The Hidden Details of Beau is Afraid
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- čas přidán 15. 06. 2024
- What does Hereditary and Beau is Afraid have in common? MISDIRECTION.
Like how Hereditary's true force turns out to be Annie's mother Ellen, Beau is Afraid is NOT about Beau, but about Mona. But what's really fascinating about this is HOW Ari Aster misdirects you into thinking Annie or Beau is the true protagonist of these films.
Let's take a look at what kind of tricks and symbols Ari Aster has employed to create this illusion and to keep you at the edge of your seat for ... well, three hours.
Enjoy.
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Extra Credits:
"Book, Flipping Through Pages, A.wav" by InspectorJ (www.jshaw.co.uk) of Freesound.org
Timestamp
0:00 Introduction
1:13 Hereditary VS Beau
2:52 Disclaimer
3:57 Amniotic Fluid
6:16 Lack of Water
7:27 Too much Water
8:27 Wasserman
9:40 MW Industries
10:43 Visual Information
11:39 Words
12:50 Perfect Surveillance
15:01 Verdict
17:21 Perfectly Safe - Krátké a kreslené filmy
What's YOUR favourite Ari Aster film?
Also, how's your mom doing?
She’s doing well
midsommar!
Hereditary 🛐
Honestly probably this movie. I still can’t get it out of my head after watching last month…I’ve rewatched it twice picking up details each time and confusing myself more.
Hi
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
@poppyc2006, Well-spotted! I hadn't made that connection.
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
but even then he couldn’t escape his childhood trauma represented with the lie Mona told him about having children
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.”
generational trauma?
When was this said in the movie ?
In this case a woman?
@@mltoteslabarbera4935 it wasn't
That is one of the wisest bits of wisdom I’ve ever run across.
We need more directors like Ari Aster, and more studios willing to fund a director's true vision without interference.
@@sa1ntlukedefinitely not like ari aster
@@sa1ntlukeAri Aster has his own style. Only Ari Aster can make a film like the Ari Aster’s movies. Yorgos, Eggers or Von Trier make movies, but not like Aster.
Kaufman came to mind while I was watching this. Especially his last one, I’m Thinking of Ending Things, which was the most confusing for me. I’m glad to see him move away from horror because I think there’s more freedom in the abstract. It feels like a untethered artistic expression compared to his last two.
Zack Snyder w Rebel Moon soon
Idk guys there are many directors “like” Ari Aster. I mean look at Darren Aronofsky’s “Mother” and Alex Garland’s “Men”. Those films are pretty damn close to the feeling of uncomfortable that Ari’s work gives us. Yes of course every director has there own style and artistic vision. But there are many films and novels in and outside of the US that are down right disturbing surrealist stories.
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.
Interesting. I saw it without subtitles and this scene drove me nuts trying to understand all the dialogue. I hope this is confirmed via official subtitles
@@FiercelyGoldit is, saw it yesterday wih subs, she does say that exactly.
Beau is a r4p3 child and Mona hates him for it and is always testing his worth as a son. His dad is a dick monster because he's a r4p1st
I never noticed that!! What does that imply?? Isn’t Mona’s whole thing that she wanted Beau for her own personal, selfish whims?
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.
Exactly.
That’s worrying
@@lazyken6468 why
If it comes on Netflix or Max it will find better
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
“Important water” - Ralph breaks the internet
Both films also end with them on a boat in the ocean, and when they “leave” their boat, they enter a new, unknown realm, leaving their lives and all that is familiar behind. Also, a boat can be viewed as symbolizing one’s solitary source of protection from the depths of the unknown, and/or as an object that allows one to not have to learn to “swim”. Julian willing abandons his boat, so we view his departure as growth and progression. Beau clings to his for dear life and is swallowed by the depths, leaving us to view his departure as his ending.
Also, both Beau and Julian never moved out of their hometowns. Interesting side note: Julian never left because he was terrified of water, but confronting that fear is what sets him free. Beau’s obstacle is his mother, which he can not confront successfully, which kills him, ultimately (depending on your interpretation of the film.
