I think the whole point of the movie is that there is no reality outside of his perception. He never gets a moment where he knows what the world “really” looks like, so neither does the audience because what the world “really” looks like doesn’t really exist.

The way I interpreted the father in the attic was that Mona was so obsessed with creating a child that she used some man, not seeing him as a human, but a disgusting means to an end she had to face to have Beau, then discarded him.

I think Beau's relationship with water is the same as his relationship with his mother. He needs it, it gives him life, but also it can throw him around, smother him, kill him

I haven’t seen anyone mention how Elaine chose for them to have sex to the song Alwaya be my baby, and of course she dies, but then his mother is the revealed to be alive. Instead of just a funny song, I took it more as relating to Mona’s relationship with Beau and that she’s always there with him. Literally embodying the lyrics of the song “oh boy, you know you can’t escape me. Oh darling because you’ll be my baby.” Another symbolism moment to describe Mona’s hold on Beau.

I really enjoyed the background plot of the grieving family. I felt so bad for their girl who obviously needed present parents, but they're too wrapped up about their dead son, and they keep trying to replace him with sick people- when they have their own daughter. Paint scene broke me

At the very beginning, in the therapy session, there’s a weird cut where there’s the sound of the street outside growing louder and suddenly it cuts to the therapist standing up to go write the prescription for his pills where that ambient audio disappears out of nowhere. I’m genuinely convinced that THAT MOMENT is where the fantasy/thought experiment begins. I think the therapy session was really happening, the therapist asks him if he wants his mother dead then the break from reality begins (this being him performing a thought experiment of all his anxieties, fears and repressions). Notice also that when we hear the recordings of past therapy sessions later in the film, Beau almost sounds completely different. He sounds more confident, less shaky, he’s louder, he’s more direct and outspoken. I think within this therapy session where he’s dealing with all these issues, he’s also imagining himself at his most vulnerable and most complacent, the way he feels his mother really wanted him to be. A scared little boy who NEEDED her. So I think the birth scene, the first half of the therapy session, some aspects of the flashback scenes on the yacht, and the videos from Beau’s childhood that he feels guilty for during the trial are all in reality, everything else is in his mind.

The breaking the chain sequence was his mom showing him what would happen if he broke away from her. He would go his own way, have a family, own land, and then end up alone and depressed in the end. His only safe sanctuary was with mom because the rest of the world would only betray him in the end. That scene made sense to me.

There seems to be a theme involving water as well. The birth, the bottled water, the flooded bathtub, the wave that separates the family, the scene in a boat at the end

I thought the deranged man at the family’s house was actually their son but after he had a psychotic break. They refer to the previous version of him as dead.

My interpretation is that Mona is dead, but Beau didn’t kill her directly. He choked her, but that wasn’t what killed her. It was the shock. She couldn’t process Beau finally, for once in his life, standing up for himself, and that bewilderment was so strong that she couldn’t take it, and her body gave out. Her coming back at the trial isn’t her literally coming back (though this world is so insane she might as well have), it’s that even when she is finally gone, and Beau has broken free, she still has that unshakable grip on his psyche that ends up leading Beau to his own ambivalent death. Also, in the picture with all the employees of MW making up Mona’s face, I’m pretty positive Nathan Lane is one of them, so it’s likely that whole segment was a test in some way.

Personally, Beau strangling Mona only for her to dramatically die in an over-the-top gasp to me felt like she was exploiting his sudden burst of violence to make him feel more guilty. I don’t think she actually died here, but I can definitely see her acting like she died in order to make Beau feel even more guilty over her.

That ending depiction of the tunnel being his moms womb again makes sense. At the first shot, he's leaving the womb, at the last shot, he goes back in. Basically showing Beau didn't die, he just finally gave in to submitting to his mother. Breaking

So, my mom is super narcissistic. This movie reminded me so much of my relationship with her. It took me going no-contact- or killing the world she created for me to live in which leads to the death of the old self- to actually begin the healing process. I feel like this movie is a brilliant criticism of those relationships, but also a road map (including the meandering daydreams and gaslighting yourself that those daydreams of a better, simpler life could never work) to healing. I've been 1 year no contact and made so much progress. This film is the most I've ever felt seen or represented in this facet. Also the cave I think is more Beau's own mind. When you are trying to disconnect from a relationship like this, there is lots of litigation inside your mind where your mother's words will literally overrule your own thoughts. Beau in the boat fighting back and eventually begging to be released from the boat he's trapped in, felt appropriately symbolic. As for the crowd, I think it's more about Beau's perception of the world. I don't think it's indicting the world, as much as it's showing them how the mind works; perception is reality. Beau sees the entire world as being on his mother's side, or at the very least spectators and accessories to her work (many were even in the image on the timeline wall, all in Mona's employ). They see Beau as a sad pitiful joke of a man (in Beau's perception mind you), so they aren't in his corner. It's not until his mother's carefully crafted version of Beau dies that the majority of them leave the stadium. There is a lot to say about this and I'll write it up on Letterboxd.

