Beau Is Afraid ACTUALLY EXPLAINED (Yes, really)

2min of this video trying to explain "how clever I am because i like complex movies bla bla bla"

Okay, but how did the woman Beau had sex with die? Did Mona kill her, or was it Beau's repressed sperm?

Beau is dead. This is his near death experience of reliving his entire life through his own memories and perspectives. The opening of the movie is a first person perspective of being under a white sheet, the noise of medical professionals attempting to resuscitate, and Beau's heartbeat stopping. From the very beginning, Beau is dead and in a DMT purgatory. The movie is the retelling of his life from his own perspective of memory, making every piece needed to be broken down to understand his character. All of us are a collection of everything we've experienced, and this is Beau.

Awesome video!

Boy, you fell right into the misogyny trap, didn't ya? 😂
This is a horror film where the horror explores the fear of men getting thar manhood stolen by strong woomans. Hahaha and you fell into it.

i love how i have to watch a video explaining every ari aster movie after i watch it

LOLOL at you saying Holy Flaxx and it taking me a few seconds to realize it bc she is simply holy flaxx

As a psych major, a parent, and a lover of cinema I absolutely LOVE this movie! I dove into this movie thinking it was a horror movie and the first act can definitely come across that way but after allowing myself to actively watch and immerse myself into Aster’s cinematic language I felt like I was walking with Beau through his journey. Not once did I try to psych analyze the film cause the minute you try you immediately take yourself out of the environment Aster wants to convey and become disoriented. But that’s the joy of this movie the disorientation adds to the narrative experience. Kinda like The Daniel’s’ EEAAO, you just gotta sit back and enjoy what comes across the screen at face value. And if you blink it’s okay, cause these types of movies are meant to be rewatched over and over because you find something you didn’t before. That’s cinematic artistry. This movie definitely doesn’t get the credit it deserves.

The only thing I would change is your relation to the end of Fight Club. Mr. ROBOT explores these themes in deeper places than Fight Club had achieved (at least for the interpersonal aspect of rebellion and the cost from them). Because Beau Is Afraid explores the mind more, I found it a more apt comparison.

they make nails for brick

I do feel that this movie was Ari working something out with this movie but I also feel that's his own personal thing and seperate from how the viewers personal experience is with the film. And its something we may never truly know but it shouldn't change how your experience with it is.

u know what i got out of it ha mom gave up tons for her son and her son did nothing but it was her fault for giveing him everthing ha when dude busted a nut in his girlfriend that was the end of her life cause he got her pregnet but she was paid to do it his dad was just a dic as in a tool for her to have a kid witch she expected to be something but didnt and thats y he died in the end cause he sucseeded in giving her a grandson cause the girl didnt die she was just taken away come on man open ur eyes

So, basically it's mommy issiues

"This movie isn't about one particular thematic element, and if you think that, you're stupid"
"So anyway this movie is about emasculation"

Watched a lot of 'Beau is crazy - some real, some aren't stuff' explanations. Seemed plausible, but what didn't make sense was the rehabilitation building poster looking like Beau's home. Looked for more answers found you. Very wonderful explanation.

What I liked was you covered several nuances like influences from Kafka, 'perfectly safe drug', the couple being Mona's people. Beautiful work. Loved your beginning where you said - 'this is not for people who don't like to work to understand movies' perfectly put❤

Just because you don't understand something doesn't mean it's dumb. Could be the other way around. Overall, wonderful work!

Fantastic analysis

Thank u, and we’ll done this is the synopsis I’ve been waiting for

Omg it's a horror movie! Duh! 🤯🤯

damn! a bad review who predicates about not defining works of art unironically makes a closed minded statement that then turns into reactionary essentialist garbage???? why am i not surprised?!

So basically this is Pink Floyd’s The Wall

Bad Video!

It was rubbish.

Really clever portrayal of megacorp which makes all matter of convenience products as an overcaring mother. Convenience and overbearing safety emasculates society the same way genuinely caring mother emasculates her son, if there is no father, if there's no one to restrict her instinct. Modern society lacks father too - by rejecting God.

Great video. I thought the surgeon said that Beau's testicles were from an infection? I assumed it was that mixed without orgasming and possibly a side effect from the drugs.

I dont think you have to completely understand a movie to enjoy it. I love watching how a movie unfolds, both story-wise and technically...but a full explanation isnt needed if I liked the acting, cinematography, music and editing.