Oh yeah, and at the end of the Truman show, the director of the show tries to convince Julian not to leave because the outside world is also filled with lies and deceit, but that at least he has nothing to fear within the “world” that the director curated for him.
Oooh, and the only sex that we are aware of either of them having is essentially a “contractual” agreement that was cooked up by the person controlling their lives. I’m not sure what the deeper significance of that might be, but it’s interesting.
I’m sure that there are plenty more parallels, but those are the ones that really stand out to me.
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
Exactly. One of the things I love about surrealism is how the subtext is never ending, because it relies on your own subconscious thoughts and feelings. Idk if that makes sense, I'm not good at wording stuff like this lmao but I just love art that gives you more questions than answers. I loved stranger things for the first half of season 1 until they started explaining and showing too much, and then it just got extremely surface level and on-the-nose
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.
Thank you so much. Great insight!
I didn’t even see that his father was a monster. I took it literal, that his father was a huge dick, an asshole. They had a poor relationship, likely abusive, and he probably in reality abandoned her, which made her very possessive and controlling over her son. “He is a man who will never hurt me, I only have him and I can never let him go”
This is kinda how I read it: a portrait of anxiety spawned by child abuse. As an abuse survivor with generalized anxiety, it resonated with me in that sense.
Rise like a Joaquin Phoenix!!!!
since the father was kept chained on attic I think the father was not the criminal here, he was crying when he saw beau....I think Mona picked somebody from the street, assaulted him, felt bad so kept him in the attic and since accordingly to Mona "she has gone through pain" and the dad was just as valuable as a penus....hence the penus monster.
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 :)
That is such a cool explanation, I knew of wasser as German for water but this is such a good rundown
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.
Good luck out there, you deserve to leave that past behind you and find a good life
@@lookingfororion2785 thank you, I am trying to stay positive but it's hard, but I am hopeful I can get there
Beau is Afraid has to be one of the most underrated movies of 23
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.
When he calls back and answers "I'm so sorry." I lol'd 😂 it's terrible but it was so funny.
@@TTAmber I love it. The brown recluse. The water being off. The weird hypnotic woods experience. The Nathan Lane segment. The mom’s house. The flashbacks. The ATTIC OMG. It’s such a hilariously tragic movie. 10/10.
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.
This is a very cool analysis of an absolutely buckwild movie! I watched this one a couple of months ago and described it as an escalating three-hour Freudian panic attack on LSD, which I think holds true. A rising crescendo of anxieties where every successive misadventure is worse than the one before, until we go from "missed flight home to see overbearing toxic parent after a bad therapy session" to "being ceremonially judged a Bad Son in an Oedpial cave before a live studio audience before dying". Incredible work!
I've still only seen Beau Is Afraid the one time in the theater. Afterwards I spent hours watching different videos essays and analyses in an attempt to figure out how to process the movie. This was by far the most useful and succinct video I've found so far. It provides a great roadmap for the film and makes me finally feel prepared to watch it again.
Stole the words right out my moutn
Maybe the best video on this movie. I HATED it first watch, but that's because I went in expecting another Hereditary/Midsommar mystery I could unravel as the film went on. I tried finding things to solve it while watching, but as you said, it's not possible to solve BEAU at all. After realizing that, it's become one of my favorite movies ever. I love everything about it. And almost everything you pointed out was something no one I've seen say, which has made me love it even more! I loved the video and it was super well edited. New subscriber here
easily the best movie of the year. the depiction of mental conditions is exact and vomit enducing. it stroke too close to home. people that can't relate to the main topic of it can hardly enjoy the full length of its randomness and the absence of the storyline. people that do - find themselves in the middle of extremely painful surgical procedure with no anesthetics they didn't ask for. this movie is a brilliant Ph.D. in this terrible matter, and in this sense reminds me of Dogville and several other Von Trier creations.
I went and watched this movie pretty high.
