The aim of this short text is to give you some insights before you see the movie so you know to which elements you have to pay special attention.
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It's rather difficult to write something specific and sensible about this movie. We see a group of young people coming to Sweden to witness some local community festivities. After being initially struck by paradise looking nature and hospitality of the locals, they begin to witness some of their weird and scary customs. And then we go...
Almost entire movie happens during the day. There are no jump-scares. Nobody is coming after somebody. So I wouldn't describe this movie as a horror but rather as a psychological terror movie. And here's the reason why: Midsommar is successful in creating an atmosphere of distrust between the protagonists which makes us feel like not knowing who's going to do what and how. That's the exact reason why Midsommar makes us feel distressed.
On the one side we have a pagan cult with whom we get acquainted as the movie rolls. On the other side we have a group of young people obviously shattered by life tragedies and mutual problems. Former represents a united community, later just a make-believe community. This is important to stress out since the director said in an interview that this is essentially a break-up movie (breaking up with someone is an act of bringing to an end community of two). That means that we shouldn't focus too much on the cult itself but on the protagonist's desires and reasons why. Why did each one in particular decide to go to Sweden? What were they looking for? How did this peculiar Swedish surrounding manage to bring forth their true faces? This movies isn't about providing us with psychological description of cult behavior but psychological description of our behavior, double-standards and hypocrisy.
You may feel about the cult one way or the other but its purpose is in essence an instrumental one. And no matter how ugly they become, we can't doubt that they really believe in what they do. So it's important not to become to occupied with their rituals during watching of the movie. I'll conclude with some questions and tips which you can keep on your mind while watching the movie:
I hope these question help you during watching of the movie and thinking about it!
Almost entire movie happens during the day. There are no jump-scares. Nobody is coming after somebody. So I wouldn't describe this movie as a horror but rather as a psychological terror movie. And here's the reason why: Midsommar is successful in creating an atmosphere of distrust between the protagonists which makes us feel like not knowing who's going to do what and how. That's the exact reason why Midsommar makes us feel distressed.
On the one side we have a pagan cult with whom we get acquainted as the movie rolls. On the other side we have a group of young people obviously shattered by life tragedies and mutual problems. Former represents a united community, later just a make-believe community. This is important to stress out since the director said in an interview that this is essentially a break-up movie (breaking up with someone is an act of bringing to an end community of two). That means that we shouldn't focus too much on the cult itself but on the protagonist's desires and reasons why. Why did each one in particular decide to go to Sweden? What were they looking for? How did this peculiar Swedish surrounding manage to bring forth their true faces? This movies isn't about providing us with psychological description of cult behavior but psychological description of our behavior, double-standards and hypocrisy.
You may feel about the cult one way or the other but its purpose is in essence an instrumental one. And no matter how ugly they become, we can't doubt that they really believe in what they do. So it's important not to become to occupied with their rituals during watching of the movie. I'll conclude with some questions and tips which you can keep on your mind while watching the movie:
- pay the closest attention to Dani
- keep in mind her family tragedy and think about how that affects her presence (movie will notice you to keep that in mind with few flashbacks)
- think about Dani's relationship with Christian; this is very important as you'll clearly see in the final scenes
- ask yourself if this pagan cult is group's enemy
- try to answer what were their motives for going to Sweden in the first place
- how this peculiar setting brought about their conformity and behavior?
I hope these question help you during watching of the movie and thinking about it!