Beau Is Afraid Attic Scene Explained | 4 Simplified Theories

Beau is Afraid is… something. It’s definitely the kind of movie that purposely provokes confusion, leaving you with questions like, “What does this mean?” And you’re often asking incredulously the question, “Why?”

The Beau is Afraid attic scene in particular raises this question to its highest volume. 

**Warning! There will be SPOILERS!**

Beau is just trying to get home to his mom but life seems to be making that nearly impossible, leading him on a mind-bending journey.

Beau Is Afraid Attic Scene | Intro

As someone with a Psychology degree who even traveled to Austria to study one of Psychology’s most prestigious and controversial theorists, Sigmund Freud, I should feel confident and well-equipped in my abilities to decipher what’s going on in Beau’s relationship with his mother and his manhood. 

I’m not.

But – I’ve confronted my notes and I have some ideas. What I can say for sure is that this movie is strongly built on the foundation of the unconscious mind; repressed sexuality and aggression, anxiety and paranoia, and a twisted Oedipus complex.

Beau is Afraid presents the audience with distressing, uncomfortable images like a naked man stabbing another naked man in the middle of the street, lumpy regurgitation shot onto a computer screen, and a young lady chugging poisonous blue paint to her death. 

But no image is as jarring as witnessing a gigantic, nearly ceiling-touching standalone penis with eyes, teeth, and two piercing talons for arms sitting on two gigantic balls that you could mistake for the world’s ugliest extra-large bean bag chairs. 

This is not something I was prepared for as a viewer and I’m not sure what it says about me that I found it somewhat comical. A strange dive into absurdity that somehow felt out of place even for this wildly peculiar film.

Beau is Afraid is the kind of movie that constitutes at least a second watch to really extract meaning and connection from the many details and scenarios that are thrown your way. But with a 3-hour runtime, I’d much rather not. 

Because I don’t strongly resonate with the emotion of Beau is Afraid, I’m ok with this film remaining an enigma but I am still curious, as you are, about why we were subjected to viewing this unexpected penis monster?

I consulted some other sites first to see their theories before putting it all together to conclude what the Beau Is Afraid attic scene really means.

Beau Is Afraid Attic Scene Reddit Consensus Theory

Redditors have put in their two cents to make sense of the Beau Is Afraid attic scene. It seems that the general consensus is that the attic is a metaphor for Beau’s damaged ego or subconscious as a result of the fear his mom instilled in him about the fatality of experiencing sexual climax.

Visiting the attic for Beau is him shedding light on not only repressed memories but repressed desires, his fear of sexual pleasure manifesting as a giant phallic monster with swollen gonads. 

Jeeves, the menacing ex-military man with PTSD, shows up again in the attic scene and begins to stab the phallic monster in one of its bean bags before the monster stabs Jeeves in the skull with his sharp talon, killing him.

Redditors conclude that Jeeves is a manifestation of Beau’s fear and repressed violence, his PTSD from childhood. 

A question that is not answered here is, what does killing Jeeves mean? 

One Redditor says the death of Jeeves eradicated Beau’s PTSD.

I would take it a step further and theorize that the death of Jeeves in the subconscious world of Beau’s attic buried Beau’s repressed violence and PTSD into his unconscious mind. Because of this and his still-damaged ego, Beau was unable to hold himself back from choking his mom out in the film’s following scene. 

Beau Is Afraid Attic Scene Den of Geek Theory

David Crow of the entertainment website, Den of Geek, gives his take on the Beau is Afraid attic scene saying that the tale that Beau’s mother told Beau at a young age about both his father and grandfather dying from climaxing during sex, “creates a fear of sex and women, and perhaps even a disgust of his own male sexuality.”

Beau’s fear of the attic, this recurring nightmare that he’s been having, is equated to really being the fear of his own sexuality. 

This article also mentions the important detail that the phallic monster was not only a danger to others, stabbing Jeeves to death but also a danger to itself, having stabbed itself repeatedly before Jeeves even arrived.

Crow further theorizes that Beau’s fear of sexuality stunted his growth as a man and created a life built upon anxieties. This can be the meaning of the phallic monster stabbing itself, the self-harm of a fear-based life.

There is no certainty of whether Beau’s father shaking an empty food bowl while chained to a wall in the attic was a reality. No certainty of whether Jeeves actually appeared in the attic or not. Beau’s unreliable point of view makes it hard to differentiate between what is real and what is metaphorical. 

But the metaphor of his menacing sexuality seems to be the only crystal clear interpretation of the attic scene. 

Beau Is Afraid Attic Scene Screen Rant Theory

Kayleena Pierce-Bohen of the entertainment website, Screen Rant, clearly presents 3 different theories for what the phallic monster in the attic could mean. 

