Following the sudden death of his mother, a mild-mannered but anxiety-ridden man confronts his darkest fears as he embarks on an epic, Kafkaesque odyssey back home.Following the sudden death of his mother, a mild-mannered but anxiety-ridden man confronts his darkest fears as he embarks on an epic, Kafkaesque odyssey back home.Following the sudden death of his mother, a mild-mannered but anxiety-ridden man confronts his darkest fears as he embarks on an epic, Kafkaesque odyssey back home.
- Awards
- 31 nominations
- Director
- Writer
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- Production, box office & more at IMDbPro
Storyline
Did you know
- TriviaIn the beginning of the movie, the logo for the fictional Mona Wassermann corporation is shown after the distribution and production company logos, which further emphasizes that, much like Beau's world, Mona is in control of this film.
- GoofsElaine's body changes position between shots when seen in the ceiling mirror in Mona's bedroom.
- Quotes
Angel: Yes, push forward. Pray that you learn valor and be given luck. You will walk many miles. Dozens will become hundreds. Hundreds will become thousands. You will pass through countless villages. But finally, one village will speak to you. Some deep, essential part of you will recognize it, and you will say "This village is mine." You will learn a trade. And eventually, earn a living. You will know the pleasure of tasting fruit and bread and wine that is yours because you have earned it. You will find a plot of land and build a house with your own hands. You will cultivate the land. You will live off it. You will come to make new friends. One day, you will meet a woman. The story of your meeting will change, according to who tells it; that you were lost, that she helped you find your way, or that she was off course and you guided her home. She will see your fears and your pain and your dreams and your potential. And you will see hers. In finding your other half, the gifts of your life will multiply. Sometimes, she will look like a man to you. She will become pregnant because you have sex with her. You will have children, three sons. You will teach them what you know and you will tell them you love them every day. They will grow into handsome boys, blessed with courage and kindness and ambition. You will share your feelings of pride with your therapist. He will archive them. One day, a historic storm will sweep through your village and destroy your home. You will be carried away by a great flood. You and your family will be separated. And you will be deposited in a strange country. You will look for your family for days, then weeks, then months. So many months that you will come to lose count, but you will not find them. You will try to find work to support your continuing search but no one will speak your language. You will be treated like a criminal. Eventually, you will come upon a village wracked by an inexplicable plague. As you pass through, a man deranged by tragedy will identify you as the beast who burned down his home and replaced his children's feet with their hands. You will try to argue your innocence, but this will only make you sound more guilty. You will wonder yourself whether you are guilty. You will flee. Mad with vengeance, they will send an attack dog to pursue you. It will tear through the world to find you. You won't know this, but you will sense it. And you will keep a detailed record of these impressions in a log, and over time this log will become many logs. Your adventures will continue for years and years. You will learn to distinguish birds by their call and you will know every tree and plant by its name. Abandoning all comforts, you will condition your mind to new ways of seeing. You will experience great highs and profound lows, and you will look for your family until your life shrinks and fades into the dream of a ghost. You will come to wonder if they ever existed. Finally, when you are old and frail, you will collapse in exhaustion.
- Crazy creditsThe end credits roll all throughout the last scene.
- SoundtracksLargo (Concerto Pour Clavecin En Fa Mineur)
Written by Johann Sebastian Bach (as JS Bach)
Arranged by Ward Swingle (as Ward Lamar Swingle)
(Warren Chappell Music France SA (SACEM))
Performed by The Swingles (as The Swingle Singers)
Courtesy of Decca Records France
Under license from Universal Music Enterprises
They say you only know how much is enough when you know how much is more than enough. I remember with Aster's previous movie "Midsommar", I actually considered turning it off early on, because it seemed massively overlong and moved very slowly. It seemed it might become boring. I persevered, though, and realised Aster knew exactly what he was doing with the length and slow pace, lulling us into a false sense of security, making us empathise with the characters and feel the complex emotions they'd be feeling.
A director hadn't held the audience in the palm of his hand since Kubrick.
With "Beau is Afraid", it feels like Aster loosens his grasp on us toward the end. The movie just gets so unaccountably bizarre that I lost interest a little bit. You know it's not going to answer its questions, and then it asks so many, you lose track of them and stop paying attention.
The end still has flashes of brilliance, mostly Kubrickian and Lynchian touches, like startling still shots, and a meeting with a strange man who knows more about the protagonist than he should, a la the indelible, nightmarish scene with Robert Blake in "Lost Highway".
Joaquin Phoenix also gives a great turn, similar to his triumph in "Joker". His work here is Oscar-worthy, but we know it won't get any attention from the Academy, because the movie's just too weird, as with Aubrey Plaza's brilliant work in the similarly inscrutable "Black Bear".
Aster looked on track to become one of the all time great directors. His first movie was very good, and his second was great. Kubrick, Scorsese and Spielberg all took longer than that to make their first great movie. "Beau is Afraid" is a small misstep. I'm hoping that now Aster knows where the limits lie, he'll continue to go up to them, but won't need to go over them again.
- Groverdox
- Sep 6, 2023
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Details
- Release date
- Countries of origin
- Official site
- Language
- Also known as
- Disappointment Blvd.
- Filming locations
- Production companies
- See more company credits at IMDbPro
Box office
- Budget
- $35,000,000 (estimated)
- Gross US & Canada
- $8,176,562
- Opening weekend US & Canada
- $320,396
- Apr 16, 2023
- Gross worldwide
- $12,337,378
- Runtime2 hours 59 minutes
- Color
- Sound mix
- Aspect ratio
- 1.85 : 1