Beau, an anxious middle-aged man, tries to reach his mother's house after a death in the family. Each stop on the way gets stranger, from a family's home to a forest theater troupe. Worth watching for how Aster mixes comedy, animation and nightmare.
At a glance
Beau Is Afraid is a 2023 comedy, horror and drama film directed by Ari Aster. This breakdown covers 5 techniques (2 narrative, 1 editing and 2 psychology), each with the scene where you can see it. If you like how it is made, Through a Glass Darkly uses several of the same techniques.
Telling the story as a loose string of separate adventures, often following a low-status hero through different levels of society. With no single plot, the episodes add up to a portrait of a world.
How this film uses it
Beau moves through a string of separate episodes on his way home. Each one drops him into a new world and a new set of rules.
Where to see it
The journey: thieves, a car accident, a family home and a traveling troupe each become their own chapter.
Embedding a play or musical inside the film, so the staged piece mirrors or comments on the characters' real lives.
How this film uses it
In the woods, Beau joins the Orphans of the Forest, whose play mirrors his own life. The staged story shows what Beau fears.
Where to see it
The forest play: the troupe performs a story that mirrors Beau's life.
Using animation, for a whole film or for short sequences inside live action, to make emotions hit harder. Drawn images can show inner feelings that realistic footage can't reach.
How this film uses it
The play includes an animated sequence, made by Cristóbal León and Joaquín Cociña. The drawn style shows a feeling that live footage could not reach.
Where to see it
The animated sequence: the forest play includes animation, which makes the story feel like a storybook.
Keeping it unclear what is real and what is imagined in the film's world. You end up as unsure as the main character.
How this film uses it
You are never sure what Beau is seeing and what is real. The film keeps pulling away facts you thought were solid.
Where to see it
Mona's reveal: Beau reaches his mother's estate after her funeral, and then Mona reveals she has been alive and spying on him.
Showing two people bound together by mutual harm or guilt. They cannot leave and cannot heal, and the bond feeds on its own cruelty.
How this film uses it
Beau and his mother are bound by guilt and control. He cannot leave her, and she will not let him go.
Where to see it
The arena: Beau flees by boat into an arena where his mother and her associates put him on trial.
Questions
Keep watching
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