Nerdly » ‘Beau Is Afraid’ Review

18th May2023

‘Beau Is Afraid’ Review

by Matthew Turner

Stars: Joaquin Phoenix, Patti LuPone, Amy Ryan, Nathan Lane, Kylie Rogers, Denis Ménochet, Parker Posey, Zoe Lister Jones, Armen Nahapetian, Julia Antonelli, Stephen McKinley Henderson, Richard Kind, Hayley Squires | Written and Directed by Ari Aster

Beau Is Afraid is the third film from writer-director Ari Aster, following his devastating one-two punch of Hereditary and Midsommar. As such, it’s certain to confound expectations, a surreal odyssey that comes across more like a Charlie Kaufman movie rather than a straight-up horror, though it’s frequently unsettling and has some truly unforgettable moments.

Joaquin Phoenix plays Beau Wassermann, an anxiety-ridden paranoiac who lives in an urban hellscape, where all manner of atrocities unfold on his doorstep at any given moment. When he’s guilted into visiting his mother, Mona (Patti LuPone) on the anniversary of his father’s death, Beau stumbles from one disaster to another, as he misses his flight and has to make his way across the country as best he can.

Along the way, Beau has a series of strange encounters, from the smiley couple (Amy Ryan and Nathan Lane) who seemingly adopt him after hitting him with their camper-van, to a commune of theatrical types (including Britain’s own Hayley Squires) staging an oddly familiar play in the middle of a forest. Meanwhile, Beau is haunted by traumatic flashbacks, forcing him to come to terms with his relationship with his mother (Zoe Lister-Jones as young Mona), and is unprepared for a surprise reunion with a girl he once loved (Parker Posey).

It’s apparent from the outset that Beau Is Afraid is a deeply personal film for the writer-director, with Aster clearly working out some deep-seated issues. To that end, the film closely resembles Charlie Kaufman’s I’m Thinking of Ending Things, a similarly surreal stumble through the writer-director’s subconscious.

The film’s most impressive aspect is its pervasive atmosphere of dread – you can practically feel the anxiety and paranoia seeping into your skin. Beau, as it turns out, is afraid of several things and many of them will be entirely relatable, whether it’s violent neighbours, spiders in the bathroom, ongoing health issues or repressed childhood traumas.

The linear structure and epic length of the film inevitably mean there are hits and misses, but when it works, it really works. Highlights include the nightmarish first hour, with Beau dealing with everyday life in his apartment from hell; a truly great sex scene that doesn’t go where you expect; and perhaps the film’s best moment, the reveal of a jaw-dropping (and hilarious) monster in the attic, the details of which are too good to spoil here.

Beau Is Afraid is also darkly funny throughout, whether it’s uncomfortable laughter at the jet-black WTF-ness of it all, or a handful of blink-and-you-miss-it visual gags, the best of which is the laugh-out-loud name of a ready meal. Similarly, Aster has a good sense of the absurd, with the story progressing according to surreal, Kafkaesque dream logic, a nightmare that Beau can’t escape.

The performances are great too. Phoenix is great at deadpan bewilderment and that’s pretty much his default position here, with occasional forays into outright panic (and full frontal nudity). Similarly, Lupone and Lister-Jones are deeply chilling as Beau’s mother, while Parker Posey puts in a pitch-perfect three scene cameo as Beau’s lost love, Elaine and there’s terrifying support from Denis Menochet as a PTSD-addled soldier who takes a psychotic dislike to Beau.

The film’s biggest problem is the disappointing final act – it lacks a strong ending and essentially ends on an “Is that it?” moment that lasts the length of the closing credits and has zero dramatic impact. It’s also fair to say that it doesn’t need to be three hours long, and frequently feels like an over-indulgent endurance test, especially in the closing section.

In short, Beau Is Afraid won’t be to everyone’s tastes and is certain to both divide audiences and test the loyalty of Aster’s existing fan base. However, it’s worth seeing for its sheer, unadulterated weirdness and you kind of have to respect Aster for taking that big a swing in the first place.