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Beau [[Hitchhiking|hitchhikes]] the rest of his way to the estate, only to find that he had just missed his mother's funeral. He naps on the couch and wakes up to the sound of a woman entering the house, late for the service. He realizes it is Elaine and they reconnect. They make their way to Mona's bedroom and passionately make love. Beau is terrified that he's going to die the second he ejaculates, but is relieved when he survives. However, Elaine has died mid-climax, her body [[Rigor mortis|frozen stiff]]. Mona then appears from the shadows and reveals that she was not only still alive but watching the whole time. She shames Beau and tells him that his therapist works for her and has been sharing their sessions with her for years. He demands to know the truth about his father and she takes him to the attic, where Beau learns that he not only has a secret twin brother, but his father is actually a giant [[Phallus|penis-shaped]] monster. Searching for Beau, Jeeves breaks into the house but is killed by the monster. After further humiliation from his mother, an enraged Beau strangles her.
Beau [[Hitchhiking|hitchhikes]] the rest of his way to the estate, only to find that he had just missed his mother's funeral. He naps on the couch and wakes up to the sound of a woman entering the house, late for the service. He realizes it is Elaine and they reconnect. They make their way to Mona's bedroom and passionately make love. Beau is terrified that he's going to die the second he ejaculates, but is relieved when he survives. However, Elaine has died mid-climax, her body [[Rigor mortis|frozen stiff]]. Mona then appears from the shadows and reveals that she was not only still alive but watching the whole time. She shames Beau and tells him that his therapist works for her and has been sharing their sessions with her for years. He demands to know the truth about his father and she takes him to the attic, where Beau learns that he not only has a secret twin brother, but his father is actually a giant [[Phallus|penis-shaped]] monster. Searching for Beau, Jeeves breaks into the house but is killed by the monster. After further humiliation from his mother, an enraged Beau strangles her.


Beau then leaves the estate and finds a [[motorboat]] on a beach, commandeering it into the sea and begins to drive it into a cave. The boat's motor begins to sputter and malfunction. It is revealed that he is inside a pool within a crowded [[arena]]. Beau is put on trial with Mona and Dr. Cohen acting as prosecutors while a defense attorney advocates for Beau. Video evidence of every time he has slighted his mother is broadcast on a [[jumbotron]] and it is revealed that Beau’s life has been filmed without his knowledge as a test. Beau’s attorney is murdered by one of Mona's henchmen, leaving Beau to fend for himself. Beau attempts to appeal to his mother one last time, but accepts his fate when she does not respond. The boat finally explodes, and Beau drowns to death. Mona and Dr. Cohen shake hands and leave the arena with the crowd.
Beau then leaves the estate and finds a [[motorboat]] on a beach, commandeering it into the sea and begins to drive it into a cave. The boat's motor begins to sputter and malfunction. It is revealed that he is inside a pool within a crowded [[arena]]. Beau is put on trial with Mona and Dr. Cohen acting as prosecutors while a defense attorney advocates for Beau. Video evidence of every time he has slighted his mother is broadcast on a [[jumbotron]] and it is revealed that Beau’s life has been filmed without his knowledge as a test. Beau’s attorney is murdered by one of Mona's henchmen, leaving Beau to fend for himself. Beau attempts to appeal to his mother one last time, but accepts his fate when she does not respond. The boat finally explodes, and Beau drowns to death. Mona and Dr. Cohen shake hands and leave the arena with the crowd. The shot lingers on the capsized boat in front of the now empty arena as the credits roll.


==Cast==
==Cast==

Revision as of 19:28, 21 April 2023

Beau Is Afraid
Theatrical release poster
Directed byAri Aster
Written byAri Aster
Produced by
Starring
CinematographyPawel Pogorzelski
Edited byLucian Johnston
Music byBobby Krlic
Production
companies
Distributed byA24
Release dates
Running time
179 minutes[1]
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish
Budget$35 million[2]
Box office$320,396[3]

Beau Is Afraid is a 2023 American surrealist black comedy horror film[4] written, directed, and co-produced by Ari Aster. The film stars Joaquin Phoenix as the title character, Beau Wassermann, a mild-mannered but paranoia-ridden man who embarks on a surreal odyssey to get home to his mother,[5] confronting his greatest fears along the way. The film includes a supporting ensemble cast of Patti LuPone, Nathan Lane, Amy Ryan, Kylie Rogers, Parker Posey, Stephen McKinley Henderson, Hayley Squires, Michael Gandolfini, Zoe Lister-Jones, and Richard Kind.

