Midsommar's story grapples with a number of mental health issues that the movie takes seriously and explores through events in the plot. Chronic depression, trauma, emotional dependency, abusiveness, and communal support are all touched on by the story and the relationships between the characters.
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.
Parents need to know that Midsommar is an extremely violent horror movie from the maker of Hereditary. It involves a sinister, ages-old ceremony that includes disturbing rituals. Characters are beaten and smashed, and bodies are cut up and burned (in some cases, alive).
The depiction of the cult's rituals, such as the Maypole Dance and the Copulation Ritual, are disturbing and filled with sinister undertones, highlighting the unsettling nature of the story.
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.
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.
Why do Christians drink a different color Midsommar?
Christian's Drink Signaled His Fate In Midsommar
Many people will have noticed one of the most obvious Midsommar Easter eggs, that Christian's drink in the last act was a different color from everyone else's. And in hindsight, it couldn't be clearer why — he'd been selected for the traditional mating ritual.
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.
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.
Why is everyone screaming at the end of Midsommar?
Dani chooses Christian, and he is placed in a gutted bear, then burned with the other sacrifices in the temple. The commune and Dani watch as the temple burns. The Härga people screaming is supposed to show empathy for those burning alive inside the temple, and Dani watches, first horrified, and then she laughs.
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.
Midsommar's young women are practicing a sort of “Dani Pose” in their communal grief. By fully immersing themselves in her facial expressions, emotions, and feelings, they erase the separateness between Dani and them.
There are no characters representing a Christian perspective or morally redemptive values. In fact, the story contains some desecration of Christian symbols. MIDSOMMAR certainly isn't a movie for media-wise audiences, but MOVIEGUIDE® advises all moviegoers that it's one horror movie they sould skip.
For many female viewers, the film's fiery climax has struck a chord: for them it represents Dani's freedom and ecstatic revenge. Some have even declared Midsommar a modern feminist classic. Like Hereditary, Midsommar is preoccupied with relationships and grief.
Despite the fictional elements, Midsommar draws from real Swedish traditions, incorporating the Hårgalåten legend and featuring authentic Midsummer customs such as Maypole dancing and flower decorations. Swedish audiences did not find the film offensive.
Midsommar's most terrifying scene doesn't involve gore — it's the haunting murder-suicide scene at the beginning of the movie. Ari Aster skillfully exposes the horrors of depression in Midsommar, leaving audiences disturbed. Terri's suicide in Midsommar sets the stage for a dark journey of mental health struggles.
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.
Both films are respected in the horror genre, but Hereditary was arguably the scarier and more entertaining movie. While Midsommar was somewhat repetitive, Hereditary had many unexpected twists and turns.
What did Dani's sister do to herself in Midsommar?
Dani's sister Terri (Klaudia Csányi) loses her ongoing battle with her mental health and decides to take her own life, filling the Ardor home with carbon monoxide. This doesn't only result in the death of Terri, but her and Dani's parents too.
The film opens with the protagonist Dani Ardor reading an email from her sister, Terri, who has bipolar disorder. Terri ominously alludes to her hopelessness and a desire to kill herself and her parents.
Ingemar offers the group psychedelic mushrooms. Dani has a bad trip and hallucinates about her dead family. The day after their arrival, the group witnesses an ättestupa ceremony, whereby two elders commit suicide by jumping off a cliff onto the rocks below.
Mark's death was somewhat foreshadowed in the initial scenes of Midsommar, as the children playing "skin the fool" is a direct reference to Mark's skin being flayed after he urinates on a sacred artifact.
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.
it was the scene where we find out that Dani's sister killed her parents and herself by carbon monoxide poisoning. specifically, it was when we see Dani's sister with the tube duck taped over her mouth and there is throw up all over her and her eyes are open and you can just feel and see the pain of the suicide.