i feel that, at the final shot, we are sitting on beau's "side" where his defense lawyer was. we sympathize with him but are unable to help, while watching the movie ruthlessly blame him for things that weren't his fault

I think the water represents two things: -His mothers approval: he NEEDS to take his pill with water in order to not only feel good, but not suffer and die. -His mothers presence: he’s surrounded by water in the bathtubs, cruise ship, and little boat just as he’s surrounded by his mothers presence in day to day life. She makes all medicines for him, she makes foods and other technologies for him, she builds the apartment for him to live in, she watches him, and hires nearly everyone in his life to monitor and control him.

The play sequence blew me away. Incredible

Young Elaine is on an advertisement at Mona's house pointing to her being a paid actress even as a child. It was another test for Beau.

The relationship between Beau and his mom seemed borderline incestuous to me and I half-expected the big reveal of the story to be that Beau is a victim of CSA from her hands. Also, the ending of a movie, where Beau's "lawyer" is pushed off the stage and falls on the cliffs below is a reference to "Midsommar", where the exact same thing happens with one of the elders.

I think the twist with beaus dad could be a metaphor for beau being conceived by rape. From the mothers line that implies the act of conception as excruciating for her,why she lied to Beau,maybe why she doesn’t want beau to have sex and finally why she’s simultaneously loving and overly protective yet cruel and hateful towards beau. It explains a lot and adds a lot of nuance to Beau’s mom as a character.

We also need to mention the sudden leave of Elaine during the night, wtf was that? Mona definitely paid Elaines mother to push her away and not talk anymore to Beau.

I actually love the ending and how it includes the viewer into the audience of beau’s trial. The audience isn’t participating necessarily, they’re just onlookers who only see the biased and skewed evidence presented. Think how often people walk by other people who may seem to be acting strange, and they don’t participate in a conversation or ask why they are acting strange, they just notice those few seconds they witnessed without any context and then walk away. In the movie, each individual viewer gets to see Beau’s internal reality which doesn’t really make much sense to them. You develop sympathy for Beau even though you’re still confused on what is real, what isn’t, and why he does and thinks the things he does. But at the end of it all, you still can’t change the outcome and you go back to living your own reality, getting up and leaving the theater and moving forward.

As someone with GAD. I love everything about the first act of the movie. It’s almost exactly how anxiety actually feels

These are some of my thoughts on the questions you posed: Water represents attention - you can die from too much or too little of it - neglectful vs controlling parenting. Beau’s life was destroyed by controlling parenting, and that’s why he ultimately drowned. Beau also finds comfort in water, he seeks the love and attention he needs, but because he never had a healthy relationship with water(love), he is killed by who and what he seeks comfort from. In the play, Beau is separated from his family by a flood - he is prevented from a fulfilling future by overbearing parenting. He is held back by waves of anxiety and depression, unable to trust or form intimate relationships with others. The imagery of the Virgin Mary and Jesus throughout may be a nod to how Beau was born without a father, and how his destiny is set for him. He’s born without the freedom to be independent of God, to be perfect, asexual, and obedient, to die for others’ sins, to die for burdens placed on his shoulders by his creator. It may also just represent for Beau the kind of motherly love he desires, to be held and protected, cared for, and raised to be a person who is actually able to be brave, and kind, and assertive. Mother Mary may be the idealised saint-like version of his mother he depends on seeing Mona as in order to love her. That’s why he gives the gift intended for his mother to a woman who actually shows him motherly love, in hope that she’ll be for her future baby what his mother wasn’t for him. I saw the end as a metaphor for how society treats mental illness as a spectacle. We watch with apathy as someone in need of help only gets punished, abused, abandoned, exploited, and do nothing about their obvious distress and mistreatment. Marginalised people are entertainment. Their breakdowns and crimes are for us to enjoy, judge and opine about. We watch someone die and just move on to the next thing, as if nothing of significance happened. This is foreshadowed at the beginning by the man filming and laughing at someone committing suicide. Those with the power to help others choose only instead to watch. The end invites us to question how our society treats people like Beau, how mentally ill people are punished for what’s out of their control, and to empathise with others the way we do with him.

