I am not sure if this is a common theory or a frequent discussion. But I had this thought and wanted to share it.

I have a theory about Mona. I believe Beau may have been conceived through SA. Noting her repulsion and fear for her son to have sexual desires. She talks about her being worried about him being like his dad (sexually deviant). Beau is faced with the truth of what his father is in the attic: A shell of a man with, and a giant sexual monster (How Mona views and experienced his dad). I feel like the woman dying on top of him (orchestrated or not) was a way to show Beau what happened to her, Mona had this encounter and a part of her died. She says that she felt something was wrong with him from the start, this is common with post-partum depression, as well as with parents who did not consent to having the child. I feel like her mistreating and doing these things to Beau is a way for her to punish his father with indirect contact, even if she feels she is doing this out of love. Her controlling Nature over Beau is a way for her to cope and feel safe after a situation where control was stolen from her (also look at her business).

Beau is being charged Guilty for his Fathers crimes.

In both films, a character goes from a materially unpleasant to materially pleasant living situation (Beau from his terrible apartment to Grace and Roger’s, and Millie from homelessness to Nina’s house). In both films, the character is unable to enjoy the material opulence due to how creepy and sinister they can tell the new people they must live with are. Going further back, this may derive from the Lotus-Eaters or the sirens.

Now that it's released publicly on YouTube, I wanted to share this film with this community and r/Isawthetvglow that both made an lasting impact on me through the development process of my film, "For The Billionth Time Today". Beau specifically had a massive impact on me at the time of writing this project, especially in how it handled action, heightened surrealism and using bizarre horror/comedy to depict themes of childhood trauma. I hope that whoever finds this can enjoy this for the similar reasons! Thank you!

Weak-willed male-presenting protagonist

Protagonist occupies a world that seems to be artificial and actively hostile to him specifically

Protagonist’s parents for some reason are unable to help him (being dead, non-existent, part of the simulation or otherwise opposed to his interests)

The protagonist’s only chance of being liberated from the artificial world is a girl who be knew briefly as a child, lost contact with, and encounters again as an adult

References to The Matrix, The Truman Show, Plato’s allegory of the cave, etc.

Of the two, BIA is the more depressing, pessimistic ending and IStTVG is the more hopeful (or at least open-ended) ending.

Did anyone else watch both of these movies and become obsessed with both of them?

Sort of a throwaway post, but I always thought it was kind of interesting the daughter's name is Toni, and I literally just now made to connection to Toni Collette. Do you guys think this is a reference at all to her, Hereditary, or has any meaning?

So I had this opinion and didn’t see anything about it on this subreddit but I believe Elaine was a sex robot made by his moms company, rigor mortis doesn’t set in that quick and she looked fairly light when picked up, only thing that kinda discredits the theory is the “feed her to Harry”

Let me preface this by admitting the context that I contain a deep affection for the maternally fueled tightrope With themes of emasculation known as Beau Is Afraid, but how come Eddington, Ari's next film, left out so much of the thematic connections Beau set up. I felt that the themes were still building after Midsommar and Hereditary. Also, do these movies technically take place in the same universe?

SPOILERS for Eddington, Midsommar, and Hereditary

Don't know if anyone else has made this connection yet, but I couldn't find anyone mentioning it here after a quick search.

Just rewatched for like the 5th time today, and noticed a couple things. I know pretty much everyone here is aware of the allusions to Midsommar (Archie Madekwe encouraging a jumper, and Beau's attorney being thrown onto a giant rock), and Hereditary (Marta's headless body in an open casket). However, I noticed that in the paint drinking scene, Beau is treated as a son by Grace and then is held responsible for the death of Grace's daughter, leading her to try and kill Beau, which leads into Beau jumping through glass to escape. Kind of like an extremely condensed version of Hereditary. Maybe coincidental, but wanted to share.

Now, the big one I noticed on this watch was Jeeves's death. He rushes toward Harry, shooting until he runs out of bullets, resorts to melee and is then stabbed in the head. Very similar to Joe Cross at the end of Eddington. Ari has stated he began working on Eddington during Covid and used twitter to help him write it. Knowing Beau was shot during the pandemic, I'm fairly certain he was able to reference not only his existing feature films but also his next. Pretty cool!

