Ari Aster “Disappointed” By Reception To ‘Beau Is Afraid’: “It’s Designed To Be Divisive”

After “Hereditary” and “Midsommar,” Ari Aster quickly became a young American filmmaker to watch for the horror and A24 crowds. But those fans, and pretty much everything else, didn’t care for Aster’s third feature, “Beau Is Afraid,” which tanked hard at the box office this spring. Critical reception was mixed, too, with many critics non-plussed by a three-hour film about a put-upon man who, despite his journey, discovers no capacity or initiative to change.

READ MORE: ‘Beau Is Afraid’ Review: Joaquin Phoenix Guides Ari Aster’s Hilarious, Horrific, Despairing Nightmare, Hellish Mom Comedy

But for Aster, that state of perplexion is the whole point of his film, and IndieWire reports (via a new Vanity Fair interview with the director) that he’s “disappointed” more audience members weren’t taken in by it. “The film ends on a theater just very gradually emptying out over the credits, with a very indifferent audience,” Aster told VF. “I wasn’t quite ready for just how prophetic that ending was going to be. It occurred to me in retrospect. I knew where this was headed. Right. And that’s part of the point.”

So, in other words, “Beau Is Afraid” was a self-fulfilling prophecy in filmmaking for Aster? Not quite, as the director insists “it’s absolutely my favorite of my own films and I think the furthest I’ve been able to go.” Aster also alluded to Easter eggs “buried” in the film’s “background” that “tell a whole other story that nobody has brought to me yet.” That’s a visual device Aster used to great effect in his previous two films, so there may be something to what he says there. “That’s frustrating because you take the time to put them there and you wonder who’s going to catch them,” Aster continued. “When you make a film like this, it feels in some ways like you’re just pulling yourself inside out. With this film especially as it came out, I felt very protective of it.”

Aster hoped more audiences members would catch on to his use of background symbolism in his latest film’s theatrical run. “One thing that excites me about “Beau” is that there are certain things that I buried in that film that still haven’t been talked about,” he continued, “and I was kind of disappointed by the way people were maybe engaging with the film on first release because it was very verdict based like, ‘Well, it doesn’t all work.’ It’s like, ‘Well, wait, what doesn’t work?’ The film is an experiment in so many ways. Even what he finds up in that attic is a very specific provocation. I’m deliberately blowing up the whole film. People talked about it as a letdown when clearly — yeah, that’s the joke! Interpret this, right?”

Unfortunately, the consensus opinion about “Beau Is Afraid” is that it’s a long, polarizing, and indeed frustrating cinematic work. But Aster told VF that its alienating structure is deliberate. “I always knew the film was going to be polarizing and it’s designed to be divisive,” Aster said about the film’s narrative. “The film shape-shifts a lot, and the film has something of hostility toward traditional narrative structure. It was always important to me that the film be about a character who does not change, so already, this is something that’s going to alienate certain people and it’s designed to alienate certain people. The length is part of that. That was certainly something that I had to fight for, and to the credit of A24 who had a lot invested in the film, they really allowed me to make the film I wanted to make.”

Aster hoped the film’s alienating structure would incite more people to see the film and determine their own opinion on it. Instead, “Beau Is Afraid” did poorly at the box office, grossing only $10 million in its theatrical run off a $30 million budget. “I fantasize about there having been a time during which a film like this might’ve come out and divided audiences,” Aster explained. “and it would’ve made people excited to go to the theater in order to determine how they felt themselves, as opposed to just people hearing, ‘Oh, the response is all over the board, so I’m not going to bother.’ I knew this film was going to have people hating it or hopefully loving it, and I was hoping that the draw of a debate would be greater, as opposed to the response being something that would ultimately push people away from giving it a shot. So, the film will always be polarizing, but I just hope that people keep finding it.”

And maybe “Beau Is Afraid” will find a second audience on streaming. But Aster wouldn’t be surprised if word of mouth continues to be a “deterrant” for potential viewers. “I’m really pleased with the shape of the film and proud of it,” the director continued. “When you’re making a film like that, you’re very excited by the idea of dividing people, but then it comes out and it divides people, and then you realize, ‘Oh, wait a minute. This is also functioning as a deterrent for people to even go see it.’”

Whatever happens with “Beau Is Afraid,” it’s onto the next picture for Ari Aster. Up next for him? He’ll reunite with “Beau” leading man Joaquin Phoenix for a “Western-noir dark ensemble comedy” entitled “Eddington.” Maybe that one will click better with audiences.