I’d also like to add that the Mona Wasserman logo is also present as a producer credit along with A24 for the whole movie in the intro

I couldn't believe I was the only one cackling in the theater. This movie was a trip that made me laugh & cry. Two thumbs up

Also the trial scene was difficult for me because watching himself slowing descend into the water,we can all feel like that in life. We feel when things are going downhill we just have to accept them and get ourselves out whereas Beau ultimately couldn’t. Huge anti sex movie too lmao Had I seen this growing up I’d be scared to bust

Cool that you guys caught the cave being some kind of birth canal. I think every act of the movie is a progressive stage of un-birth, ending in an evil, inverse character arc where instead of overcoming his fear, he just releases it by slipping back into some less than conscious, newborn state, and then implodes back into fluid nothingness.

When I left the theater my immediate first thought was "This was all Beau's internal monologue during what is essentially him being on trial for assaulting his mother" There are many points in the movie where someone will secretly slip him a note, or a tip, the biggest one being "Stop incriminating yourself!", which the suburban mom gives him. There's also the scene with the TV, which I interpreted as him in real time watching video tapes they play during court to recount his actions (being prosecuted) and then later again the play (which is entirely positive and hopeful for Beau) being the defense trying to spin his story as a more sympathetic one, and also explains the line within said play about him "watching a play that was so eerily similar to the his life" Also, there's almost a constant droning noise in the background of the movie. The only time it isn't present is during the scenes in which Beau is entirely in his mind, or flashbacks. At certain points, this noise is almost decipherable as someone's voice speaking, but is unintelligible. I interpreted this as the voices of the trial happening. I could be completely wrong, but that's what I got out of it on top of everything that's been said about this movie already. Curious if anyone saw it that way too!

I got so emotional during the animated / narration portion of the film. That was deeply moving until it turned sour lol

TW: Sexual assault My girlfriend after the movie had a really interesting theory that beau is a child of r*pe. His dad being a giant dick monster reflects that to his mom he is nothing but a sexual monster. That she had to go through so much trauma to birth beau but got the greatest gift ever in beau. However late on she said she had to dig deep to get the love she gave to beau as you might subconsciously resent the product of your trauma. And the order she gave beau to not have sex and when he did he killed Elaine shows that she was like stay away from sex because it can hurt someone deeply and when he finally does he ends up killing her. And the trial is like his mother went through so much trauma and work to be a mother to beau and expected a perfect result to all her work and when she got imperfect results it’s like you’re on trial for I’ve suffered through so much and you haven’t made it worth it and this guilt of finding out his shortcomings and that he’s a child of r*pe pushes him to the point where he doesn’t take his foot out the boat and essentially kills himself out of the guilt and regret and shame in himself for what he’s done and what he is

Mona used Beau to test medications on his entire life, and she still is by having the therapist give him new meds. He is one big experiment to her, she loves him, but more in the way of needing him in order to survive. She can’t live without him and he is terrified of a world both with her and without her. The crossroads for him is setup in therapy, does he want her to be dead? Or alive? He can’t make a choice so she makes it for him.

This movie was a masterpiece imo. I loved all of Ari Aster’s movies but I really loved this one.

The boat ride through the cave definitely mirrors the opening birthing scene in my opinion. Beau believes he is escaping this world completely controlled by his mother only to discover a different world also controlled by his mother.

As an anxiety-driven person who often daydreams about impossible scenarios, this movie becomes much more simple to me when I imagine that the whole thing is Beau envisioning one of those scenarios where everything that could go wrong about him going to his mother's funeral does. She is such a powerful figure for him that she couldn't possibly be dead in his mind, and so the whole movie from the moment that he finds out about her death becomes a very chaotic scenario in his head that ends up with him inevitably losing to his mother. Even when he gets the balls to stand up to her like when he chokes her and manages to escape into the sea, she manages to come back to him and ultimately judge him for his actions.

Do you know how many people are battling what Beau is going through every single day. Wether it’s child trauma from a father figure or a mother figure. This is insight of what those people are going through every single day. This movie is ground breaking and inspiring to see what is happening in child generational trauma that’s passed on from family member to family member. Detaching from a father or mother figure or a family member is every day social issue in human connection. Depression anxiety mental health again is deeply ingrained in child trauma yet like in the end of the movie the audience just sits up and leaves as we do now today we don’t talk about it we just turn a blind eye and walk away. The movie is helping us understand mental health anxiety and trauma in a way that’s not socially judging it and putting it in a little pill and putting a label on it and letting it go and turning your back on it. I have been dealing with people in mental health for 15 years especially kids and you do not understand how a family figure especially a parent saying to their kid if you have sex you will die as a child can have a lasting trauma that is haunting them until they are alive. The fear that creates the anxiety the sense of I’m not good enough I am not worth anything creates huge internal deep to core trauma. It starts there and than just keeps growing and growing and growing until it eats you inside and spread like toxic waste in your thoughts.