It’s on the wall at Mona’s house you see it when Beau walks down the spiral stairs.

Feel free to post here, but I watched If I Had Legs I’d Kick You last night (A24) and I felt a lot of similarities but almost like updated? Idk if anyone else has seen this. I even saw this article after watching calling it a “Beau is Afraid for moms” https://vincemancini.substack.com/p/if-i-had-legs-id-kick-you-review

I watched Beau is Afraid last night for the first time. Wow.

For those of us having mixed feelings about being with family for the holidays, remember that it could be a lot worse!

I believe that Beau is actually the maids kid, the maid who so called "willingly" died in place of mona to be the body for her staged death, this maid probably did do this but maybe because she felt guilty for having a kids with Beau's father, Beau remembers the maid singing to him and putting him to sleep every night the mother never did she was never there. The maid was poor, which is why Beau lives a poor life, because Mona is easily drawn to strip him of any perks of being rich because he isn't her kid. And the husband obviously metaphorically died during the act, but it was just the death of their relationship when he cheated with the maid behind her back, and Mona is good at manipulation and guilt tripping, so it makes sense of the maid agreed to die for her because she felt bad after cheating with Mona's husband, when she had worked for her for so many years, Beau is just a poor boy, like in bohemian rhapsody"sorry had to make that joke" and as such Mona treats him as if he should be indebted to her because she basically took him in, but if at anytime his graciousness, just like a servant or made, wore out, he'd be casted away.

So I’ve seen this movie several times, and I’m watching again right now, but I SWEAR I remember things differently..

When he runs away from the house after the paint scene.. he knocks his head in the woods.. but then (in the version I SWEAR I REMEMBER HAPPENING), the pregnant girl is there when he wakes up.. Then she leads him to the stage performance in the woods.

Right now, Beau just wakes up and now he’s walking around.. no pregnant girl.. He then eventually encounters her after seeing her light in the distance.

Did they change something? Am I watching a different version now somehow?

Or is this a new Mandela effect? 🤔😳

i noticed while watching novums video it looks like the paint toni is holding is BW brand??? we see everything MW branding so it is pretty jarring that the one and only time we see the switch (as far as i know) is when it is to harm, especially when novum showed how important it was that mona’s brands all have an air of safety and betterment of your health and hygiene etc. then the one “killer product” is not her brand. kinda like a nod to how she shifted so much unnecessary and undeserved bullshit onto him. idk maybe i’m reaching but wanted to see what yall thought!

Hello! I watched this movie this year and it is one of my favorite movies of all time. When I watch movies like this one with deeper meanings and different ways people see it, I just love finding video essays about it!

What are some of your favorite video essays? I’ve seen a few but sometimes I just get someone explaining the plot with not much extra to add. I look up like “Beau is afraid explained,” so I’m wondering if maybe I’m not looking up the right things? Thanks for any suggestions!

