Beau is Afraid  ★★★½

A COMMENT made by another patron at a Beau is Afraid cinema screening will probably sum up the viewing experience for many.

“What the fuck? I can’t decide whether that was pure genius or total bullshit.”

After a period of reflection, I’m currently leaning slightly towards pure genius for this latest film from Ari Aster, the director of Hereditary and Midsommar.

Beau is Afraid isn’t a horror film – it’s predominantly a black comedy/drama with fantasy and horror elements.

Throughout the almost three hour running time the viewer is left to determine exactly what parts of the film are real and not just happening in Beau’s mind.

I think the vast majority of the film is the former; making it a visual depiction of anxiety and madness fuelled by deep-seated guilt.

It also doesn’t help that Beau hasn’t taken his medication in the correct manner.

We meet Beau Wasserman at the very beginning – the moment when he comes out of the womb to the sounds of his mother’s screams and complaints.

We jump to the adult Beau at an appointment with his therapist who at one stage writes the word GUILTY on his notepad.

Beau lives alone in an apartment building in a run-down, chaotic neighbourhood. The building is owned by his rich and famous mother Mona whom he is planning to visit.

Beau and his mother have a complex relationship to say the least.

He grows up without a father, who his mother says died having an orgasm which is a hereditary medical condition that has been passed down to Beau. The young child has grown up thinking his existence is a result of his father’s death and, furthermore, having an orgasm will kill him.

Therefore having any deep relationship with a female other than his mother is not possible and, potentially, a punishment for the guilt that permeates his mind over his father’s death.

Beau is at the therapist to prepare mentally for a trip to see his mother on the anniversary of his father’s death. His therapist prescribes an experimental drug for his anxiety and warns him to only take it with water.

At the moment Beau plans to take the medication, he finds the water off in his apartment. The night before the trip he is kept awake by loud music which his neighbour claims Beau is playing, even though Beau is asleep in bed.

The next morning Beau sleeps through his alarm and then his luggage and the keys to his apartment are stolen. Then he discovers via a phone call that his mother has dies, her head crushed by a falling chandelier.

His frantic state of mind results in an altercation with a crazed killer in the street and being hit by a food truck.

From here things get crazier as Beau embarks on what becomes an epic journey to attend his mother’s funeral. Along the way he is nursed by a caring but almost threatening family, enters a cartoon world, is reunited with a childhood love, fights with a massive pair of testicles, confronted by his mother who may have not dies after all and put on trial for his perceived crimes.

Throughout, Aster keeps a strong rein on his material and peppers the audience with constant visual stimuli, but it’s the central performance by Joaquin Phoenix that truly holds both our attention and what’s happening on-screen together.

Phoenix is one of the greatest living actors and continues to take on risky and demanding roles in tough and uncompromising works. He really is a high-wire act.

Beau is Afraid is not what I expected, but it was a pleasant and challenging surprise. Despite the running time, I need to watch it again.