I appreciate this breakdown lol. One thing I personally thought when I watched the film is during the beginning when he was surrounded by all this chaos that he almost existed outside of, and was the only one, it seemed that the way his whole city acted, Beau was a product of probably the same thing everyone else has, but he doesn’t show it on the outside. So it’s almost like the world surrounding his apartment is what he “should” be like but he swallows his emotion and doesn’t let it show

This puts things really into perspective for me. I had a feeling that the play was kind of like a “what if” conceptual vision had he broken free from being afraid because of his mother’s influence. Gonna see it again this weekend.

My take on the ending and the movie theater audience being a part of the trial is like a jab at how people will sit and watch someone get convicted of something, and while they may have their reservations or sympathy, there’s nothing they can really do besides sit and watch. Otherwise they’re subject to the same fate as Beau’s “lawyer” and Beau: death, or at least removal. It kinda has Roman Empire vibes as well. This big colosseum filled with people watching someone they know is going to die just for entertainment purposes (which is where we find ourselves as an audience at the end…we could leave the theater before we see him die, but we sit and watch knowing he’s got zero chance). Which I just realized is kind of the overall arc of the movie. Mona is like a Caesar…part of a larger societal system with ultimate power and control that you can’t escape even if you want to. Much like most countries…lol, I’m going to bed 😵‍💫🥴

I think one subtle aspect as well is the lack of belonging to a place or to identify a place (city, country, continente, river, beach, wtv) as a real home, once you leave your parents’ house. when we reallocate, there is always the mixed feeling of wanting to get back to the roots and reconnect with family (even though most times it is uncomfortable and it remember us of traumatic events or the past versions of ourselves that used to live in that place), so he spends half of the movie trying to travel home but is constantly being distracted with some new places trying to find/build his personality apart from her mother and his early childhood experiences (even though he never finds peace in any place or acknowledges it like as a real true home)

I saw it a second time and my mind has been wandering on two things. 1. In the opening city scene when beau gets to his apartment he walks past a photo and said Hi Dad and it's a blurry photo but I'm pretty sure the guy who talks to him at the play who says he knows his dad is the guy in that photo. 2. Elaine is in Beau's dream , a girl is in a bathing suit similar to hers on the cruise and it pans to her in a green suit while she is doing beau's hair in the bath. Then beau looks at the other version of himself and when he turns his head it's his mom in a green dress similar to the green bathing suit. It's different than the outfit the mom had any other time they show that dream. Of course its revealed to be a memory not a dream, if that is the case what else was going on in that scene?

I think Jeeves can be read as just mental illness incarnate. We send our troops out and the trauma they go through "kills them" and then when they return and their trauma is all that's left of them we celebrate them instead of lamenting what is lost. He also can be seen as beau's mental illness, even in a serene setting he is jumping up and down and running around similar to beaus anxiety. Even when Beau finds people who are like him, people he should be able to find solace in, Beau''s anxiety still prevents him from connecting to these people.

The dad being a cock in the attic was actually point when the movie stated making more sense to me. Beau's father wasn't really dead , he died and was stored in the "attic" of Mona's memory because he didn't love her. So in Mona's mind he died and she projects that desperation for love from a partner in giving Beau a world view that he died for giving him life, and she was the only thing he could ever love safely. That's why instead of Beau dying when he came in Elaine, she died because she didn't love him the way Beau's father didn't love Mona. I think she faked her death to see if Beau even in at news of her death would do anything to prove his love for her by showing up to her funeral on time. But Beau's journey to his mother's house ends with what he really wants (another woman) and this is the ultimate betrayal to his mom. In the play Beau has 3 sons he loves with all his heart and would do anything to get back to but their mother doesn't exist and the fantasy ends because he realizes his fear of life never allowed him to get to where he wanted to be, which is having a happy loving family of his own. Beau always has flashbacks to his mom trying to put him in the bath , which is metaphor for her trying to drowned him with shame and guilt for not loving her and at the end Beau finally drowned in that guilty feeling because his mother died from seeing him love another woman.

The reason the flood happens is cuz when ever Beau makes a decision something horrible ends up happening. He decided to have a family so he loses them .

Anyone else catch the Mona Wasserman symbol playing in the opening company credits?

Great review y'all, I wish more youtubers shared your enthusiasm and appreciation for this masterwork. The end, where we are all part of the crowd that watches him drown, is the manifestation of struggling against the systemic issues we can not individually change. We can watch and know, or we can walk away from it, but we are powerless to affect it. We are as much Beau as we are glad that we are not Beau.