1. the monster is a metaphor for Beau’s absentee father, “a literal ‘giant d***'”
2. Beau’s interpretation of what his father means to him, a dangerous and threatening sperm donor
3. a metaphor for Beau’s fear of his own sexuality

Their take on the Beau is Afraid attic scene further theorizes that Beau needed to slay the phallic monster in order to free himself from the fear of his sexuality and that Jeeve’s intervention was actually a form of assistance that ended up failing in the end. 

Ultimately, Beau is still too afraid to fight the monster and remains tormented by his lifelong fear of his sexuality. 

The Film’s Creator Theory

The writer and director of Beau is Afraid, Ari Aster, does not intend for this film to be easily digestible, understandable, or interpretable. 

This Vox article neatly states that Beau is Afraid is the kind of movie that “[defies] explanation.” Even Aster himself refuses to explain the movie, mainly having crafted the film based on emotion and intuition. 

Despite this, Aster still offers a little bit further insight into the meaning of the film stating that it’s a film about “an unlived life” and “guilt.”

In reference to the attic scene, the motif of an unlived life here is clear. Because of Beau’s fear of his own sexuality, he’s never been in love, never had children, and the beautiful life that was painted for him in the forest play could never be. 

This supports the Den of Geek theory that the phallic monster in the attic represents how Beau’s fear of sexuality has stunted his growth as a man.

Beau’s guilt lies in his desire to kill his mother. He hints at this in the therapy session at the beginning of the film and after his encounter in the attic, his hatred for his mother spills out unexpectedly, leading to choking her out.

This could indirectly support the idea of the death of repressed anger in the attic of Beau’s mind leading to thoughts and actions that produce guilt.

Of course, we know how the movie ends. Beau on judgment day, drowning in his own guilt. 

Not much is said explicitly about the input or meaning of Beau’s paternity but not everything can be understood on the first viewing.

Ari Aster himself agrees that “a lot… will make itself much more clear upon a second viewing.” There are too many possibilities to divulge in a film as dense as this one. But the deeper you think about it, the more fascinating it becomes. 

Putting it All Together

Everything seems to be a metaphor so let’s lay out all of the possible interpretations that were explored or implied.

The old man doppelganger that Beau first sees in the attic: 

1. This could be Beau’s father literally chained up and kept in the attic by his crazy mother who is deranged enough to fake her own death. It’s not far-fetched.
2. This could be a reflection of Beau himself, forever chained by the demands of his mother and limited by the fears she indoctrinated in him.
3. This is simply Beau’s imagination of what his father looks like before he takes on the shape of the phallic monster.

The Phallic Monster showed up next in the light after the image of the old man who is potentially Beau’s father. Some explanations:

1. Beau’s father is the phallic monster, having only ever been a biological component in Beau’s life and not really a present, human figure.
2. The Phallic represents Beau’s fear of his own sexuality having been told from youth that death from sexual climax runs in his family.
3. The phallic monster stabbing itself and Jeeves represents the destructive nature that Beau has attributed to it.

Jeeves’ presence in the attic:

1. Jeeves is a physical manifestation of Beau’s violence and PTSD.
2. Jeeve attacking the phallic monster was to help Beau overcome his fear of his own sexuality.
3. Jeeves’ death eradicated Beau’s PTSD now that he knows the truth about his father.
4. Jeeves’ death unlocked an unrestrained version of violence in Beau that resulted in him choking out his mother. 

In Conclusion…

Beau is Afraid is a mental jolt from your typical Friday night movie. It refuses narrative tropes, predictability, and classic film conventions to create an art piece that has no lines between fantasy and reality, literal and metaphorical. 

The Beau is Afraid attic scene can be referred to as the main climax of the movie (no pun intended) shocking viewers with its strange mix of comical, confusing, and creepy. 

When exploring what it means, nearly all sources can reach the conclusion that Beau’s fear of his sexuality, a mental seed planted by his mother, is the monster in the attic, which is the foundation for all his anxiety-riddled shortcomings. 

Although the film is not an easy watch and presents far too many questions with not enough answers in its incredibly dense 3-hour run time, it brings a refreshingly distinct approach to cinema, so much creativity in the details, and cleverly explores the world through a lens of an animated, exaggerated level of fear. 

Fascinating, and potentially striking if it’s something you can innately connect with. Otherwise, a sequence of build-up moments that are unable to sustain your interest for the full 3-hours with an ending that’s unfortunately unsatisfying. 

Rating: 5.6/10

What do you think the Beau Is Afraid attic scene means? Let me know in the comments below!

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Peace, love, and lots of popcorn,

IMO