Patti LuPone brings the force of a stage lead to screen parts that may give her little room. We rate her most when that authority is audible in a few lines; Beau Is Afraid benefits, even when the film wears us down.
Fi1m perspective
In Beau Is Afraid (2023), Patti LuPone spends a long while as a voice on the telephone. Mona Wassermann need not be there to trouble her son, played by Joaquin Phoenix, and LuPone makes those few lines count. We felt uneasy listening to her, because she makes a mother's attention sound like something Beau has to answer for. Ari Aster has a useful contrast here: Phoenix keeps finding new ways to flinch, while LuPone needs only to speak. We wish he trusted it more.
The stage career makes her scale of delivery less surprising. Her breakthrough as Eva Perón in Evita (1979), followed by Fantine in the original London Les Misérables (1985) and Mama Rose in the Gypsy revival (2008), established a career built around demanding musical leads. A powerful singing voice is part of that reputation, but Mona makes a useful case for listening to the speaking voice. The theatrical force remains even when the part has been reduced to a telephone call.
Her screen career has developed alongside that theatre work, from supporting film parts in the 1980s to recurring television appearances. She plays Elaine in Peter Weir's Witness (1985), a film we recommend chiefly for the attraction between Harrison Ford and Kelly McGillis. It is worth seeing, but it is not where we would start for LuPone herself. Penny Dreadful, American Horror Story and Pose offer a better indication of how regularly television has made room for her.
Aster gives her a more revealing use: the formidable mother whose certainty makes an already frightened man smaller. Speaking about Mona, LuPone said, “I choose to think she loves her son and he just constantly disappoints her.” That is a practical way into a woman who could otherwise become a collection of threats; the disappointment gives LuPone something specific to play. The problem is Aster's insistence on making the point again after we have understood it, and his three-hour film keeps a valuable performer waiting too long. Try Beau Is Afraid for her, but do not expect the rest of the film to justify the wait.
Biography
Patti LuPone is an American actress and singer. She trained at the Juilliard School and began her professional career with The Acting Company in 1972. She made her Broadway debut in Three Sisters (1973).
LuPone is known for her stage work in musicals. She won Tony Awards for her performances as Eva Perón in Evita (1980) and Rose in Gypsy (2008), and a further Tony for Company (2022). She received two Olivier Awards for roles in Les Misérables and The Cradle Will Rock (1985).
Her screen credits include Witness (1985), Driving Miss Daisy (1989) and Mona Wassermann in Beau Is Afraid (2023). She has appeared in television series such as Life Goes On (1989–1993), American Horror Story (2013–2014) and Penny Dreadful (2014–2016).