Oh man, it's incredible the amount of symbolism you guys were able to pick up that I didn't even think about, while I was too busy trying to comprehend what was even happening, haha. Fantastic video guys!

I need Ari Aster's mom to respond to Ari Aster right now.

Only thing you guys missed is how once the waves wash his family away in the play every event from then mirrors the events of the movie and ends the same way.

Wow. I actually never comment on any social media post/video, but this video really deserves praise, great great analysis from both of you. Major respect.

Great analysis, guys! I've never seen your channel but this is the best video I've watched about this film. Your conversation os very thorough and cohesive for what seems like a largely incoherent flick. I'm subbed.

Thank you for the video. I'm complementing my interpretation with your view. Because to me, this is a story within a NIGHTMARE. Not that everything is a dream, but the FORMAT in which is told is nightmare-ish. The fact that it takes you to places without transition; or that everything feels real but in a bizarre way; or even the separation between acts, that came after a serious hit (which would make you wake up).

There are always crazy things you see in attics in both this and Hereditary.

I feel like it’s being over shadowed that Beau is not of a sound mind. He was dropped and didn’t cry when being born. A poster in the moms house says he could have ADHD. And we see the movie from his perspective and obviously he has serious anxiety , maybe he even has actual hallucinations.

how i interpreted the water was how the only freedom beau will get is death. in certain instances the water shows promise like him on the cruise with elaine or him riding away on the boat at the end, but at the end of the movie beau drowns which also reflects the man who drowned in the pool on the cruise. both times his hope of being free gets tied with death. no matter what beau cannot stop the damage his mother did to him and he will have to live with it his whole life. the only time he will truly be free from her grasp is when he is dead.

I think the ending is genius actually, like regardless of if you're sympathetic in the audience, nothing can be done to help beau. I think it's interesting too to see the differences between us and the people in the seats in the movie, because we've seen what beau went through, so we know who he is. They don't, yet they're the ones who are truly able to help. It's a great parallel to real life.

You touched on this but it’s interesting that the places where beau is in before going home - the city, the suburbs, the wild - consist of all of the place where people live. It’s as if beau was seeing, can I live anywhere outside of my mothers influence? And the answer is no: no matter where he goes, there she is. Physical location where he lives doesn’t play into it, he can’t escape.

This movie was absolutely beautiful and I loved the fact I left and was so confused

I think the audience at the end connects to the reoccurring theme about the way we sublimate watching the suffering of others. We can’t fully recognize it or empathize on a day to day basis because it’s too much for our brains to take, so we wall ourselves off without realizing, root for the guy to jump off the building, ignore the crazy homeless people and just hope they don’t hurt us, film people without their permission to humiliate them, watch Beau with fascination in the arena as entertainment. To me it says something about humans’ inherent selfishness which functions as a practical survival mechanism for all of us. We refuse to acknowledge this selfishness because we want to view ourselves as good people, as opposed to people who fear, encourage, and enjoy the suffering of others for entertainment purposes, in many cases far more often than we actually help others. That was my reading of that reoccurring theme that shows up a few times, including the ending

I love your guys's take on things fun to listen to and its cool to see the different interpretations of things in the comments as well

I don't know if anyone pointed this out before, but the theatre scene seemed like the re-telling of this whole journey. He has everything, then a catastrophic flood destroys his home- that's the scene, when the street thugs occupied his apartment. Then, he goes for a journey to find his family - his whole family is his mother. He finds himself in a village when they falsely accuse him of spreading the plague - the suburban Home, when they accuse him of killing Toni... and they send a dog after him - that's Jeeves. At the end, he finds his family - I think that's when he finds his "brave self" in the attic. But his wife is nowhere - I can only guess with this, but could be his mother, Elaine, or just that feeling of 'imperfection'. That no matter how hard he try to heal himself, he will never be healthy and "'whole" again.

I like the way that you guys connected a lot of things that I didn’t even think about after watching the movie. Great review thanks.

I think it's cool how the logo for the moms company is an m for mom but a w for her last name, but it can also be interpreted as m for mom but flipped into a w when shes his enemy or destructive to him

kinda love how you guys weren't on the same page about your observations about the film and we got to hear you both argue your different views against the other

I think that the audience responds in that way at the end because all they see on the surface are these terrible things that happen with him. And in reality, we don’t always see the inner workings of his psyche and we just see the facts. So we condemn him like everyone else without hearing out their defense. Or that their defense is inexcusable. That’s kinda what I took.

