If I could put Midsommar into a brief description I would probably call it as the #1 most disturbing, eerie and painful film I have ever watched, it does its job as a horror movie almost too well and I think after watching this im actually mentally scarred. As much as I thought it was a masterpiece and just an incredibly well made movie I want to get the memories of it out of my head. There was one part of the film that was just too much for me I considered walking out, call me a pussy all you want but there was only so much more I could tolerate, by the end I was literally done, I don’t think I could’ve bared to see anymore. It was so unbearable, my cinema actually cancelled the release of the film.
Dani, a young girl (played by Florence Pugh, with an outstanding performance and what I would consider Oscar worthy. This woman is one of the next rising stars I can absolutely see it) is traumatized after her sister kills her parents and then herself. Her boyfriend and his friends are planning to go to Sweden to study on their summer break, and one of them is also an exchange student who will be taking them to his “community”. Dani tags along, needing to get away, and they are brought to this beautiful, amazing looking village. As time progresses its more and more obvious that this “community”, the Hårga, is actually a very strong-willed cult, run by “Elders”, who engage in very disturbing ideologies, rituals and traditions. This year is the year of the Midsommar festival, which occurs every 90 years, and the group finds themselves pegged right into the cults festivities.
The film had me feeling unsettled right in the beginning, when Dani’s sister kills the family, that is probably the most unbearable and deeply disturbing crime someone can commit, and it really got me. I think though it was a great way to give the audience a first impression of what else to come, when a films story begins with this you know it is going to fuck with you till the very end, and it is a long, long movie. Its so original, its so hard for a horror movie to achieve total originality in this day because when your focusing a story on people being killed it all been done before, but what Ari Aster is able to think up and bring to the screen is incredible, it really finds new ways to scare its audience and have them on edge, with unpredictable things happening left right and center, and always maintaining that uncomfortable atmosphere. From the moment the group walk through the wooden sunburst arch into Harga village you’ve stepped into the otherworldly realm along with the characters.
Apart from a lot of chanting, heavy breathing and dancing, Harga has much more cooked up for its nine day festival, its a fucking party alright. The main ceremony involves a big feast and following up with two elders having their hands slit, spreading their blood on a marked stone and then throwing themselves off a cliff to land head first on a boulder. The first elder dies instantly from impact, the second however actually survives and breaks his leg, resulting in the cult bludgeoning him several times with a giant mallet. They do this because their tradition is that life ends for an individual at 72 years of age. It had earlier been explained that the cult sees life split into four chapters, 0-18 (childhood), 18-36, 36-54 (working age) and finally 54-72 (as a mentor). Dani actually asks what happens after 72, where Pelle simply laughs. The idea is that the elderly sacrifice their life, and channel it through to the next one that is born, essentially a circle of life.
A bit more on the beliefs and rituals of the Harga. Their mating ritual is indeed very strange and disgusting. Incest is still considered taboo, but they allow an exception with cousins. Two will deliberately concieve an imbred, who see they as an “oracle”, who expresses their thoughts through paint, and it is the elders who interpret these creations and carry them through the cults traditions.
The entire 147 run-time you feel yourself caught up in this dangerous, unsafe web of terror that would be so easy to get out of but nobody seems too. Its frustrating to ask why didn’t Dani and the group just RUN into the forest and as far away from the cult as possible. They didn’t have cars, I think if they tried doing a runner they probably would have pulled it off. You have a horrendous sex scene that is 100% painful to watch, and looked like it fucking hurt like hell, and several quiet and suspenseful scenes where you know in your head something is about to explode but when?
Florence Pugh gives her absolute best performance to date in this film. Playing some real emotionally challenging scenes and making them so believable and moving, having the ability to be so distressed and broken down, and making the audience feel some of that pain. Her character had so much emotional depth and really carried the weight of the films feel, as it is mostly told through her eyes. If you’re sibling killed your parents and you were stuck in such a tragedy, I think you’re current state would be exactly like Dani’s, whom I really felt for, such a deep and tragic thing to go through, probably one of the worst things to ever have happen in life.
After everything I saw I honestly cannot see anything wrong with this movie (in terms of production and execution, the events that take place are beyond fucked up but that means it’s doing its job if you are uncomfortable). Midsommar had some of the best cinematography and shots for a horror movie. What really surprised me and made me appreciate it was how the film is so bright and colorful, yet so painful and horrifying. It proves that a horror movie doesn’t need to be dark and foggy to be scary, it really comes down to the idea and how its executed.
Midsommar and Ari Aster put a huge stamp on the world of horror here, and set the bar really high, going so far with how messed up a film can be and to capture the audiences attention. I think there is the usual level cap, and this just explodes through that and goes to new heights, I would really scream it out that this is one of the top horror films ever made, and folk horror is something not to be underestimated.