Beau is Afraid
Year: 2023
Director: Ari Aster
Starring: Joaquin Phoenix
Runtime: 179 mins
BBFC: 15
Published: 22/12/23
Director: Ari Aster
Starring: Joaquin Phoenix
Runtime: 179 mins
BBFC: 15
Published: 22/12/23
Ari Aster made an excellent first impression on Hollywood and audiences with Hereditary. It’s a brilliant film that manages to appeal to mainstream and art-house film nerds alike because of the way it handles its supernatural subject matter. Midsommar, Aster’s sophomore offering was a little more mixed in reception, alienating the mainstream audiences for a more meandering exploration of grief. It’s an excellent film and I remember walking out of the cinema a bit disturbed, but the three hour runtime was definitely a bit of a sticking point for a lot of people.
So now Aster delivers his third film, Beau is Afraid, and he’s gone even further down this art-house route by providing something that borderline nonsensical. A three hour endurance of seeing the world through the eyes of someone suffering from extreme paranoia and anxiety. It’s a rough trip, and it’s one that honestly I’m kind of glad I missed out on at the cinema because like Darren Aaronofsky’s Mother!, I’m just not sure it’s the kind of film I could have made it all the way through without having a panic attack in that kind of overwhelming environment. But I recently watched it on NowTV and whilst Indefinitely enjoyed Beau is Afraid, it’s without a doubt Aster’s weakest film yet.
Beau (Joaquin Phoenix) is afraid of pretty much everything. He lives in constant fear that he is going to die, either by the hands of the psychotically violent homeless people that populate his neighbourhood, or by any number of things inside his home, that he eats or drinks, or even if he has sex.
Beau learns of the sudden and unexpected death of his mother in a freak accident, and so he must journey to her home for the funeral. But as Beau encounters countless obstacles along the way, he must face his fears and take control of his own life.
So now Aster delivers his third film, Beau is Afraid, and he’s gone even further down this art-house route by providing something that borderline nonsensical. A three hour endurance of seeing the world through the eyes of someone suffering from extreme paranoia and anxiety. It’s a rough trip, and it’s one that honestly I’m kind of glad I missed out on at the cinema because like Darren Aaronofsky’s Mother!, I’m just not sure it’s the kind of film I could have made it all the way through without having a panic attack in that kind of overwhelming environment. But I recently watched it on NowTV and whilst Indefinitely enjoyed Beau is Afraid, it’s without a doubt Aster’s weakest film yet.
Beau (Joaquin Phoenix) is afraid of pretty much everything. He lives in constant fear that he is going to die, either by the hands of the psychotically violent homeless people that populate his neighbourhood, or by any number of things inside his home, that he eats or drinks, or even if he has sex.
Beau learns of the sudden and unexpected death of his mother in a freak accident, and so he must journey to her home for the funeral. But as Beau encounters countless obstacles along the way, he must face his fears and take control of his own life.
Let’s get this out of the way first thing. I didn’t fully understand Beau is Afraid, and that’s not a problem. In fact I quite like that I don’t fully understand it because honesty it’s made me think about the film so much in the run up to writing this review and the more I think about it the more I like what Aster was doing. I love it when a film doesn’t spoon feed you answers, and Beau gives you zero answers for anything you see, it’s all down to personal interpretation. But that’s also the films biggest flaw in a way because it’s all so ambiguous and outrageous that there’s nothing familiar to latch onto.
It’s ultimately an exploration of how damaged Beau has become from years of psychological torment and gaslighting from his mother, Mona (Patti LuPone). He’s been conditioned to believe that he’s always letting his mother down, and his greatest fear of all is disappointing her. So the whole journey of getting to her is just one giant psychological beating for Beau. He gets robbed, stabbed and run over, and becomes the subject of a manhunt, and all gems worried about is making it to the funeral on time because he doesn’t want to let his mother down.
The opening scene sets the tone rather well, as we bear witness to Beau’s birth from Beau’s perspective. It’s quite a shock once you realise what’s happening, and the film only gets weirder from there, did anyone say giant penis monster?
The point is that this is a full on experience, and a massive sensory overload all of the time. If you suffer from anxiety this might be one to skip.
It’s ultimately an exploration of how damaged Beau has become from years of psychological torment and gaslighting from his mother, Mona (Patti LuPone). He’s been conditioned to believe that he’s always letting his mother down, and his greatest fear of all is disappointing her. So the whole journey of getting to her is just one giant psychological beating for Beau. He gets robbed, stabbed and run over, and becomes the subject of a manhunt, and all gems worried about is making it to the funeral on time because he doesn’t want to let his mother down.
