Beau Is Afraid is the third film from director Ari Aster. Since his debut in 2018 with the film Hereditary, his name began to trend in the industry. Aster has managed to imbue his narrative with a very particular style that has established him as a reference in horror cinema. A short but shocking and disturbing filmography is what has come out of the mind of the New York filmmaker. From the conception of the script to the staging to take it to the big screen, Aster leaves his mark in every step of the process.

It might seem risky to say that Beau Is Afraid is the most disturbing proposal Ari Aster has presented to us. If you know him, you will know that it is difficult to erase from memory sequences such as the one with the car in Hereditary (2018) or the one with the summer ritual in Midsommar (2019). Something had to warn us that the trip would be intense, but we still could not be prepared for the adventure of that Beau who embodies Joaquin Phoenix. Aster’s script plunges us into the life of a man who is facing a deep anxiety crisis and who must take a journey that will lead him to face his deepest fears. That trip becomes an allegory and Beau’s universe becomes a nightmare that seems to come out of a Kafka novel.

Another nightmare from Aster

Reality and fantasy are mixed, and the dreamlike tone prevails from beginning to end. Those almost three hours of footage are given to us as a fascinating delirium that scares us but intrigues us and we want more until we know its outcome. It is a bad dream from which we do not want to wake up. The story has multiple layers that we are lifting and uncovering as this Beau goes deeper and deeper into his odyssey. From the outset, we have the anxiety and fear that control our protagonist’s actions, but the issue of the mother-son relationship is also addressed as a thorn that immobilizes Beau. Overprotection, manipulation, and even extortion are projected from that mother figure who becomes a circumstantial antagonist.

Beau Is Afraid is a complex analysis of human behavior. Aster makes us walk through a minefield and arouses us with every step we take, disorients us, and tempts us to go down paths that we are not sure we want to travel. Like Beau, we want to know the origin of evil, but we’re afraid to go up to that attic that hides all the terrifying secrets from the past but may hold the answer we’re looking for. Returning to the mother’s house, which gives life but demands it, returning to pain to find relief. In the end, confront the mother and place all the blame on her.

Aster drags us into his most whimsical adventure, and he does it in the tone that has characterized him. With each turn, it disturbs us and takes us out of our comfort zone. Here he prepares a paradise for those who study human behavior to feast on analysis and gives us moviegoers a work that supports analysis from various points of view. Wonderful cinematography by his faithful collaborator Pawel Pogorzelski and impeccable editing by Lucian Johnston, another who has been with the director from the beginning.