At first people were laughing at certain things , and I was almost . . Offended or felt elitist about it in a way. Like “These people don’t understand this isn’t funny” but it just kept getting more and more ludicrous and I found myself just laughing at the absurd things that kept happening .
I think I was trying too hard to understand at first , and by the point of the neighbour slipping notes under the door I started to get it. That this was just going to be unpredictable, unexplainable and crazy. I just tucked in and went along for the ride .
This might be my favourite movie of all time . I’m a big fan of “literal” movies , like you mentioned in your video.
The lobster has been my favourite film for a few years , and it is about as blunt and literal ; both in its world and the characters personalities. But it has a lot to say that isn’t literal.
I think marketing this as a horror film was a huge disservice .
Jorgos Lanthimos , Ari Aster and Robert Eggers are the MASTERS of modern cinema, and A24 is the best production house of all time man.
Ari Aster's films are always so packed with detail and foreshadowing that it makes them incredibly satisfying to rewatch, which I love.
Thanks for this video, great analysis!
The TV dinner cracks me up. The taste of Ireland and Hawaii?
I never even realized the boy playing with the boat in the beginning is a reference to the end
11:03 the kid‘s toy boat slips over cause his mom interrupts him. Just like Beau dies at the end.
Idk what you mean, you explained the whole movie and it did make sense the second time I watched it thanks to this.
You're a gem
The idea of the movie being 'first and foremost for Ari Aster humself' resonates with what I felt watching it unprepared. It was like binge reading Ari Aster's private social media account - raw, personal, as vague or quirky as the account owner wants it to be because he doesn't expect anyone to read it anyway. I kind of believe that if you like Ari Aster and are ready to listen to him overshare for three hours - this movie is for you; otherwise, good luck. Didn't test the theory on real people though, I still need all of my friends.Thank you for another great review!
Amazing timing posting this. I finally watched this for the first time last week and I haven't stopped thinking about it since.
Your best analysis to date. Great use of the binaural soundtrack, and a great and calming way to tell people that it doesn't really matter to try and understand it, but it has alot to offer if you do
I'm so glad you talked at length about the water thing. I read reviews and looked at the TV Tropes pages and there were no mentions of water anywhere. Managed to notice more whilst I watched your vid, too. Great job. Going to check out more of your vids.
This might be my new favorite video from you. Incredibly well made and very informative. Your channel is amazing! 🙌🏻
thank you so much for your work Spikima, it's always a pleasure.
오 만들어주시지 않을까 생각했는데 마침 올려주셨네요 즐겁게 시청하겠습니다.
Awesome work, Spikima. As always.
Dude, I already considered Beau Is Afraid my favorite movie of 2023, but with your video it made me love it ten thousand times more
I detest when one of your videos is coming out, and not having seen the movie you're talking about. I stare at the little "major spoilers ahead" sign with the video paused, and I hesitate... I have to hold back from watching it and it's downright difficult. Thank you for your extraordinary work, greetings from the southern hemisphere of the American continent.
Amazing. Thank you for this; like you say, even though you can't crack something like Beau is Afraid, your analysis definitely sheds some very very interesting light on it.
Also, that edit at 6:54 is just too funny man 😂
@spikimamovies Beau is Afraid is such jammed packed, filled to the brim, divisive fever dream. when another person actually receives great enjoyment from the process of dissection and analysis, you feel like you’re apart of an exclusive club that others just can’t see it to belong too. each essay you pour yourself into always reminds me with great passion why cinema is my all-time favorite medium. thank you.
I’ve been waiting for these sorts of videos to emerge
I accidentally discovered your channel today, and I watched this and also your video on Space. I enjoy your take on cinema. I look forward to watching more.
Brilliant analysis 👏
This is the first Ari Aster movie which whole layers of symbolism seemed to me kinda too trivial and repetitive, but I definitely see it's appeal with more scene to scene analysis approach you do in this video. The last 30 min of Beau with his mother's appearance saves the whole film for me.
btw sorry my eng is bad. also my mom doing alright thank u
This is an incredible film analysis, nice job!
