Ari Aster is definitely a director to watch. His debut “Hereditary” affected me in a way no other horror film had. It scared me, shook me, raised my anxiety levels through the roof and has stayed with me ever since. So much can be read into “Hereditary”. This family drama can be interpreted as a metaphor for mental illness, it can simply be a terrifying tale on satanic rituals, or even a reflection on male entitlement. “Hereditary” is one of the few films in the most recent years that I felt the need to watch again in theatres. I commented it with all my friends who had watched it and recommended it to anyone who still hadn’t had the chance to see it. 

 

When I heard Ari Aster was working on his second feature film, “Midsommar”, you bet I was excited. A horror film in broad daylight, with white dresses and flowers as the main visual references directed by Ari Aster? I’M IN. I was so in that I decided “Midsommar” needed to be seen in the best theatre in town, so of course, I decided to see it in Phenomena.

 

The film started and just with the prologue I was hooked. Man, what a prologue. Like “Hereditary”, “Midsommar” started as a pure drama. We are introduced to our main character, Dani, who just in the first five to ten minutes of the film finds out that her mother and father have been killed by her bipolar sister, who then committed suicide. The sequence is brilliantly shot with a PHENOMENAL Florence Pugh calling her parents as she feels there is something wrong with her sister. After they don’t reply her call, she calls her boyfriend, Christian (Jack Raynor) who quickly dismisses her. Christian is with his friends, Josh and Mark (played by William Jackson Harper and Will Poulter respectively) who keep badgering him to leave her as she is too emotional and needy. Christian can’t bring himself to do it, though. Dani decides to check on her parents and her sister, only to find them dead. It’s an excruciatingly painful scene that will haunt my dreams forever. After this scene ended, I knew I was in for a ride. 

 

 

Like “Hereditary”, “Midsommar” left me shaken. Really. If there is something Ari Aster has done with his two films is mess with my mind. Please don’t make that noise Charlie makes with her mouth at me. I will jump. It honestly took me a few moments to be able to sleep after watching both films. The thing is though, after thinking about it for a week now, I doubt “Midsommar” will stay with me the same way “Hereditary” did. Not to say I did not enjoy “Midsommar”, it is an incredible journey with some of the most beautiful photography I have seen in a horror film in a while. Still, I was a bit upset about how the drama of the film was handled in this case. 

 

Allow me to repeat myself. After that FANTASTIC opening “Midsommar” had, we are presented with a very clear character who has suffered an incredibly traumatic event in her life. Dani was an incredibly anxious person before she found her family dead and her anxiety has now understandably gotten worse. I am not a psychologist, but we can maybe say Dani is depressed throughout the film after this event. When she decides to accompany Christian and his friends on their trip to Sweden (much to Mark and Josh’s dismay) you already know this is not a good idea. Their Swedish friend Pelle has invited them to this pagan festivity in his hometown and, if you’ve seen the trailer, you know this ain’t going to end well. 

 

So what is my issue with this film? Dani’s trauma came from losing her parents, from losing her sister. She is obviously not over this. So what I expected was for this film to be a journey in which Dani deals with her emotions, comes to terms with what happened, a film where Dani regains her strength. In regaining this strength she would realise Christian is terrible for her and find the courage to, as Eleven says in “Stranger Things”: “Dump his ass”. This would be a personal journey of self-growth thanks to this new culture she is introduced to and maybe through some enlightenment, be it through drugs or something else.

 

 

Mind you, the film does clearly give Dani closure regarding her family. She starts by losing a family and by the end, she has found a new one. However, the way the film develops, the journey Dani goes through, is not what I expected to get there. It does not feel like a film of self-discovery, of self-empowerment. That incredible trauma the film opens with is quickly set aside. Instead, Dani seems more preoccupied in her terrible relationship with Christian. I am not saying Christian should be unimportant to her. I am saying that those haunting images from the night she saw her dead family, which are present at the beginning of the film, feel like they are downplayed in the second half of the film. And honestly, I personally find relationship drama much less relevant. The second half of the film has Dani questioning Christian’s fidelity, which, to be honest, feels a lot less engaging. The film quickly turns into a story about a bad break-up. She is jealous of the girl trying to steal her boyfriend away. He ends up cheating. She finds out. Feels enraged, and is happy to have him killed in the final festivity. Happy that her boyfriend is dead, she feels connected to these crazy pagans and decides to stay. She has found her new family.

 

So yeah, there were two ways for Dani to find a new family and she did so with revenge. Is Christian’s death satisfying? Kinda. At the same time, it feels a bit too much, as he suffers one of the cruelest deaths in the film. The irony of Christian suffering the worse death in a pagan ritual is not lost on me. 

 

“Midsommar” felt at times a bit too long. And it it is. Two hours and twenty-seven minutes is long for a horror film. “Hereditary” was also quite long at two hours and seven minutes, however, I didn’t feel this issue with it. Maybe, like I said, because I was more engaged in the drama that I was with Ari’s new film. Where “Hereditary” was clearly a family drama, “Midsommar” is a more conventional horror film and that’s where its length does not help. We all know someone is going to die a horrible death in this really long and terrifying ritual, please get on with it. However, I endure it, because Ari Aster films so beautifully and despite my whining, it is really satisfying when those scenes do conclude. What can I say, Aster knows what he is doing. 

 

There are many parallels between “Hereditary” and “Midsommar”. Both films start with a loss. The protagonists of both films are characters who suffer immensely throughout the film and they both question their sanity in various points throughout the stories. Finally, the most obvious parallel is in the endings. In both films, the protagonists are “crowned” in a creepy ceremony in which they are welcomed into their new family. It is almost as if both characters are reborn, given a second chance with their new (and really creepy) families. 

 

Of course “Midsommar” is being compared to “The Wicker Man” (Robin Hardy, 1973). However, while watching it, I also couldn’t help but think about Ti West’s “The Sacrament” (2013), a film loosely based on the Jonestown mass suicide in Guyana in 1978. It also made me think about Luca Guadagnino’s “Suspiria” (2018), especially towards the end. Mix those three together, shake well and add a bit of LSD. Enjoy your “Midsommar” cocktail. Have a sip. Feel that tingly feeling on your lips? That is Ari Aster’s magic working. It will quickly go down your spine and haunt your dreams. Hold on tight. You’re in for a terrifying ride.