Great take! Much better than what ingot from found flix

Any time someone says they actually know the answer, they turn out to be the least knowledgeable person in the room

I thought maybe once Elaine died that when she sent Beau back to undress that she'd needed time to replace herself with a sex robot that just couldn't stand and walk around, and the father in the attic was just a machine, the soldier was just an actor like the rest. I just think this way to keep things realistic - though i like how it could be thought differently. It way less odd if her death was planned than it be spontaneous with additionally having one sex partner that had that fear.

great video, you're crazy annoying tho

Being told they won’t hold the funeral until you get there but when you get there it’s already over!

Sounds like his mom is a narcissist. I’m binge watching your videos great work 👏🏻

Cool vids! Pls change your logo. When I see it I think it's a company trying to sell me stuff

Excellent excellent excellent review thank you❤❤❤

I've just finished watching Beau is Afraid, and it's very quickly shot up onto the list of my all-time favorite films. I so appreciate A24 for commissioning this work of art that I'm almost willing to forgive the studio for burying Under the Silver Lake. Almost.

I promised you in one of my comments on your review of Whiplash that I would watch Beau is Afraid and then give my thoughts on your analysis of it. I'm here to fulfill that promise, but I do so at some risk of being boring because I agree almost entirely with the general thrust of your review. I agree that emasculation — both interpersonal and writ large on a social scale — is a major theme of the film. I also agree that it's a mistake to say of any genuinely profound work of art, "It means this" in such a way as to close off all further discussion. I've long believed that every true work of art is wiser and knows more than its creator does. This is so because, to create real art, one must tap into forces beyond oneself. I also didn't catch that Beau's housing project was created by Mona's company (I must not have been paying attention there). With that said, I think I can add a few things.

Mona is an awful, monstrous person, but I'm not willing to dismiss those who say that Beau should take some responsibility for his actions as flippantly as you do. Yes, Mona has been trying to smother and control Beau for his entire life and even had the gall to lie that her manipulation was "love." But there's another side to this that I don't think you're affording proper consideration to. Is a masculinity that allows itself to be devoured by the feminine really masculinity? How can you be a man if you don't have any fight in you?

Mona lies to Beau about the fate of his father, but in her lie, there is a deeper truth. On a strict factual level, of course it's a lie that Beau's father died after having sex with her, but on a deeper archetypal level, she was telling the truth. Beau's father's spirit died because he allowed Mona to control him by using his needs for companionship, affection and especially sex against him. And of course, this is even more insidious because Mona uses this dark truth dressed up in a lie to poison Beau's ability to have relations with women. She wants to control him, and that means he can't be allowed to have any other women in his life. She also gives him absolutely horrible advice about women when she notices him showing an interest in Elaine. "Only women know women," she tells him. Few lies in the world are bigger than that one. Mona's advice is calculated to keep Beau single, and Beau ends up simultaneously desiring women and being terrified of them — a truly pathetic mess.

You didn't say much about Beau's relationship with Elaine. I'm not absolutely sure of this, but I'm suspicious that Beau fabricated Elaine, either completely or in part. Perhaps she was a real girl that he met once, and he then imagined being in a relationship with her so that he might grant himself a reprieve from the suffocating embrace of his mother. I can't really explain their relationship in any other way because it's so patently absurd and unrealistic. When they're children, Beau takes no initiative. He is shy and retiring, and Eliane is the pursuer. She all but forces him to kiss her. In the scene where she visits him and Mona while they're in bed, Eliane screams out that she loves Beau. What is the source of this overwhelming passion? What has Beau done to elicit this? This is never explained.

Then, when Beau and Elaine meet again as adults, things become even more ridiculous. We are apparently to believe that despite not having seen Beau for many years, despite not even being able to recognize him at first, and despite Beau really not doing anything other than standing there and mumbling semi-coherently, within mere minutes of bumping into him again, Elaine immediately wants to have sex with him. Literally the sole act of initiative that Beau ever takes with her is to kiss her that second time. Then, when they have sex, Elaine begins praising Beau's virility as he lays there, trembling and mumbling. At one point, she even says, "I like that you're not a macho."

I had to roll my eyes at that one. I hope I don't have to tell you this, but real women do not behave that way. It seems pretty clear to me that Beau is imagining Elaine. He's fantasizing about having a woman who will give him sex and affection without busting his balls and without expecting him to take charge of anything. The comically absurd way in which she dies (she's literally petrified in an orgasm pose), I think, only reinforces the idea that that was all just a fantasy.

So, I agree with you that Mona is a monster who sucked the life out of her son and did horrendous damage to him. But I will push back on one thing. I don't think that the accusations made against Beau during his "trial" at the end were unadulterated bullshit, as you seem to think. I think there's an element of truth in them, even if they are greatly exaggerated. I think Beau despises his mother, and even though his feelings are completely justified, he's afraid of them. Beau can't confront his mother directly and tell her to go jump off of a bridge, even though he should, because... well... Beau is afraid. Because he can't strike back against her directly and force her to acknowledge his independence, he's resorted to making little passive-aggressive jabs at her, like the time when he ran away and hid behind the pillar at the mall while she frantically searched for him.