The opening scene sets the tone rather well, as we bear witness to Beau’s birth from Beau’s perspective. It’s quite a shock once you realise what’s happening, and the film only gets weirder from there, did anyone say giant penis monster?
The point is that this is a full on experience, and a massive sensory overload all of the time. If you suffer from anxiety this might be one to skip.
The runtime is once again a problem, because it really doesn’t need to be three hours long. Bay is Afraid can be split into four distinct parts, and all of them could be condensed significantly without really losing the effect of them, and one part could probably be removed entirely without losing too much. Part one concerns everything surrounding Beau’s apartment and this could be decently reduced. There’s a whole sequence where a neighbour keeps putting notes under Beau’s door that, as good as it is, really doesn’t need to be there. Part two sees Beau recovering from being stabbed and run over at the home of Grace (Amy Ryan) and Roger (Nathan Lane). There are a couple of sequences that could be reduced here, such as Beau’s car ride with their daughter Toni (Kylie Rogers). Part three is the forest commune and if I’m being brutally honest this could be cut entirely. I like what’s done here with the stage play but it doesn’t actually add an awful lot to the story in my eyes. Then part four is at Mona’s house. Once again there’s bits here that could be tightened, this is probably the section that needs the least cut from it but it Aster does like to linger on things for slightly too long at times and even that could shave a couple of minutes off.
For a film with a three hour runtime I honestly think Beau is Afraid could have been perfectly sufficient and had almost the same impact had it been under two hours. Whilst everything that’s here is good, a tighter runtime would have done wonders for the film.
Phoenix is great here, and his performance is exhausting in the best way. I’m physically tired watching this man tumble through this film, and he does a great job of escalating his level of panic as the film progresses. It always feels like he’s at breaking point, but then he pushes it just a bit further each time and it’s really great.
I also loved Rogers for the short screen-time she has. She made Toni a really memorable character to me and her story was one of the most impactful things about the film for me.
Pawel Pogorzelski’s cinematography makes the whole film feel like a stage production in the best possible way. It really accentuates the unreality of everything whilst also feeling grounded. It’s a delicate a balance to strike but he pulls it off masterfully.
It’s also weird enough to fit with the story quite well, and a number of visual gags keep you questioning how much of what we see is actually real, whilst also giving you that much needed release every now and again.
I read someone describe Beau is Afraid as Aster’s best and worst film, and I kind of have to agree with that. There’s so much great stuff here in Beau is Afraid, but there’s too much of it and it stops being quite as effective as a result. But it does feel like anxiety moulded into a film, and it’s a particular kind of terrifying as a result. But it’s also kind of funny, and it’s also very very weird. So yeah, Beau is Afraid is a whole lot of a lot of things, an almost all of which are good, but perhaps a little less of it next time Ari?
For a film with a three hour runtime I honestly think Beau is Afraid could have been perfectly sufficient and had almost the same impact had it been under two hours. Whilst everything that’s here is good, a tighter runtime would have done wonders for the film.
Phoenix is great here, and his performance is exhausting in the best way. I’m physically tired watching this man tumble through this film, and he does a great job of escalating his level of panic as the film progresses. It always feels like he’s at breaking point, but then he pushes it just a bit further each time and it’s really great.
I also loved Rogers for the short screen-time she has. She made Toni a really memorable character to me and her story was one of the most impactful things about the film for me.
Pawel Pogorzelski’s cinematography makes the whole film feel like a stage production in the best possible way. It really accentuates the unreality of everything whilst also feeling grounded. It’s a delicate a balance to strike but he pulls it off masterfully.
It’s also weird enough to fit with the story quite well, and a number of visual gags keep you questioning how much of what we see is actually real, whilst also giving you that much needed release every now and again.
I read someone describe Beau is Afraid as Aster’s best and worst film, and I kind of have to agree with that. There’s so much great stuff here in Beau is Afraid, but there’s too much of it and it stops being quite as effective as a result. But it does feel like anxiety moulded into a film, and it’s a particular kind of terrifying as a result. But it’s also kind of funny, and it’s also very very weird. So yeah, Beau is Afraid is a whole lot of a lot of things, an almost all of which are good, but perhaps a little less of it next time Ari?