IF YOU READ ANY OF the reviews of Ari Aster’s third feature Beau Is Afraid, you’ll likely encounter the word “departure”. In Hereditary and Midsommar, Aster gave us a pair of instant-classic horror movies; Beau is a three-hour comedy (of sorts) which its writer/director has flippantly referred to as “a Jewish Lord Of The Rings”.

But is it really such a hairpin turn? Like his first two films, is obsesseda man so crippled by anxiety, he struggles to leave the house – must travel cross-country to the funeral of his mum (Patti LuPone), the woman largely responsible for his splintered psyche. And while it’s certainly Aster’s funniest film, it’s also, arguably, his most discomfiting.