Guilt-Ridden “Mama’s Boy” Protagonist Takes Surreal Odyssey in Ari Aster's Perplexing New Film

Aster's new film, Beau Is Afraid, centers around a 40-year-old man living with his overbearing mother who struggles with extreme anxiety and paralysis.
Despite polarizing audiences, Aster sees himself in the alienating main character and his films explore universal emotions like shame and fear.
Aster's previous horror films Hereditary and Midsommar were successful though unconventional, focusing on drama over jump scares.
Beau Is Afraid has been Aster's passion project since film school, inspired more by novels than screenplays.
In the end, the surreal journey reveals the protagonist's greatest fear has come to pass: he is guilty of everything he worried he might be.