Beau Is Afraid was co-produced and distributed by A24, and premiered at the Alamo Drafthouse Cinema on April 1, 2023. It began a limited theatrical release in the United States on April 14, 2023, before a wide release the following week. The film received generally positive reviews from critics.

Plot

Beau Wassermann is the son of a famous and wealthy businesswoman, Mona. He grows up without a father, who his mother says died during an orgasm (which was also when Beau was conceived), a hereditary medical condition that she claims was passed down to Beau. As a teenager, Beau meets and falls in love with a girl named Elaine. The two kiss and Beau promises to remain a virgin until they meet again as adults.

As an adult, Beau is extremely anxious and living alone in a crime-ridden city. His therapist prescribes an experimental drug for his anxiety and warns him to only take it with water. He prepares for a flight to see his mother for his parents' wedding anniversary. After being kept awake through the night due to a neighbor playing loud music through the walls, Beau sleeps through his alarm. After hastily packing, he discovers that his keys and luggage have been stolen from his door. Beau calls his mother to explain the situation, but she dismisses him.

Beau takes his medication, but panics when he discovers there's a water outage. On his way to a convenience store across the street, he evades a group of deranged homeless people who break into his apartment and lock him out. After sleeping on scaffolding outside the building, Beau returns to his vandalized apartment the next morning. He attempts to call his mother, only to have it answered by a postal worker who describes finding a decapitated woman. Beau is soon told it is his mother. In a state of shock, he tries to take a bath and discovers an intruder hiding in the ceiling. The intruder falls and Beau runs naked out of his apartment and onto the streets. After a brief confrontation with a police officer, Beau is hit by a truck.

Beau wakes up two days later in the house of a married couple, Grace and Roger. They care for an unstable veteran named Jeeves, who was their son's army comrade before he was killed in action. The couple have an angsty, teenage daughter named Toni who instantly despises Beau. Beau calls Mona's attorney, Dr. Cohen, who chastises him and informs Beau that her last wish was not to be buried until he is present. Roger promises to take Beau to his mother's estate as soon as possible, but insists he rest until he's healed. On the day Beau is supposed to leave, Toni takes Beau to her brother's old room and attempts to force him to paint the walls in different colors. When he refuses, she ruthlessly berates Beau and drinks out of a paint bucket, killing herself. Grace walks in on Beau standing over Toni's body and violently blames him for her death. Beau flees into the woods and Grace sends Jeeves after him.

Lost in the wilderness, Beau comes upon a group of traveling theatre actors called "The Orphans of the Forest". He is invited to the rehearsal and becomes entranced by the play, imagining himself as the protagonist in a lengthy animated sequence that illustrates an alternate life path that parallels his own. A man approaches Beau and informs him that he knew his father and that he's alive. The troupe is ambushed by Jeeves, slaughtering several actors in the process. Beau evades Jeeves and flees deeper into the forest.

Beau hitchhikes the rest of his way to the estate, only to find that he had just missed his mother's funeral. He naps on the couch and wakes up to the sound of a woman entering the house, late for the service. He realizes it is Elaine and they reconnect. They make their way to Mona's bedroom and passionately make love. Beau is terrified that he's going to die the second he ejaculates, but is relieved when he survives. However, Elaine has died mid-climax, her body frozen stiff. Mona then appears from the shadows and reveals that she was not only still alive but watching the whole time. She shames Beau and tells him that his therapist works for her and has been sharing their sessions with her for years. He demands to know the truth about his father and she takes him to the attic, where Beau learns that he not only has a secret twin brother, but his father is actually a giant penis-shaped monster. Searching for Beau, Jeeves breaks into the house but is killed by the monster. After further humiliation from his mother, an enraged Beau strangles her.

Beau then leaves the estate and finds a motorboat on a beach, commandeering it into the sea and begins to drive it into a cave. The boat's motor begins to sputter and malfunction. It is revealed that he is inside a pool within a crowded arena. Beau is put on trial with Mona and Dr. Cohen acting as prosecutors while a defense attorney advocates for Beau. Video evidence of every time he has slighted his mother is broadcast on a jumbotron and it is revealed that Beau’s life has been filmed without his knowledge as a test. Beau’s attorney is murdered by one of Mona's henchmen, leaving Beau to fend for himself. Beau attempts to appeal to his mother one last time, but accepts his fate when she does not respond. The boat finally explodes, and Beau drowns to death. Mona and Dr. Cohen shake hands and leave the arena with the crowd. The shot lingers on the capsized boat in front of the now empty arena as the credits roll.

