Beau Is Afraid follows the story of a paranoid man making his way home to his mother. But along the way, there are multiple surrealistic elements that act as a hindrance. Now if you feel that the story description itself is absurd then let me tell you that this is just the surface level treatment of a plot which is mind numbing and terrifyingly wicked in terms of the events and the graphics. Not only is it immersive but it is ultra indulgent and makes for an outrageously brilliant watch. The screenplay standing at a daunting run time of 3 hours does make for an overwhelming watch which is brilliant at so many levels. By its very nature, it is designed to hit a dead end even if you watch it with thorough attention throughout. I shall try reasoning some of the events in this section, so Spoilers Ahead!

The drama does open with the protagonist, who is being born from his mother’s womb. This scene is important for a couple of reasons – one being that this was probably the only incident that can be regarded as a ‘true’ and ‘trust-worthy’ event in the entire film. And secondly, this scene was the only scene wherein the protagonist was happy and not afraid of life(while the rest of the film stays true to its title). The instance being that the protagonist isn’t crying until being smacked on his buttocks. Soon, you are introduced to a now fully grown and partially aging protagonist who is seen taking therapy from a therapist. He is prescribed a drug by his doctor who instructs him to drink it with ‘water only’. But what happens next formulates one of the most bizarre events throughout the film!

The protagonist is shown to be staying in a crime driven city away from his mother who is a wealthy businesswoman. His planned visit to her is stalled by a bizarre set of occurences up until he gets to know that his mother is found dead. He has always questioned his father’s existence which he was told had died while conceiving him. His childhood sweetheart had made a pact with him that they shall stay virgins till they meet again. All this while, he gets injured while a riot breaks out at his place. Too much happening but do stick around! The proceedings are engrossing and immersive to the point that the lines between real and reel begin to fade out.

There are a bunch of interesting characters that the protagonist encounters along his way of going to his mother’s place where a few of them are also after his life. The events certainly have a shock value although this cannot fully be termed as a jump scare horror. It has more to do with surrealism with bouts of body horror. As a part of the third act, he does visit his mother’s place where the funeral does take place wherein he also happens to meet his childhood sweetheart. The two of them make love and in the process of an orgasm, the latter just freezes to death. And that is when there is a twist in the tale – Beau’s mother is still alive and she had orchestrated her fake death to bring him closer to his family.

Soon, Beau gets to know the truth about his father while also encountering a truth that his twin brother(a braver version of himself), both of whom are locked up in the attic. In fact, his father is shown to be a gigantic penis(symbolic of how Beau’s mother was a pseudo-feminist and she only used Beau’s father to conceive Beau, that was all that she may have wanted in life). And while, this is too much to handle for Beau, he accidently kills his mother while escaping on a motor boat into a cave that brings him into an arena. Now the question really emerges, what happened to Beau anyway? Why did his mother orchestrate her death? What in the world is going on? Patience, while I try and address this to the best of my ability.

As per my interpretation, Beau’s mother wanted an intelligent and a loving son for herself(without wanting to share Beau with anyone), as love may have been the only thing missing in her life. The instance being that she is shown to be explaining to Beau(while he was head over heels with Elaine, his sweetheart) on how a relationship can spoil individuals and that they shouldn’t have s*x. But over the years, Beau grew up to be timid and aloof from his mother thus prompting his mother to orchestrate every event in his life(remember she is rich while being a businesswoman) by also planting every character including Elaine.

This was on the lines of The Truman Show, with the last scene shown to be a case of an argument between the two parties in an arena, represented through the two defence lawyers. Having said this, how Beau’s mother was able to pull this through remains unclear. All this while, the whole life of Beau is surrealistic and in control of his mother who wants him to be close to her. Beau is afraid throughout the film and hence its title, right from crying after being born to his eventually death in a cave which was symbolic of the womb of his mother. Overall, the screenplay is designed to confuse you and that is the beauty of it eventually!