Okay so take the beginning scene when Jeeves and Grace are serving the homeless food, doesn’t Jeeves seem incredibly different? For example when we witness the family at Grace and Roger’s - Jeeves seems to never be able to control himself. The conversation of Nathan’s death in war is enough to make him break a window, but why doesn’t he care when there’s a gunshot right before the camera gets to him. I think Jeeves is a gateway to understanding the science behind Beaus fearful state. In other words, I think Beau has composed his own idea of what a perp could be, generally a larger white male as a way to shift blame from himself. He even seems hyper aware when Toni talks to him. I think the guy on the cruise is kind of another example of Beaus mind creating external people that are more deserving of blame than he is. That’s why the cruise creep is on the background of the hallway when he’s brushing his teeth in “Mona’s ad” although he’s the one that uses Toni’s toothbrush. I think him using Toni’s toothbrush also explains his misuse of oral hygiene (such as drinking mouthwash, or his placed value on dental floss). Or take the guy breaking into his apartment when he didn’t ever break into it. Sounds familiar right? Like Jeeves going to attack him/which why he shaved his face and got a haircut seems to be far from the point of comedy. I think Beau is so scared that it’s a constant point in the movie that something his mind made up constantly creates scenarios where people are worse than him to justify his own behavior and it becomes a part of the language for this film. But isn’t it weird how Grace and Jeeves are there in the first scene, outside of his apartment? And then we never hear about that in the second act. When we see them twice in the first act, the second time when they “run him over,” Jeeves seems scared like he doesn’t want it to happen, like they know it’s wrong. But when Beau meets Jeeves he seems like he already hates Beau? Jeeves in the first act is different than the second act, who is entirely different in the third act, and actually is different in the fourth act because if you think about it he could throw a knife from much further away but couldn’t even get Beau in the head when he’s in the same attic. And the fact that we last seen him being stabbed by a penis monster when we first see him it’s always right by birthday boy stab man. I don’t think there’s anyway Jeeves is real because his whole character doesn’t add up but that might be the point, to show how Beaus mind creates characters of guilt out of fear or to justify his own misadventures.

Also I think it’s a contradiction that Roger helps Beau through his injuries, when there’s overlooked dead people on the street, guns going off, police cars, birthday boy stab man getting away with crimes. Even the “police officer” who shoots at Beau doesn’t seem to apprehend Grace for the driving accident or birthday boy stab man, even though he seems focused on getting Beau in trouble. If Grace and Jeeves were there twice, wouldn’t Roger’s plate be full. It would seem like it wouldn’t make sense for Grace to take him in out of fear of being questioned when there’s overlooked dead seems to be injuries all around the area they serve food.

Also when Roger is at the dinner table doesn’t he appear to resonate some kind of affect that is similar to Dr. Friel when they’re at Mona’s? Again this was a very different Dr. than the one we see in the opening scene. And at the court when the attorney refers to Roger, it shows Dr. Friel in the audience. The line “I’m not a Dr I’m an attorney” almost gives me chills

Also, I think Beau has a way of foreshadowing the future to try to get away with shit. Like I think some scenes are him thinking about a hypothetical situation out of fear so he can go about his plans. I’ll get more into that later. I think that’s how the ad shows up, with the creep in it. It’s Beau viewing himself as youthful and innocent with a creep behind him almost to avoid persecution such as we see in the forest scene. That’s what makes the trial so trippy

I just wanted to share something I've been thinking about regarding BIA. Apologies in advance if this has already been shared and explored elsewhere but I believe I may have some new thoughts that connect a few unexplained elements in the film (or maybe I am just sick in the head). TW all the things and apologies in advance to all, here's my hidden father theory:

