The road to Halloween is paved with good films. Wherein we countdown to the spirited season with a hundred doses of horror. 27 days to go.
Ari Aster made a huge mark on the horror genre with Hereditary. Aster did what few others have been able to; change the game with your debut feature and set your career on fire. His follow-up, the dreamy, yet nightmare-fuelled daytime horror Midsommar is both wildly different and wholly familiar.
Dani Ardor is in a relationship with Christian Hughes. Christian Hughes doesn’t want to be in a relationship with Dani Ardor. When a tragedy strikes, Christian feels obligated to stay in the already-dead relationship, and the two travel to Sweden to visit Christian’s friend Pelle’s home town. The home town turns out to be something closer to a commune with its own traditions and customs. The Americans are in for a culture shock of their life when the traditions take a sinister and bloody turn.
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Midsommar, much like Hereditary, is either the best film of the year or the worst film of the year. It’s a film with no middle ground, no compromises. If you agree to consume it, let it devour you, you’re in for an emotionally terrifying ride, filled with nightmarish imagery and all too familiar relationship drama. However, it’s possible, even likely, that you won’t take to it. It will be too strange, too boring and the narrative won’t be satisfactory for you.
The brilliance of Midsommar is in the small details and moments. The wall murals that paint a picture of what’s to come, or the surprisingly funny lines of dialogue, or Dani’s tendency to hold her feelings in like one holds their vomit in after drinking too many shots at the bar on a Saturday night. It’s okay to laugh at the funny bits and there are many, it eases the tension, but never eases the horrific resolution of the film.
Dani and Christian’s relationship is always in the centre of the film. While terrible things happen around them, the film always aims to provide a resolution to the central relationship. Dani is at times infuriatingly emotional and apologetic around Christian, but it hits a nerve. Take a scene early on in the film. Dani has just learned from someone else that Christian and his friends are going to Sweden. Back at Dani’s apartment, an argument breaks out where Dani asks to be kept in the loop and Christian gets angry at having to apologise.
Read Robin Write’s Review of Midsommar
There is a brilliant moment where the two are arguing and all of a sudden, physically change places as Dani begins to apologise. The tables have indeed turned for the two as Dani has gone from a perfectly valid and reasonable request to apologising profusely. The dynamic between the two is always Dani sacrificing her emotional well-being to please Christian. Dani already knows the relationship is dead, but she hangs on for dear life anyway. Aster frames the two tightly, refusing to cut and release the tension. With no horror whatsoever, the scene is a tense one, one that sticks with you due to its universality and familiarity.
The community of Hargå, bathed in sunlight, where the grass is somehow a little bit greener and the people ridiculously beautiful, the natural king, is able to provide Dani something Christian never could; a home, a community. Somewhere where one doesn’t have to hide their feelings, but instead they are experienced together and shared between the whole community. When one of their own is hurting, the whole community writhes in agony. It’s here where Dani is finally allowed to let it all out, feel every bad and hurtful feeling but she’s also invited to share that emotional load.
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Aster films this all with such force. He doesn’t flinch when pointing the camera at bloodied body parts, but never glorifies the violence. He doesn’t indulge in the spectacle of violence, but violence is a necessity in his storytelling, something that can’t be avoided. The physical violence is nothing compared to the emotional violence poor Dani goes through.
The emotionally explosive finale is grand and unapologetic. It’s the perfect ending to Dani’s story, but not necessarily a neat one. On further watches, it becomes increasingly problematic, leaving more questions than answers hanging in the air. Nevertheless, Aster has crafted a true masterpiece. His films thrive on putting the universal, familiar relationship through the wringer of the horror genre. Midsommar is worth your time. Skål!
