Also how if you go about life so timid that you can't make a decision without fear of offending or hurting anyone, all you are really doing is being selfish and passing those decisions onto someone else. Something about trauma handed down through the generations as well

[convulsivespace]

I thought this was brilliant and agree that it was much funnier than expected. The first hour or so in particular was even funnier than the best Charlie Kaufman in my opinion.

My interpretation that makes the movie easier to follow is that:

Spoiler alert

The entire movie essentially takes place in a fantasy world where all of Beau's worst-case anxiety scenarios actually become reality in a cascading chain of events. He's unwillingly forming reality moment by moment. Everything that could possibly go wrong with his building/neighbourhood does. He's taken in by a nice family but immediately starts worrying that he is offending the daughter, that he is imposing and replacing their son, that they are secretly holding him captive or manipulating him in some way. The play momentarily suggests a path toward happiness where he breaks his chains and lives a normal life, but even his fantasy is quickly ruined by an improbable chain of disasters and the realization that he can't have a normal family life because of his anxiety about dying during sex. The only moments in the film that are siloed off are his memories of falling in love as a kid, but when his anxiety mind materializes Parker Posey it leads to the worst-case scenario of her dying during sex. And what's worse than the love of your life dying during sex on the day of your mother's funeral? Actually, your mother was alive all along and watching you have sex on her bed on the day of her funeral. And actually she has been monitoring every grievance you've ever had about her to your therapist. And actually your recurring anxiety dream was not a dream but a real memory. And actually your mother and crowds of people have been recording every shameful moment you've ever had.

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Spoiler alert

I think the movie's more about anxiety writ large than a particular mother-son relationship, because we never get an objective portrait of the mother, just a worst-case scenario reflecting Beau's subjective anxieties about his mother being domineering or not loving him.

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