10 Most WTF Opening Scenes From Recent Movies
3. Beau Is Born - Beau Is Afraid
Ari Aster certainly knows how to leave a deep, bruising impression with an opening scene, and his wildly polarising new movie Beau is Afraid is absolutely no different.
The first scene shows protagonist Beau (Joaquin Phoenix) being born from a first-person perspective, from being nestled in the dark in his mother's womb to his mother's vaginal canal opening and him entering the world for the first time.
But Beau being a newborn, his vision remains extremely blurry throughout the two-minute scene, all while his mother Mona (Patti LuPone) can be heard screaming about his lack of responsiveness.
At that moment, a doctor can faintly be seen giving Beau oxygen before the perspective suddenly shifts to Beau's bottom being smacked by the doctor, and he lets out a loud cry as Aster smash-cuts to the movie's title.
Beyond establishing Mona as an overbearing presence in Beau's life from the moment he exits her body, this is surely one of the most singularly horrifying depictions of birth on-screen, showing something we've all experienced and yet none of us can ever possibly remember.