I think there's a part of Beau that wanted to hurt Mona as payback for how she was hurting him. The scene where Mona dresses down and insults Beau, accusing him of not really loving her as much as he has pretended to, is accurate. She's right that Beau hates her. Of course, she deserves his hatred, but she nevertheless perceives him correctly. I even suspect that she's probably right that he made up the story about his keys being stolen. Recall that we never see who steals them. Again, just because Beau is justified in wanting to avoid Mona does not mean that her accusations don't have some truth in them.

Recall the scene of the play and the archetypal hero's s journey. At one stage, an old and exhausted Beau lies defeated and miserable on the ground, and an angel visits him, telling him that he should grieve not for his misfortunes but for his own sins. The angel accuses him of selfishness, of essentially taking the easy way out in life and not doing what must be done to connect with and "find" people. The angel urges him to confess his sins. "But, what did I do?" asks Beau. "You know," says the angel. Beau's sins are cowardice and weakness. No man can be emasculated unless he first chooses to emasculate himself.

Sooner or later, every child must butt heads with his parents. This is unpleasant, but it is natural and necessary. And to some extent, even if you have parents who have been kind, reasonable and affectionate with you, you will have to eventually do something to force them to acknowledge you and respect you. Most of the time, this does not take on the dramatic proportions that it took on between Beau and Mona, because most parents have enough care for the long-term welfare of their children to put bridles upon their own urges to smother them. But in a more subdued way, it always happens all the same. That's why this film is so powerful.

I'm glad I've persuaded you to check out My Dinner With Andre. You'll love it. Keep up the excellent work.

Your review is the best I've seen so far.... would wonder you thoughts on mother!

Great Analysis. It's feels more than an analysis..

I missed the mina did it stuff frim the way i saw the movie. I didnt see the end of the movie until much later. But, ive had a front row seat to mental illnes my whole life. Where Beau lived looked very normal and realistic to me. The way doctors experiment on peeople is an absolute fact. My brother marred an alcoholic and produced my nephew who is getting progressively worse. He wasnt that bad at first. But then Several doctors made him much worse. Anyway, i would love to discuss this at lenth but i cant type. Thank god someone analized this show for real. Theres another so called analasis that pissed me off couldnt watch it.
Theres a documentary you should see about an artist that got his ass kicked because he liked to wear high heels. I forgot the title but its about the same guy portrayed in the mainstream movie, "Marwen." Actually there are a few of em but one is really good. Helps oursevles to understand those that are different. Anyway good job.

I liked your analysis but I disagree with a lot of your takes in the beginning. I don't think it's supposed to be an 'all in his head' type plot but a lot of the elements (especially a lot of parts near the last half of the film) feel pretty metaphorical and exaggerated.

I've seen this "the victim should just get over it" attitude in response to a lot of stories. Interpretations of visual novel umineko are full of it.

Beau is a manchild who is trapped in a life where his mother is the actual main character: she the spider, and he the prey. The only way to cut her metaphorical apron strings and get his balls from her purse is to literally kill his ID/face an ego death. Beau is not an unreliable narrator, Beau isn't narrating at all. This whole film is Mona's take on him. What Beau thinks and feels doesn't play into it because he doesn't exist anymore. Beau is dead. (Dead to her, yes. And for a narcissist, that might as well be dead for real.)

Thanks for explaining it. It blew me away.

am i trippin or was this kinda misogynistic?

I was high and drunk at 3 am watching this trying not to wake my mother and when he was at the doctor's house i had to pray like i never have before to feel ok. Like que venga Jesús que se vaya el diablo pray

Only an idiot would need this film explained.

Only an asshole would feel the need to.

Dude this movie made me think of lynch.

Absolutely absurd.

One of the best movies i ever seen. I laughed. I couldve cried. It was amazing.

I cant stop thinking of this movie. I wish i could watch it over again for the first time.

The whole movie i thought it was a dream

The most harmful words for media literacy is the "the curtains are blue because they are blue". Thats the reason why people grow up thinking Joker and Patrick Bateman are the cool guys.

I have not watched Joaquin Phoenix since The Master. He was so disturbing and cringe that I have no interest in seeing anything else from him. I would say “Beau is Cringe” is how I feel about this movie.

I just stumbled upon this video. I had to Google the movie. It looks like it's a trip.

people don't understand this film is about the jewish mamas boy archetype? I mean it's pretty on the face. To be honest it's a lot more enjoyable than his other films.