I’m not saying that Ari Aster’s originally intended 207 minute cut of “Beau is Afraid” might have been a better film, but it does confirm last year’s intel that the film was too long and A24 urged him to snip it.
An American producer had told me at Cannes that A24 were pushing hard for Aster to edit the 3 and a half hour cut that he had, but that he was very resistant about it.
After my report, Aster was overheard, at a Cannes function, saying something to effect of, “Jordan Ruimy is the only person I tell things to.” Obviously, he didn’t deny my report, which came out a day before his remarks, but Mr. Aster was being snarky.
Aster is now telling IndieWire that, despite his insistence for a longer cut, he’s happy about the way the film shaped out:
I’m very happy with this cut,” Aster said, insisting he wouldn’t deliver another one. His initial edit landed at three hours and 27 minutes, and he snipped away from there to land at the final length. “There are points where I resisted cutting it further, but I’m very happy with where it landed. There was a period where I definitely wanted it to be longer. But I’m happy now.”
In 2019, Aster unleashed a 171-minute director’s cut of “Midsommer” that added nearly half an hour to the original version.
I consequently did a re-evaluation of “Midsommar” in 2020 after having watched the 3-hour director’s cut — a fuller, more depth-filled and coherent version than the theatrically released one.
The added scenes made for a much more concise film, one which I had originally seen in the summer of 2019 at the New York premiere. The theatrical version was all over the place and had some very strange pacing issues. This one did not.
Hate to say it, but adding half an hour to ‘Beau’ would not make it any better. The film is split into four different segments, the first two work wonderfully well, but the final two completely suck you out of the film. There is no way the last hour and change could be bettered with additional scenes.