Society is literally crumbling at the start of Beau is Afraid. Then, the outside world comes crashing in and, suddenly, Beau seems like the only sane person on the planet.Īlso Read: ‘Beau Is Afraid’ Is Ari Aster At His Funniest And Most Neurotic In the false comfort of his therapist’s office, Beau just seems like a paranoid loser who may or may not want to kill his Mom. Fast forward to adult life, and Beau’s therapist prescribes a new experimental drug that may help to quell his endless internal suffering. From the opening shot where Beau is born, his life has been one, giant failed experiment. That’s how Beau feels each day, every day, from the womb to the tomb.Įssentially, Beau is trying to combat all that misery in order to get back to his mother, Mona Wasserman (played by Zoe Lister-Jones in flashback and Patti Lupone in the present day) to feel the same tranquility he felt before he came into the world. If your deepest, darkest fears came true and were then reflected back to you in the real world, there is no respite or escape. If Hereditary is about the pain a family can inflict on each other and Midsommar is a breakup movie disguised as folk horror, Beau is Afraid is about those unspeakable, deep-seated fears that end up bubbling up to the surface. As a whole, however, Aster’s latest is the most disturbing thing he’s ever made, largely because this is his most immersive and personal film to date. Hereditary and Midsommar have much scarier scenes than any one moment in Beau is Afraid.

Also Read: ‘Beau Is Afraid’ Runs On Pepto Bismol: A Conversation With Ari Aster and Joaquin Phoenix

That’s the cracked foundation that the character of Beau Wasserman is standing on, and the viewer has no choice but to live vicariously through someone who acts like a receptor for all things horrible. Beau is Afraid doesn’t really fit into one particular category, making it feel unpredictably queasy and bewildering.

Then, the horror elements weave their way in to deliver scares that still feel somewhat familiar. Both films are distinct and visionary in their own ways, but they stand on solid, mostly recognizable ground. With Hereditary and Midsommar, demonic possessions and psychedelic paganism took center stage, giving genre fans something a little more concrete to sink their teeth into.

Twisted Tales by Bruce Jones