Cast

Production

The film had been in development by Ari Aster for some time, with a 2011 short film entitled Beau, that would later serve as the basis for a sequence in the feature film, and a 2014 draft of the script that circulated on the internet.[7] Aster has described the film in many ways, including initially as a "nightmare comedy,"[8], "a Jewish Lord of the Rings, but [Beau's] just going to his mom’s house," and as "if you pumped a 10-year-old full of Zoloft, and [had] him get your groceries."[9]

In February 2021, A24 announced the film, then titled Disappointment Blvd., with Joaquin Phoenix on board to star in the leading role.[10] The film's ensemble cast was announced in June and July.[11][12] Co-star Stephen McKinley Henderson described Aster and Phoenix as "so simpatico ... their way of working together was like they were really old friends. They could get upset and make up in the span of seconds, it seemed. But the work was always the better for it."[13] During a Q&A session on April 1, 2023 with actress Emma Stone, Aster recounted an incident in which, during the shooting of a “very intense” scene involving Phoenix's co-star Patti LuPone, Phoenix suddenly collapsed and lost consciousness as a result of the physical intensity of his stunts, which included breaking through glass. Initially annoyed because "it was a really good take", Aster realized it was serious as "[Phoenix] was letting people touch him and people were tending to him and he was allowing it".[14]

Principal photography began on June 28, 2021, and concluded that October.[15][16] The film was shot in Downtown Montreal, and Saint-Bruno-de-Montarville, an off-island suburb of Montreal in Quebec, with cinematographer Pawel Pogorzelski and production designer Fiona Crombie.[17][16] Animation for the film was done by Cristobal León & Joaquín Cociña.[18] With a budget of $35 million, Beau Is Afraid is A24's most expensive film.[19]

Release

Beau Is Afraid was released theatrically in the United States by A24 on April 21, 2023,[20] following a delay from its original 2022 schedule.[21] The film had its premiere with a Q&A moderated by Emma Stone at the Alamo Drafthouse Cinema in Brooklyn, New York as part of an April Fools' Day event, as the audience attending was originally scheduled to watch a director's cut of Aster's 2019 film, Midsommar.[22] It was released a week earlier on April 14 in select IMAX theaters in Los Angeles and New York, before being released widely — as well as in select North American IMAX theaters — on April 21.[23]

Reception

On the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, 72% of 122 critics' reviews are positive, with an average rating of 6.7/10. The website's consensus reads: "Beau Is Afraid is overstuffed to the point of erasing the line between self-flagellation and self-indulgence, but Ari Aster's bravura and Joaquin Phoenix's sheer commitment give this neurotic odyssey undeniable power."[24] Metacritic, which uses a weighted average, assigned the film a score of 62 out of 100, based on 45 critics, indicating "generally favorable" reviews.[25]

Notes

  1. ^ Credited as "Theodore Pellerin"