In regards to the ending of this video and of the movie, it's way easier to tell someone else like Beau to not feel guilty, but if you're Beau in the sense that you relate to him a lot, is way harder to not feel guilty for yourself than it is to understand you shouldnt feel guilty, and i think that's what it was trying to say by ending in this mirror to yourself, you dont just understand Beau but you understand yourself.

and I think we kind have access to parallel realities about this growing development experiences. for instance, when he is with the first family, he is being treated like a child with no autonomy, then with the girl we see him being peer pressured to smoke just like in high school and then he breaks free from the family and finds a community and the animation part begins (coming of age with all the existential questions) and then when he returns to his mom’s house, we see an older version of him in the attick

I interpreted the final scene to really cement the audience with beau rather than trying to make us pick a side or feel guilty because we are positioned on the side his defense was on. we’re left facing the prosecution and would be exactly where his defense (with no real voice in his world) would be, just as we the audience have no say in his perception of the world because of his mothers influence

This is the only way I will accept that it was “all in his head” : The theme is guilt right? And the therapist asks him if he wants his mom to be dead. What if, Beau killed his mom at some point before the film when he found out that she had lied to him and hurt him his whole life by testing medication on him. He killed her and immediate felt guilty and anxious. He blocked that out, and thinks she is still alive. He lost his mind, so he’s in therapy and taking meds and everything. He doesn’t know who he can trust, and he feels like she is still controlling him. The therapist knows Beau will never visit his mother because she is dead. This same situation has probably played out in different ways several times. The therapist asks if Beau wishes his mom was dead, and that’s when Beau loses it. He tries to drown himself, and the whole rest of the movie is while he is underwater making the decision to live or drown. He makes decisions over and over again that show him either trying to get to her or trying to get away from her. The play scene is what his life may have been if she hadn’t made him afraid. When she “comes back” it’s him finally needing to confront what he did and make the decision of whether he actually wanted her dead or not. He relives finding out that she lied and hurt him by testing meds on him. Then he does kill her again (choking her) which means he made the choice that he wanted her dead. Then he knows that his guilt was rightful and that’s what causes him to decide to actually drown in the tub.

Elaine waas also an employee when she was on the cruise ship. You can see the child Elaine photographed in one of the ads on the timeline wall when Beau first gets home. That was, much like Truman Show, all staged to instill a fear in Beau because he is not allowed to escape.

The whole time, I was questioning whether he was dead or dying because he wrote a suicide note on the pill cap and after he went to sleep, he started to get those letters and things really started to get crazy. Maybe the violent way the mom supposedly died and him being pressured to be at the funeral was the guilt he felt for killing himself and knowing that he won’t be seeing his mother.

The film isn't about Beau or making sense of why his mom can do this or that. Beau's journey is only there to help attach the different fears we all have, that are on display separately in the film. There isn't a reality in the film. There is the lead to help us see our fears: A boy in the street with an assault rifle. A spider crawling on the floor. Leaving your door unlocked means your home is robbed and destroyed. A man shows up and shoots up the theater. I think this film is specifically about a man in this world. The desire or fantasy to marry a woman, have children, build your own your home, live off the land, but being too afraid to take the risks or being able to make it happen, realizing you may not get to have that. Being too afraid of women, you may never have sex, fall in love, and get to have those boys you miss and who miss you. One day you realize your fears have kept your feet feel glued to a boat rocking in the water, and it feels like it's in front of a stadium audience of strangers judging u for the mistakes u repeat in your head, keeping u stuck from getting out. Never forgiving yourself for dumb kid things you've done, like letting those boys sniff your mom’s underwear or whatever embarrassing stuff u did a long time ago that u cant let go of. The father not being around is just a dick who provided semen and is a monster for not being around and likely also being a monster for the single mom, which she reminds u of. The mother demands the love from her son. Your mother or women u love; the fear of their control and demands to do specific things so they believe you love them. This film isnt about “well how did Mona control this?” It isn't The Truman Show. It is a bunch of dioramas or fears men are living with now. In this way it is a "horror" film. Things that really scare you. You're in the mind of all these daily and lifetime fears that end up drowning you if you cant get unstuck to be who you want to be.

This is probably the best analysis I’ve seen so far

Did you notice many of the characters said 'I'm so sorry' to Beau.

I think the ending was inner monologue, with Guilt being much louder than ”the truth”, to the point of drowning in it. Guilt for not being a good enough son for an overcaring mother being the theme for the movie.

The final shot made me think we are all going have to face our own final judgment at some point. It did make me reconsider some things regarding my own life I would say maybe the filmmaker was very subtly showing us a mirror.

I found the defence lawyer (his self talk) hilarious

24:24 that’s how I feel about a lot of this film. Trying to be clever, and does create an interesting puzzle of metaphors and symbolism to reflect on, but ultimately is unenjoyable and tedious to watch.

