Beau is Afraid Ending Explained: Metaphorical meets Literal

Ari Aster dials up the crazy and lets the metaphorical bleed into the literal in this odyssey of a tragicomedy. Opening up a life of suffering and anxiety, Aster’s third feature, where he plays the role of both writer and director, brings us the tale of a man made of fears. Beau Wassermann must travel through a day of horrors to his supposedly dead mother’s funeral. 

Beau is Afraid premiered in theaters this Friday with a talented cast led by Joker star Joaquin Phoenix, including Patti LuPone, Amy Ryan, Nathan Lane, Kylie Rogers, Denis Menochet, Parker Posey, and Richard Kind. 

The film begins by introducing Beau, a man whose father was lost to an orgasm with a mother who hovered over his every need – and he had many for his anxieties begin at an early age. Now grown, Beau opts to live in a city that only fleshes out his fear into suffering, and every day seems like one disaster after another. 

The heightened emotion and the exaggerated theme of his day links to how Beau views his daily life. His existence solely thrives on panic and mayhem, and though he knows it is in his mind, he cannot escape his fate.  

This much is certain, seeing how he envisioned himself in the play after he’d escaped the city to wander to his mother’s funeral. But the twist nearing the film’s end delivers a shocking blow – to Beau and the audience.  

Mona had faked her death to test if Beau would come to her mother and choose her over his life. Mona’s belief was rooted in the fact that her son’s fears and her patience in the face of them should be reciprocated in absolute affection from him towards her.  

His failure to do so made her keep tabs on him – she had people filming him, she planted his therapist, and she faked her death all to check if he would come for her funeral. Talk about helicopter parenting gone nuts! 

Beau can hardly get over Elaine’s death and his mother’s “revival” when he also learns he has a twin, and his father is alive. His view of his father as a gigantic phallic monster should be your clue as to how far Beau’s mind bends the reality surrounding him. That sight was worth beholding – when the giant penis killed off Jeeves. 

But that’s not the end! After Beau learns how his mother has been the perpetrator of his paranoia, he kills her in a rage and escapes via motorboat. But as he drives into a cave, it’s revealed Mona and her lawyer Dr. Cohen have brought spectators to shame him for his inability to pay for his mother’s deeds with love.

Ultimately, the overwhelming guilt and clarity are too much for Beau, and he explodes; well, not him, but the metaphoric-and-yet-literal boat does. And thus, Beau drowns in the same sea of fear, pain, suffering, and agony he was born in. 

This tale of toxic love and how it births and develops a man with only traumatic anxieties to call his own was a baffling, yet mind-blowing experience stuffed in the three-hour film. What did you make of this surreal black comedy? Let us know in the comments below! 

About Beau is Afraid

Beau is Afraid is a 2023 American surrealist black comedy horror film written, directed, and co-produced by Ari Aster. 

Beau Wassermann, a mild-mannered but paranoia-ridden man, embarks on a surreal odyssey to get home to his mother, confronting his greatest fears along the way.

The film stars Joaquin Phoenix, Patti LuPone, Nathan Lane, Amy Ryan, Kylie Rogers, Parker Posey, Stephen McKinley Henderson, and Richard Kind.

Source: A24 Films