THE FOLLOWING REVIEW CONTAINS SPOILERS OF THE DISCUSSED FILM. READERS DISCRETION IS ADVISED.
Grief appears to be inevitable for everyone because it’s a matter of time for each of us to cope with something that has had its deep effect. But when we do, we have to ensure we’re not consumed from it all.
PLOT
Midsommar follows Dani Ardor whose left traumatized when her sister has committed murder-suicide, killing herself and her parents by filling the house with carbon monoxide. This tragedy would put a deeper strain in her relationship with her boyfriend Christian Hughes, the latter of which wants to break up with her but the circumstances finds himself unable to. At the last moment, he reluctantly decides to invite her to a midsummer festival in Sweden he’s been planning to go with his friends Mark & Josh. All are invited by their Swedish friend Pelle who shares that the festival happens every 90 years. Josh immediately sees this as a once in a lifetime opportunity due to how he’s working on a thesis of European midsummer festivities. The day that Christian’s group arrives to the commune known as ‘Hårga’, they meet a couple from London named Simon (Archie Madekwe) & Connie (Ellora Torchia), who were invited by Pelle’s communal brother Ingemar (Hampus Hallberg). All try to enjoy themselves by trying psychedelic mushrooms, but Dani would go through a bad trip as she would hallucinate about her family. The next day, everyone attends a ceremony where two elders commit suicide by jumping from a cliff onto a pile of rocks below. A commune elder named Siv (Gunnel Fred) would calm everyone down by explaining every member would honorably commit this act at the age of 72. Christian would become interested in writing a thesis of the commune, but this would bother Josh since it was his idea. Dani wants to leave, but Pelle convinces her to stay when sharing he found a new family with the commune when he lost his parents in a fire. When Simon & Connie, they are said to be taken separately to a train station. As Christian does his own research, he is told that the commune would sometimes invite outsiders for mating purposes, which also avoids incest. However, relationships between cousins are allowed which explains the disfigured member Ruben (Levente Puczkó-Smith). He is propositioned to mate with a member named Maja (Isabelle Grill), but he refuses. When Mark gets caught unknowingly urinating on a sacred tree, he gets lured away from the group. When Josh gets caught taking forbidden action to photograph sacred texts of the commune at night, he is bludgeoned to death. However, he was distracted by a man wearing Mark’s face before meeting his end, confirming both of Christian’s friends have died. The day after this, Christian & Dani would get separated and have their own hallucinogenic experiences when given drinks by the commune. While Dani wins a maypole dancing competition that crowns her ‘May Queen’, Christian gets drugged and coerced to impregnate Maja, with other members watching and mimicking her moans. When Dani catches him in the act, she would have a panic attack and other women from the commune would surround her and mimic her cries. Christian would try to flee after the ritual, but would find the remains of Josh and Simon. It is after spotting this where he would then be paralyzed by an elder. For the final ceremony, the leaders of the commune explain that they must offer nine sacrifices to purge evil. The first four confirmed to be sacrifices are Josh, Mark, Simon & Connie. Connie’s body is found to be bloated as a result being drowned offscreen. The other four sacrifices were other members such as Ingemar and Ulf (Henrik Norlén). As the May Queen, Dani must decide the ninth sacrifice and she would end up deciding Christian over another commune member. As the final sacrifice, he would be stuffed into the body of a bear and placed in a wooden temple alongside the other four. The others except him are given drugs to prevent feeling the fear and suffering. The film would end with the remaining commune mimic the wails of agony of those being burned alive in the temple, whereas Dani would transition from sobbing to smiling.
THOUGHTS
Due to how blown away I was with Hereditary, I was certain Writer/Director Ari Aster would repeat history. That is what happened when I saw this film and it feels a whole lot different in comparison to his theatric debut. The whole time, the feeling that is felt is absolute stress because this is the way Aster wants us to feel in a mental place impossible to escape. When paying attention to Pawel Pogorzelski’s cinematography, you feel all the isolation as well. Adding the impressive production design by Henrik Svensson and fantastic costume design by Andrea Flesch, all succeed in bringing to life the bright nightmare that is Hårga. Even with the sadistic score from Bobby Krlic aka The Haxan Cloak, you’re aware nothing pleasant is going to happen in the journey we embark. This film has had such a successful effect because like Hereditary, it creates an important and powerful discussion about grief. In general, it is important to express/share your grief to the right people, the ones that actually care and want you overcome this issue for your health’s sake. If you don’t, you’ll make the mistake of surrounding yourself with others that either don’t care or will focus on taking advantage of you. Hårga is indeed the latter because they act like a cult, due to how they are comfortable with their actions and believe it’s normal. As Pelle, actor Vilhelm Blomgren shows exactly how manipulative these people can be due to how he focuses on those who are visibly vulnerable. Due to easygoing he is, you want to believe he was as clueless those he’s lured, but his comfort around the horror proves otherwise. I do believe him when he says the commune saved him, but you wish they didn’t for the sake of prematurely saving innocent people. Now, we ended up witnessing four people who are far from perfect yet never deserved such shocking demises. Unintentionally, Will Poulter made Mark the funniest because he ends up being the most clueless of the group. He had me laughing the most due to his realistic depiction of taking shrooms. His selfishness was definitely the most visible because he had no interest in working on a thesis and he was the only one who was obviously upset of Dani joining him and the guys. He joined them in the first place because he was living a simple life, just wanting to party and get laid like any