Loved the perspective and what it helps me be able to explain why this film resonated with and was meaningful to me. Truly thank you!
Thank you for this - well written and performed! Loved it
You said at the beginning that the movie can’t be understood but I honestly thought you did a really excellent job of explaining how it works on at least two different levels!
Wow! Lots of excellent insights, thank you!
Hey Spiki, thank you for the cleverest moment of my week.
I haven't seen BIA yet since I was put off by the critics I read, but when I saw you posted about it I thought "I'm sure Spiki will change my mind."
I'm happy to confirm that you did!
I've never been so happy about a Patreon, be well my friend.
this is your best one yet. great video.
This is great, I loved your analysis of burning also
This brings out so many good observations. Great work!
Really enjoyed the film and your video essay as well. I’ve liked how much different meaning he’s brought into film. I was trilled by all these unexpected moments, and during watching you are given the hint that it is kind of a show that if you are immersed in it you can fully enjoy it. By the way, in some scenes I were the only person who laughed really hard at the cinema theatre, but I couldn’t help it, it was truly funny. Thanks if I am not the one that liked watching this tragicomedy.
I’m such a big fan of how you edit your videos
This video is awesome! Thanks for sharing!! ❤
For me personally, while I love that meticulous planning & build up to the finale that Beau's mom has been the puppet master all along, I consider a large chunk of this movie to be a terrible death-dream. Beautiful has been engulfed by a cloud of narcissism, and even though death is our "only way out", his mind still clouds him with the narcissism that ruled his life until his very last breath.
THAT SAID, it really doesn't matter if I take the last stretch of the film as a dream or not - because I've wanted to see that kind of ending in a movie for ages. An ending that is fully empathizing with our lead as they are literally cornered into their own death. That feeling of cornering, manipulation, and narcissism spoke very true to my life. I'm glad someone else feels that way. We don't all have to be as alone as Beau... maybe we can find someone who will see the looming clouds that entrap us, the narcissism that drowns us, and maybe they can pull us out of it - maybe you can be that person for someone who's feeling stuck. There's nothing more that I want then to save Beau from the last act of the film. So emotionally brutal...
Loved your discussion. This film is so full that even when you think you've found all the layers, a new one reveals itself. I didn't even begin to consider the water metaphors. Awesome review & video as always, Spikima.
That's interesting. I thought the whole movie could be Beau's life flashing before his eyes at the moment of his death, or possibly his spiritual death. The looping ambiguous and maybe 'unsolvable' plot also reminded me of Finnegans Wake, with its water theme (the opening lines describe the river Liffy; "'riverrun, past Eve and Adam's, from swerve of shore to bend of bay..."), dysfunctional family relationships, and the infinite cycling story. Perhaps this is Beau's Wake, and even that is ultimately stolen from him by his mother.
GREAT VIDEO! The first time I watched this movie it frustrated me cause a lot of it don´t makes any sense literally, and I can see some meaning behind everything sort of (? Its awesome that films like this can still be released and even tho it was not what i was waiting from Ari Aster I can still apreciate it
Great--I had a fair amount of difficulty figuring out how to process what I saw in the cinema when I saw this film. This video is excellent for organizing a frame of reference for it.
Great video as always! ✨👌🏼
You absolutely nailed it- I’ve been waiting to watch it again from the perspective of MW.
this is a great video!! cool ideas and nice explanation given.
Excellent video. Man I am so obsessed with this movie…
Such a great analysis. This show will forever be in my mind now with the finale. Good shit
오!!드디어 나왔군요.
오래 기다렸어요.❤
I was just thinking about how strange yet amazing this movie was about an hour ago, perfect timing!
The transition between the therapist opening the door then coming out of the bathroom at Mona’s was incredible.
I adore this film and this was the best video essay I’ve seen so far, I could discuss this movie forever
I loved this movie from start to finish thanks for this insight on the film!
awesome analysis. subscribed.
