The Big Picture Midsommar is a twisted tale about the importance of empathy, shared emotion, and finding family in unexpected places. The film explores the toxic dynamics of Dani's crumbling relationship and how Christian fails to provide empathy and support.

What is the message behind Midsommar?

Midsommar is essentially a two-and-a-half-hour study of one woman's emotional journey towards emancipation from a toxic relationship. The film has a happy ending, more or less.

What is Midsommar a metaphor for?

The cause-and-effect relationships between events in the movie feel suggested more than confirmed. The predominant read of Midsommar — one that Aster himself has more or less advanced — is that it's a metaphorical depiction of a relationship in crisis entering a tailspin and plummeting to the ground below.

What do the sacrifices in Midsommar represent?

Summary. The deaths in Midsommar represent the four elements (earth, fire, water, and air) and serve as symbolic sacrifices for the Hårga cult's connection to nature and their desire for a plentiful harvest.

Does Midsommar have a message?

But “Midsommar” is much darker than that. It's a story about indoctrination––the slow surrender of individuality and identity to the suffocating embrace of the collective. In many ways, the film's message is a direct antithesis of empowerment.

The Horror of MIDSOMMAR Explained

What does the bear symbolize in Midsommar?

Bears in Swedish culture represent evil and dishonesty. Christian's evil and dishonesty throughout the film is punished by him literally taking on the skin of a bear, and being sent to Hell. This is a horror movie, but the way it looks is very non-traditional to the genre.

Why was the girl crying at the end of Midsommar?

He's subsequently drugged, and in his altered state, Christian does indeed go through with the sex ritual, solidifying his severed ties with Dani. When Dani returns, she hears the ritual happening and witnesses Christian's infidelity. She runs out, horrified and sobbing — but this time, she's not alone.

What does the smile mean at the end of Midsommar?

As a result, when Dani smiles in the last shot, the audience is supposed to feel happy for her that she is now an important member of this group, is free of her boyfriend, and has a new family.

Was Simon still breathing in Midsommar?

When Simon is found in the barn, his lungs have been pulled through his back, but he is still alive and breathing. The lungs are inflated and deflated by the diaphragm and the muscles in the trunk; once they were pulled out, he would immediately suffocate.

Who is the deformed kid in Midsommar?

Josh later learns that the village's ritualistic practices are based on paintings made by a member named Ruben (Levente Puczko-Smith), a deformed boy who was the product of incest but is viewed as some kind of seer. Josh asks to take pictures of Ruben's drawings, but he is forbidden.

Why does Dani smile at the end of Midsommar?

It's once her relationship is truly over that Dani grins as she witnesses Christian burn to death in Midsommar's ending. Pugh argues that Dani is disoriented and unaware of what's actually happening, while Aster believes it's a sign that her sanity is slipping away.

What is traumatizing about Midsommar?

The beginning of Midsommar establishes a grim tone and subtly affects what transpires at the festival in Sweden. Dani's sister took her own life after killing both of their parents. The event traumatizes Dani, and her trying to express her grief shows how little her boyfriend Christian (Jack Reynor) cares about her.

Why is Midsommar so controversial?

Midsommar even got some heat for its use of eugenics and ableist tropes, as if these plot elements were cheap ways to build horror. However, we could argue this criticism missed the point entirely, as the Hårga are not the heroes of the story.

What are the hidden parts of Midsommar?

The Flower Crown In Dani's Parents' Death Scene

That is until eagle-eyed viewers spotted a flower crown next to Dani's dead parents. It's shown early enough in the movie that the audience doesn't get the context, and placed subtly enough that they may forget about it by the time Dani gets to Sweden.

Why did Pelle bring his friends?

At some point he went to America and befriended a group of anthropology students, Christian, Mark and Josh. He invited them on a trip to Sweden under the guise of giving Josh a topic for his anthropology paper, but his real intentions were to make them human sacrifices for the Midsommar rituals.

What happens to Connie in Midsommar?

Death. An elder member named Father Odd tells Connie that Simon has already left without her. Suspicious, Connie decides to leave on her own, but Father Odd leads her away. Later, Connie's wail is heard in the distance where Father Odd and several other cultists murder her by drowning her in water.

Why was Josh killed on Midsommar?

Death. When he tried to take a photo of the village's sacred text, he was bludgeoned to death and had his leg placed in a garden by a man (most likely Ulf), wearing a skin mask of Mark's face, who was killed after urinating on a sacred tree.

Why did the old man jump in Midsommar?

The 2019 horror film Midsommar by Ari Aster uses the term to describe a fictional tradition in which elderly cult members throw themselves off a high cliff in ritual suicide once they reach the age of 72.

Why do Christians drink a different color Midsommar?

Shortly after arriving at the festival, a mural shows that a Hårgan custom is to not only cook pubic hair into a man's food to make him fall in love with you, but also to try and sneak menstrual blood into his drink. And so… that's most likely why his is a darker shade than the others'.

What mental illness does Dani have in Midsommar?

A potentially traumatic event death of Dani's parents and sister drastically transforms Dani, leaving her psychologically traumatized. Later on, Dani develops posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), an anxiety disorder caused by this distressing event.

What is the bad scene in Midsommar?

In one scene, two elderly people willingly sacrifice themselves by jumping off a cliff in front of a crowd standing by. We a see the graphic impact of the woman's face hitting the ground and getting completely torn apart and then another graphic closeup of her extremely disfigured and torn apart face.

Is Midsommar based on a true story?

Midsommar, the movie, is partially based on the real midsummer festival celebrated in Sweden, but includes violent and pagan cult activities not found in the actual tradition.

What did Dani see through the keyhole?

She catches sight of the ritual through the temple's keyhole: Middle-aged naked women are writhing and singing around her boyfriend mid-coitus. One old woman goes as far as to push on his ass cheeks to intensify the thrusting. Dani, like any reasonable person, throws up immediately and flees to the sleeping quarters.

Why does Pelle like Dani?

It is alluded that Pelle and Dani are destined to be together based on the fact that they are an astrological match. Not only is she the ideal person to become the Harga's queen, she is also the ideal mate for Pelle.

Was Dani always meant to be May Queen?

Ultimately, Dani becomes the May Queen she was always destined to become and sacrifices Christian to complete the mid-summer ritual. The most unexpected element in the film is not his death nor is it her being crowned the May Queen, it is actually how many times Aster overtly foreshadowed these events.