other young adult would. Sadly for him, he went to the wrong place. The second he peed on the sacred tree, I knew he was done for and after seeing Ulf wear his face as mockery for his actions, I don’t deny that was pretty damn cold to witness. William Jackson Harper definitely gave Josh his own set of selfishness due to how he chooses to be socially disconnected. He is the workaholic of the group because he is solely concerned on making the best thesis he can ever work on. He proves his disconnection when he avoids talking to Dani and the thesis is the only reason the trip became possible. When Christian chose to copy his idea, his competitive side kicked in and became more determined to get it to his liking. The second he was told to not take pictures of the sacred texts, the chances became nonexistent for him to survive. Even when I knew he was gonna die, I was still caught off guard with the bludgeoning. It is very easy to hate Christian because he is without question a bad boyfriend to Dani, but Jack Reynor makes it clear there is more to him than that. For at least a year, he knew he didn’t belong with her and her loss made him obligated to stay with her because she had no one else to talk to apart from her therapist. He proves himself to be a bad partner for not trying hard enough to be better than he has to. He went to Sweden because that was his chance to escape from what he was stuck with and her joining him makes it worse for him. He says they’ve been dating less than 4 years instead of over because he mentally checked out of the relationship by the time Dani lost her family, hence forgetting her birthday. If you don’t think being a bad partner is a reason to not like him, then being a bad friend could do it for you because he was so lazy that he chose to copy Josh’s idea for his own thesis rather than thinking of something else. Again even if they’re bound to die in the hands of the cult, I do feel like he could’ve saved him a worser fate by asking him for ideas. The second he and Maja glared at each other, I already knew Christian was going to be unfaithful but the way it was done was the most shocking part of this movie. He was actually at his last resort for being good to Dani by turning down Maja multiple times before he was drugged to mate with her. He was drugged into doing something he didn’t want to do, and I think that counts as rape. No matter how much of a bad person he was in an emotional sense and lived without violently hurting others, he did not deserve that nor did he have to die the way he did. The only thing left to say for him is at least he got out of the trap, but you still wish things were done differently. Last but not least, the theme of grief would not have been clear had it not been for the phenomenal performance of Florence Pugh as Dani. 2019 was the breakout year for the actress because while giving us smiles in between with Little Women and Fighting with my Family, she had us frowning here. This is someone whose loss has made her so mentally broken she is barely hanging on to the last grip of motivation left to get through another day. Every time she thinks about her family, the feeling gets worse for her. Spotting her dead sister visibly in the trees after being crowned May Queen proves the point. The whole point of her arc is for her to be emotionally healed and regain happiness. The only way she should’ve gotten it should’ve been from people who actually care. Christian stopped caring way before she lost her family. Immediately after hearing his impatient voice on the phone, you know he ain’t meant for her and this leads to her continuing to gaslight him because even she didn’t know what to do to fix whatever good she thinks they had left. She chooses to join the trip because she was hoping to find an escape as well. Pelle may relate to what she was feeling, but it was clear he was doing it because he had something to gain and that is her joining the commune. When she became May Queen, you want to be relieved that she’s regaining joy, but you can’t stand how she is getting it thanks to the wrong people. Is is when the women mimic her tearful panic attack where she is officially becomes one with the commune because they are the only ones who encourage her to let out what she’s feeling. Beforehand, she spent the whole time avoiding to do so because she was aware how others like Christian would selfishly be uncomfortable about it. I understand her heartbreak when seeing Christian cheat on her, but it does not condone her decision to have him sacrificed. By the time she regains her smile at the end, you still believe she deserves to feel happy again, but still wish it was done differently. I respect every direction this film chose to go, but there were a few moments where I felt could’ve and should’ve made better sense to me. For example, there were other guests that appeared besides Christian’s group and Simon & Connie. Since I rewatched this film, I’m wondering what the hell happened to them? There were at least six other people and it’s not mentioned at all of their whereabouts especially when Simon & Connie are written out of the story. If they were gonna have no effect, that take should’ve made either cut. Speaking of which, why do Simon & Connie get separated from Christian’s group when they’re all guests experiencing the same shit during the first ceremony? It’s not like they don’t like each other and even if the point was for us to focus on Dani’s reaction, it feels unnecessary. Also, I had the feeling many excuses were gonna get made to stack up the body count, but why doesn’t Mark ask Pelle for a private place to pee? Even if he’s gonna die anyway, I feel like an excuse for it to happen would’ve been avoided if he didn’t piss on the sacred tree. And I can’t be the only one thrown off on how fast he noticed Christian holding a pubic hair. Dani and Josh would because they’re closer, but I have a hard time believing Mark would be observant before he gets killed. Other than that, this remains a phenomenal experience of a horror film once you ignore said flaws. In conclusion, Midsommar is another triumphant horror classic by making you feel all the dreadful trauma from beginning to end. You want an alternative film to end a toxic relationship? Maybe this will help.
If you or someone you know is struggling with depression or thoughts of suicide, call the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 1-800-273-8255.
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