You guys completely missed the point of this movie. This movie is about the terror, the horror, the humor, the audacity of the individualist perspective that surrounds all people at all times. It is a fucking nightmare to be alive because everyone is so self motivated and most are actually unaware of how their opinion and their perspective can hurt another person.

My interpretation is Id probably need to know Ari Aster on a personal level to really get what he was going for. Besides that, the film means whatever tf you want it to mean. You can place just about any subtext you want in this film and find a way to make it work

The scene at the beginning where the mother grabs her son and the toy boat flips over is foreshadowing the ending. Also the suicide jumper reflected in the glass when he buys the figurine is masterful.

It’s not simply that his mother demands exclusivity over his love, it’s the need to guilt him for ungrateful, and:or if the common interpretation for this movie is to be considered, his guilt for understanding himself to be ungrateful

When they mention the conspiratorial aspect, I could feel that, like Mona is a face to a secret society and her/their kind of judgement is steeped and implemented into the society and punishing those they feel are deplorable is done so in a hidden camera reality television type why. Impractical Judgers. The way Mona is so powerful in the world itself let alone in beau’s mind and his own world led to so much confusion with plot and I love it.

I was imediatly connected to this film in the first scene and understood the rest of it. Like, literally. Freud says in one of his books (and is one of the few theories I actually agree with him on) that the moment we leave the womb, we spend the rest of our lives trying to return to that inanimate state of being in the confort of non-existence. If a mother is overprotective of her son, he will depend on her and her approval for the rest of his life. And right after he's born, she's already screaming at the doctors, demanding her son, almost as if she wants to push him back in so he isn't hurt by the world. So yeah, great movie. One of the best (and worst) I've ever seen, and I can't recommend it to anyone lol

That knocking noise has been driving me crazy for the entirety of this video. Noticed it at 7:00 and I legitimately struggle with a lot of things similar to Beau (c-ptsd, agoraphobia, generational trauma, etc.) and I thought I was going crazy. Not sure if that was on purpose, but I hate it lol, I thought someone was knocking behind my room or something. Great video, still watching lol.

regarding the opening scene of him being born, it's not just showing how terrifying the world outside the womb is, but also showing that from the moment he's born, his mother is already super controlling of everything, I don't know if him hitting his head was a legitimate accident that went wrong with his birth or just a way of showing that the mother is perceiving threats where there are none, because of how she's asking "why are you putting him upside down? why are you spanking him?!" this is something fairly common after birth, and yet the mother perceives it as something that is dangerous and shouldn't be happening. So I think that short opening scene is also to show how, from the moment he is born, his mother is already unhealthily protective of him in a detrimental way.

I did like the ''mirror'' thing you mentioned at the end of the video that happend at the end of the movie, it simbolized that you're not only judging him, but you might be judging yourself along with the movie, for people who can relate to this movie a lot it might be like their own theraphy seasion and it's telling you not to be so critical of yourself in that regard because a lot of it is in your mind anyway, is about how you judge yourself in your own head and that's the porpuse of implicating the audience

Yes, I felt awful during the ending. I think that’s how Aster wants us to feel though.

Hey you two are awesome! =) A hug from Mexico! Keep making this reviews =) I loved watching the film, and also loved listening you after that!

was very proud of myself for noticing nathan lanes face within the employee photo that made up monas face. everyone was in on it!

During the trial segment of the movie, I got an entirely different feeling. Rather than feeling implicated, I felt as if I was one of the few who in the audience really connected with Beau and wanted him to break free. But my voice just couldnt reach him. Once the boat tipped and the audience walked out of the theater, the irl audience walked away too, but I stayed sitting in shock. I think that it was a moment to let the viewer marinate in what had just happened, to really drive home that feeling of hopelessness.

Really great analysis guys. Helped flesh out the movie for me in several areas. Just sub’d

I have been looking for an explanation of Beau's grandmother being his proposed wife during the narrated journey sequence. During the animated sequence of the forest, when the Angel narrating tells the story of his wife that he meets, she says "Sometimes, she will look like a man to you. She will become pregnant because you have sex with her." The close up of the "wife's" face (the only time they show an actual defined face of her) in that moment is the painting of Beau's grandmother revealed at his mother's house. Mona points to the painting and explains how her mother never loved her. I have a vague assumption along the lines of Mona being a bastard because in the journey sequence Beau had 3 sons and confirmed he never had sex with his wife and that the wife (imaged as his grandmother) hasn't been seen since their family was separated so maybe Mona is the 4th child from a different man she didn't love, therefore; didn't love Mona and that's why she was so starved of love.... I dunno, it's a hard one to put together. Anyone have any takes on this? Here are the two pictures for reference imgur.com/a/raOlqdV