References

  1. ^ "Press Notes" (PDF). A24. Archived (PDF) from the original on March 21, 2023. Retrieved March 21, 2023.
  2. ^ "Ari Aster on His 'Sick in the Head' 'Beau Is Afraid,' and the Time Joaquin Phoenix Fainted on Set". IndieWire. April 2, 2023. Archived from the original on April 2, 2023. Retrieved April 2, 2023.
  3. ^ "Beau is Afraid". The Numbers. Retrieved April 16, 2023.
  4. ^ Rothkopf, Joshua (March 28, 2023). "Ari Aster Has Something Funny to Show You. Don't Be Scared". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Archived from the original on March 28, 2023. Retrieved March 29, 2023.
  5. ^ https://www.bbfc.co.uk/release/beau-is-afraid-q29sbgvjdglvbjpwwc0xmdeyndgy
  6. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o "Beau Is Afraid Production Notes" (PDF). A24. March 30, 2023. Archived (PDF) from the original on April 1, 2023. Retrieved March 30, 2023.
  7. ^ Raup, Jordan (December 13, 2022). "First Poster for Ari Aster's Beau Is Afraid Starring Joaquin Phoenix". The Film Stage. Archived from the original on January 23, 2023. Retrieved January 23, 2023.
  8. ^ Linan, Liliana (June 1, 2020). "A.S. Program Board Presents: Ask Ari Aster". Daily Nexus. Archived from the original on January 10, 2023. Retrieved January 13, 2022.
  9. ^ "Beau is Afraid is 'Like a Jewish Lord of the Rings' Director Says in Behind the Scenes Video". March 30, 2023. Archived from the original on March 30, 2023. Retrieved March 30, 2023.
  10. ^ Kroll, Justin (February 18, 2021). "A24 To Produce And Finance Ari Aster's Next Pic Disappointment Blvd. Starring Joaquin Phoenix". Deadline Hollywood. Archived from the original on September 14, 2021. Retrieved January 13, 2022.
  11. ^ Kroll, Justin (June 21, 2021). "Disappointment Blvd.: Ari Aster Sets All-Star Ensemble To Join Joaquin Phoenix In A24 Film; Nathan Lane, Patti LuPone, Amy Ryan And Kylie Rogers Cast". Deadline Hollywood. Archived from the original on June 21, 2021. Retrieved January 13, 2022.
  12. ^ Kroll, Justin (July 21, 2021). "Parker Posey, Stephen McKinley Henderson & Zoe Lister-Jones Among Those Rounding Out Cast Of A24 And Ari Aster's Disappointment Blvd.". Deadline Hollywood. Archived from the original on July 21, 2021. Retrieved January 13, 2022.
  13. ^ Davids, Brian (October 22, 2021). "Dune Star Stephen McKinley Henderson on Playing a Human Computer and That Parasol". The Hollywood Reporter. Archived from the original on January 13, 2022. Retrieved January 13, 2022.
  14. ^ Crosbie, Eve. "Joaquin Phoenix annoyed Beau Is Afraid director by fainting on set". Insider. Retrieved April 11, 2023.
  15. ^ Fisher, Jacob (November 20, 2020). "Joaquin Phoenix In Talks To Star In Ari Aster's Beau Is Afraid (Exclusive)". DiscussingFilm. Archived from the original on January 11, 2023. Retrieved January 13, 2022.
  16. ^ a b Marc, Christopher (June 20, 2021). "Ari Aster's Disappointment Blvd Starring Joaquin Phoenix Adds The Favourite & Cruella Production Designer Fiona Crombie". The Ronin. Archived from the original on December 1, 2022. Retrieved January 13, 2022.
  17. ^ Bourque, Olivier (July 21, 2021). "Vers une année record pour les tournages étrangers au Québec" [Towards a record year for foreign filming in Quebec]. Le Journal de Montréal (in French). Archived from the original on July 21, 2021. Retrieved January 13, 2022.
  18. ^ Gleiberman, Owen (April 11, 2023). "Renfield Review: Nicolas Cage Is a Stylishly Overwrought Dracula, But This Ultraviolent Vampire Action Movie is Mostly a Flip Grab Bag". Variety. Retrieved April 12, 2023.
  19. ^ "Ari Aster on His 'Sick in the Head' 'Beau Is Afraid,' and the Time Joaquin Phoenix Fainted on Set". IndieWire. April 2, 2023. Archived from the original on April 2, 2023. Retrieved April 2, 2023.
  20. ^ Grobar, Matt (January 10, 2023). "'Beau Is Afraid' Trailer, Release Date: Joaquin Phoenix Journeys Through Surreal Mixed-Media Landscape In Ari Aster's Third Feature For A24". Deadline Hollywood. Archived from the original on January 10, 2023. Retrieved January 10, 2023.
  21. ^ Shanfeld, Ethan; Moreau, Jordan; Murphy, J. Kim; Shafer, Ellise; Khatchatourian, Maane; Earl, William; Saperstein, Pat (January 6, 2022). "The Most-Anticipated Movies Coming in 2022: Disappointment Blvd.". Variety. Archived from the original on January 9, 2022. Retrieved January 9, 2022.
  22. ^ "Ari Aster pranks Midsommar audience by showing them his brand new movie, instead". www.avclub.com. April 1, 2023. Archived from the original on April 2, 2023. Retrieved April 2, 2023.
  23. ^ A24 [@A24] (March 30, 2023). "Experience it on the biggest screen possible: #BeauIsAfraid is now Beau in @IMAX. Tickets on sale for NY & LA, now opening one week early on April 14. In theaters everywhere April 21" (Tweet). Retrieved March 30, 2023 – via Twitter.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
  24. ^ "Beau Is Afraid". Rotten Tomatoes. Fandango Media. Retrieved April 15, 2023. Edit this at Wikidata
  25. ^ "Beau Is Afraid". Metacritic. Fandom, Inc. Retrieved April 12, 2023.

External links

Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Beau_Is_Afraid&oldid=1151079870"