The Hidden Details of Beau is Afraid

What's YOUR favourite Ari Aster film? Also, how's your mom doing?

i like the detail on the scene “listen to your mother when i tell you to not leave my side” the little boys boat flips over just how beau dies at the end, ari asters foreshadowing is incredible

One thing I realized is the forest of orphans was where Beau was truly "happy". Like being orphaned, not having Mona in his life, is the true way for him

For some reason, this movie kept resurfacing a quote that has stuck with me to this day: “if you grew up with an angry man in the house, there will ALWAYS be an angry man in the house.”

We need more directors like Ari Aster, and more studios willing to fund a director's true vision without interference.

4:22 there's a line in the birthing scene that's easy to miss, considering it's shot from newborn Beau's perspective: Mona screaming "You made me have him!" to the doctor.

The interconnetion between beau is afraid and the truman show is that both symbolize water as their fear connecting to their parents, albeit beau is his mother in the bathtub scene while truman is his father because he "dies" from drowning

Beau is what many used to call the red-headed stepchild; a person or thing that is neglected, unwanted, or mistreated. Beau perpetuates his abuse by his belief that he is deserving of his treatment. Raised by a hovering mother even into his later adult years. Always feeling like he can never do anything right. His entire existence is an apology

Beau Is Afraid is definitely a gem. Not for everybody, but I think it will find a larger audience in some years.

I absolutely LOVE Ari's commitment to creating modern day Greek tragedies. He truly is one of the most unique directors in decades.

I don’t consider Beau Is Afraid unsolvable. For me, it was a metaphor for childhood abuse (emotional, mental, probably sexual) and its aftermath, for a person who was, in the end, unfortunately never strong enough to go 100% no contact with their abusing parent. Not everybody can rise like a Phoenix from abuse, not everybody is a survivor, hence why Beau “dies” at the end! In this aspect, I found it to be a very sad movie. Agreed on the attic scene, though maybe the implication was also that Beau might be the result of an assault, hence the penis is a monster. Which would further explain the twisted “love” Mona has for her son. LOVE Ari Aster’s work and am looking forward to his future projects! Hereditary was a shocker for me; the intensity of the last quarter of that movie is something I didn’t expect. I am not surprised that his movies piss off a lot of people.

This movie is unsolvable the same way David Lynch movies or dreams are technically “unsolvable”. Unsolvable basically means they are infinitely packed with meaning and symbolism. You can analyze to death, and figure out what they mean, but there will always be more to uncover. Thank you Ari and Spikima

Probably one of your best analysis & video editing so far! I personally view this film as a dark, absurdist comedy that just out to make me feel as lost as Beau the entire run. Nothing make sense accept the anxiety of being judge, all the time. As someone who feels that everyday, this film takes the feeling to its extreme & made me feel weirdly relief.

A little addition to the last name Wassermann: Wassermann would mean water-man, but while that was sometimes used in a relation to plumbers, the most common connection is to a mythical being similar to mermaids. It is our word for the zodiac sign Aquarius. In most stories and myths they are malevolent, try to lure you into the water to drown you, steal young women, that lot. And similar to mermaids like Loreley and to the sirens, many of them lure you in with beautiful music and singing to get you closer to the water. I don't know if all of these connotations were intended, but I would not be surprised if they were. Stories about Wassermänner like this probably also inspired Gollum, with the ambushing and possessiveness. So who knows :)

Yknow, i wonder what ari's relationship with his mother is like.

I never looked at this movie like this but now I see another layer in my life. I had a problem watching this movie because I related WAY too much to Beau, since Mom passed away, Dad became a Villain even more than when Mom was alive, and I enclosed myself because the pain It caused was too much, after he passed away, that anxiety and fear just got increased and worsen, because I got my phone stolen (with my memories and one of my like things that grounded me and helped me to calm myself) and this just augments my fear. But this video confirms another fear, Dad was in control, he never paid me even tho I worked many years for him, he just gave me material stuff and material substanence, but never a Heart or a Hug like Mom did, it always felt forced, even when he re married it seem he loved the new kids the wife brought than me. And after his death, we found out that the new wife sold everything she could after he passed, taking advantage of me that I was enclosed in a room in constant panic, and left the house empty, my father had millions in debt with his friends that he would say "Ill pay you later" since they knew they could trust him, but he used that money just to keep building a country home. And after all that, what did he leave? A broken kid who his whole life was shaped and molded by his overly aggresive demeanor and hurtfulness, that cant survive in a real world because of the mental damage (specially here in Argentina, I go to search job and they see I am mentally troubled and they just reject me), but hey, I am alive and now my life is turning, I am getting my moms pension after 2 years of living with bare minimum and I will be able to escape, so as much as Beau is reflected like me and my life, I will break the cycle. Great video, Spikima. Much love.

I saw this with my brother and was blown away by everything. We were dying laughing at how tragic and exaggerated everything was because it was so over the top - also the Bill Hader cameo was amazing.

Beau is Afraid has to be one of the most underrated movies of 23

Dude, thank you for pointing out the focus on water. I've watched this film several times (usually in sections, since the acts are so very different), and never picked up on that, but you're right, I see it now. Great analysis in it's entirety.

Not only is this a clear and insightful analysis, the way you are visually communicating your analysis through purposeful editing and subtle animation is fantastic. Really great work.