Great insight into the substance of the film. One aspect not talked about enough in all the reviews about the film is the character of Elaine. I see it as a young reflection of Mona. Domineering, even manipulative. A few instances in the film she literally takes place of Mona: in the beginning of the full bath scene where Mona sends the other part of Beau to the attic; inside the Mona's house before the sex scene she rummages through and wears on Mona's stuff like her own. I think this points to the tendency of our psyche to get attracted and feel comfortable with partners that resemble our parents in behaviour and character. Not to mention that Elaine was literally pointed out by Mona on the cruise ship, commented on her character and that he's the right man for her. The whole cruise ship setup was a test by Mona. I think the work overall resembles the Greek tragedy, rather than any particular contemporary genre, in the fact that protagonist is pretty much doomed from the start and his fate is decided by gods in this case Mona.

19:40 It’s heavily implied that his dad left when he was young because he couldn’t stand how controlling and overbearing the mother was, and as a result Beau was left without a father figure to model male independence for him. A common gaslighting tactic by overbearing controlling and emotionally manipulative mothers is to say things like “you’re just like your father” as a way to dehumanize the son. So what this scene is saying by making the dad represented by a phallice is essentially the mother guilting him for having sexual desires and treating the father like a deadbeat who was only good for one thing, and if Beau pursues other women then that’s all he’s good for. She’s making both his manhood and his desire for sexual independence feel grotesque and shameful. It’s really him confronting his repressed side because his mother messed up his sense of self worth as a man. 24:39 there’s a case to be made that it’s not about you the audience judging Beau but more so that the artist is revisiting his old wounds a bit and struggling to make that commercially viable in an entertainment industry that demands box office success. The body of Ari Aster’s work is about family trauma from Heredity to Midsommar to this and the coping mechanisms we use, and he’s saying with the final scene that his coping mechanism is making this film for any audience who will walk away from it either feeling something that sticks or feeling nothing and going back to their life. It’s also exemplified in the forest scene - it’s Ari Aster saying he discovered film as a medium that helped him escape to worlds and stories where he could find freedom and independence for a short time before going back to confronting the realities of his trauma, and in the end Beau’s story is meant to be that for us.

I feel like the audience at the end does not represent us who are watching, but the people at Beau’s life who watched the abused commuted by his controlling mother and did not help.

So, just saw the movie, here is what i understood : The mother has been raped, there are multiple clue about it, hiding it in the attic, being angry every time the child ask about the father, the mother being afraid of "rapist genes" going into her child and as such, educates him to not have sex and be worthy to females. As a result of the mother rape, she became pregnant. She had twins, but one of them absorbed the other before birth. That's why the girl in the adoptive family dies by suffocation, and refers herself as "herself" and not by Beau view. Beau stole her place, and she calls him brother. I did not understand the crazy military guy tho. Beau absorbed the sister, he developed a second personality, the sister personalith (let's call her Bella) who hates the parents, because she is aware that the dad was a rapist. The mother killed that personality but it resurfaces again and again as shown at the end, Bella wrote the apologises on the angel, she stole the keys and the luggage, while Beau was trying to see his mom. Speaking about the rape, when Beau fail to take his medication, he opens the door and a legion of people enters his privacy. Looks like a sperm rush, and he somehow end up fighting to get out of the water, again. The forest story is obscure, i think the old dude is his real father, but i did not get the three sons. In the mother house, he finally lose his virginity but it kills his vision of the woman, maybe realizing it was a whore ? The mother reveals the secret of the rape. And i think Bella resurface because of the mother blaming her for not giving pardon. Beau regain control but too late, it killed her mother, physically or mentally. In the end he, being both Beau and Bella, are tragically judged together at the same time by society, and society kill them both at the same time even if Bella was the cause.

The mother is not the antagonist. She suffered from her mother as well. It's the intergeneraional trauma that's the antagonist.

I feel like the “implicating the audience” part at the end is more a commentary on how we judge “crazy” people that we encounter in the wild, but we should have empathy for all the trauma that got them to that point. Instead we film it and post it on the internet to laugh at, just like the people filming and laughing at the guy who wants to jump off the building in the beginning. If you encountered Beau running into a convenience store you were in and frantically chugging a water bottle he hadn’t paid for like his life depended on it, you’d be freaked out and judge him for not behaving the way our social contract says you should behave in public.

I feel like studying attachment theory literally right before watching this helped it make sense lol

this is the best and realest analysis ive seen yet.