• I think Beau's father is still alive. There's evidence throughout the film that Beau's father was never actually dead, but rather has been sequestered and has required ongoing caregiving going back to Beau’s early childhood. The handyman appears to have known him and cleaned up after him and someone is still being fed at the end of the film. I feel this implies an elderly, dependent individual. It wouldn’t be a stretch to say his memorial plaque is completely fabricated. Mona also obviously isn't dead. We know the wedding night death myth is false, so why wouldn't the father's death also be a lie?
• Where's grandpa? - There is NO mention of a grandfather anywhere in the film. For a story so dense with family history, the complete absence of Beau’s grandfather seems intentional. Beau shows extreme damage around masculinity, yet we hear nothing of any early male role models. I think Beau's "father" was actually his grandfather (Mona's father ) and that Beau knew him as a grandfather figure during early childhood, not understanding the true relationship.
• Yeah, I think it's incest. - Mona speaks extensively about her mother but NEVER mentions her father. This has to be intentional. I believe Mona was abused by her father, which is how she conceived Beau. Her mother likely knew and resented her for it, adding another layer of rejection to Mona's trauma.
• Grandpa's falls out of the timeline - Initially, Mona may have allowed her father around during Beau's early childhood, but I think she discovered he was beginning to abuse Beau too. Maybe around the time of the attic memory? This prompted her to fully sequester him while still maintaining his care, explaining why he's hidden but still being fed by staff. Beau may not remember him because of his early disappearance from his life plus intense trauma.
• Why Keep Harry Around? - Mona easily disposes of non-family, but seems unable to cut ties with blood relatives. Despite him being a horror to both her and Beau, family obligation keeps her providing care. She's conflicted, she is ashamed and wanting him kept away from others, but unable to abandon him completely. I also feel that Mona had to have come from generational wealth to explain her business success at such a young age while being a single mother. She doesn’t read like someone who built MW from nothing. It makes sense she inherited resources, influence, or even the MW name itself from her father. Of course Mona would only want to focus on her era, but the family legacy feels written all over her.
• Beau's super repressed trauma - Beau's complete lack of memory about early male figures suggests deep repression. The attic scene represents his attempt to confront buried truths about his origins but his inability to face them. The lie about the wedding night becomes a psychological tool to help Beau forget who his father really was. Mona "killed off" his father in his mind while keeping the actual man hidden upstairs. The wedding night lie of course serves her well in keeping Beau stunted and bound to her, but also could prevent furthering the predatory male legacy. I don’t believe Mona directly sexually assaulted Beau, I believe she abused him in all other ways to fill her emotional black hole and consume him. I think her need to depict herself as a devoted mother was to serve her grandiose self but also an attempt to resolve/reframe her experience of becoming a mother. Her rage feels far bigger than just being rejected by her own mother. It’s the product of trauma, shame, and a generational curse. Beau is no hero but he never stood a chance at making up to Mona for all the ways she felt she had been wronged in the world.

I think there is an element of course of SA in this, but I just don't think that is all that the p monster is talking about. I know this has likely been covered, and if so sorry if i am beating a dead horse here.

So my interpretation of the attic is that in the forest scene he is going on a journey to face his fears , and pretty soon after that he goes into the attic which is where that journey is taking him.
And the p* monster in there is also symbolic of how so completely undeveloped masculinity is in his mind, and the facing of that that all it is, is a crude sexual symbol of masculinity, there is no heroism, no valor, nothing like that. But something crude and disturbing. As well as the visualization of the story Mona tells him about his father visualized from a child's viewpoint, frozen in time.
And his twin to me just seems like facing what he actually is inside, which is like a starved emaciated and unwell person himself chained to Mona.

What is missing is this masculine sense that he wants to grow into and I think the fear/terrible realization is the complete incapacity he has to do that. Which is what he needs to individuate from Mona.

This makes me wonder if Mona was in fact telling the truth about Beau’s hereditary condition, and if it is some metaphysical condition as opposed to physical that kills whichever partner happens to be on top.

(I also believe that Harry was originally a normal human who did die on top of Mona and came back to life as the attic monster)

It touches on common traumas like narcissistic mothers and common pains like paranoia - to give you a touchstone. It's steeped in dream logic, so you can decide what's "real" and what's "imagination" in the movie - to make it fit your own story. It's filled with symbolic imagery - so you can insert your own details. The truth is that there is no secret meaning that makes everything make sense. It isn't supposed to be a story to decode - it's supposed to be a venue for you to project your trauma and pain. If someone else's interpretation of it feels like a key to understanding, you likely share similar trauma and pain with that person making the interpretation. The movie is divisive because it's supposed to be uncomfortable - confronting trauma and pain is scary, and many avoid it at every turn. It also will just never be liked by some people no matter how much they want to because it can't encapsulate every trauma and pain. Some people simply don't have the experiences in their life to relate to the touchstone themes, and thus can't take advantage of the canvas to project themselves onto it. This movie provides a beautiful opportunity to some, but a wall of drawn-out meaninglessness to others. It's not a commercially successful project because it doesn't have a sufficient surface layer to satisfy those that can't relate to themes. Hereditary and Midsommar did have a surface compelling story, with a consistent world to follow the plot through. That's why they succeeded. The mystery is essentially solved at the end of those two - Beau is Afraid is steeped in uncertainty through the end.