I definitely watched it focusing on the drugs the company and anything related to mothers. Not ignoring water but not connecting every water moment
👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻 pretty fine video, thank you.
Hey, loved your analysis so much! Wasserman(n) is an astrological sign and means aquarius in German.
Easily my favorite movie of the year so far. I’m infinitely glad you’re covering this Truman show nightmare
Dude, Montreal, i live right below that corner!
I really have to re-watch this movie. Don't think I really absorbed it the first time around.
My favourite of Aster’s films so far, I absolutely love it and felt it instinctively click on a thematic level with me. Put me strongly in mind of Godard (specifically Weekend).
Your videos are severely underrated.
Good vid, very thorough😊
thank you for further cementing my love for this masterpiece
This was an awesome review ❤
Phenomenal analysis.
Great vid dude!
This movie had a few foreshadowing scenes. Like the scene with the boy playing with the boat in the water in the beginning of scene and it flips upside down, and another scene when he pauses the tv and the see the ending of the movie on television screen. It’s some other scenes as well.
It also reminds me of Kafka's the trial, where Joseph K does not know what he is accused of. Beau has it one level worse: He does not even know he is accused, but his trial is proceeding anyways. Also, the way being on trial breaks the will in "the Trial" reminds me of Beau. As well as the dehumanization of "the metamorphosis". Beau is a disgusting bug to his mother.
Maybe I just see these connections because it is such a surreal film, but I like films that remind me of and seem to re-interpret pretentious/awesome works like those of Kafka.
Thank you for the content you create. It’s well crafted, well structured, insightful and allows me to approach films a little more constructively.
This was helpful. I watched it yesterday and it certainly seems inscrutable, but from the beginning I looked at the story as not actually being Beau's reality but that he was an extremely neurotic man imagining the absolute worst things that could happen to him.
But are you going to do an exhaustive breakdown of everything in this film one day in the future? This is the best analysis I’ve found on this film so far.
I love how Beau is Afraid is full of different emotions, it’s funny and it’s outrageous, it drags to the point you’re just like mad and it gets very exhausting, it really is a work of art though
when i saw that you made a video about this, i had to order the movie. this was one of two movies i was excited about this year, the other being the whale. it took me two days to watch it but now i think i might have to watch it again, (skipping over the thing in the attic), thank you for all your work!
Thank you. for not. inserting. pauses. to. make. yourself. sound. like. the guys. like. Nerdwriter. or. Lessons. from a. screenplay. or. Every. Frame. a. Painting.
- Seems like every other film critique channel tries to hard to mimic that style lol. Good stuff!
Great video 10/10. Very happy CZcams recommended me this one.
My mums doing great.
great video!
this is the best beau analysis video essay yet
This is so beautifully written and narrated...i'm literally blushing😂😂
this is incredible, 10/10 video
Wow you improved this movie from a 8/10 to a 10/10. Thanks.
"if you're more into cinematic achievements than narrative coherence"
I watch analysis videos before the movie an awful lot of times. Maybe it's my 3 second attention span but I dont mind spoilers about the story in the least. When/if people ask me why I watch analysis videos before the actual movie, I never really knew what to say except that spoilers don't bother me and I dont feel robbed of anything by going into the experience knowing what happens and how it turns out in the end. Well explained and I will use this response from now on.
When you covered MW industries, I thought you would say that the posters show that "they made the drugs that created all the addicts in the first part of the film" and "Mom appointed Beau to look after the addicts as a way to punish and banish him, while pretending to care about "safety".
Because the first time I saw the film and we see how rich Beau's mom is, we have to wonder "then how is Beau living like that?"
it all explains itself nicely, fitting perfectly with the more superficial theme of "narcissistic abuse by a parent".
It also suggests other lenses through which the film makes sense: addiction; regression; capitalism; power.
The film terrifies me, because there are literal people like Beau's mom turning cities into hellscapes like at the start of the film in real life.
THE KING HAS POSTED