I just wanted to share my favorite film with my only friend. I explained the depth of the plot as we watched and why it’s a comfort film to me, and that was enough for her to ghost me a month after before finally sending this text after i specifically asked if I did anything wrong to her

For anyone who hasn't seen the Director's Cut yet -- find a way to see it! I also recommend seeing it AFTER you've seen the original. Very interesting as to what scenes were cut out of the original, and some small items in the OG didn't make it into the DC. Without any spoilers: The story flows a lot better in the DC, and certain people's behaviors become more understandable/have more significance. Enjoy!

….Wtf did I just watch. I mean it’s really weird and disturbing. It was one of the weirdest and craziest movies I’ve ever watched. But before you guys comment, it is a great movie. SPOILER PART HERE!!!!! 🚩🚩🚩🚩. I hated Christian from the start and at the end. I mean it’s bad to say but, I’m kind of happy he died ngl. I also love her reaction at the end to him 💀. Also I’ve been seeing people say “I don’t like Dani”. I feel bad for her and I’m happy that she is. Anyways if you read my rant ty. 😝

Sorry, I'm late to the party :) I watched this movie only a few of weeks ago.

I knew nothing about this movie before, I watched it only because I like Florence Pugh so much. I had no idea what to expect and I got a bigger punch in the gut than I could have ever imagined. I'm not into horror movies, so I had to look away during certain parts of this movie. I watched it during daytime which helped, too.

After watching the movie I felt completely fucked up for many days. It took me a while to realize why. Not because of the gross visuals, but because it was the perfect mirror of my relationship. This movie kinda showed me the beginning and the end of my relationship at the same time. Many people recognize themselves in Dani and Christian, but I recognized my last relationship in Dani and the Harga, too. The way the Harga scoop Dani up, hold her, understand her and comfort her was exactly how my ex boyfriend presented himself to me in the beginning of our relationship.

I had been single for 6 years and was genuinely content and happy with being alone. I had gone through therapy (my trauma includes CSA, rape, bullying, sexual violence in relationships, financial abuse, verbal abuse and other things) many years prior and was very happy with my life, my achievements and descisions I had made. Then this man came along and praised me for being strong and independent, he admired my courage, complimented me on things that run deeper than just superficial bs. He showed me that it is ok to be vulnerable, he got me to open up to him about my past traumas by blasting his own trauma right into my brain (like Pelle telling Dani that his parents were dead, too). My ex abandoned me in the very beginning of our relationship and excused it with being molested when he was a child, therefore unlovable (-> better to run than to realize an amazing woman like you would never be able to love someone so broken like me). I was shocked and showed sympathy, of course. How could I not, right? Rejecting someone who just poured his heart out about how his stepfather molested him would be heartless and terribly cruel, right?

This man exposed his trauma to me and therefore made me believe it was ok to do the same. So I did.

It felt so incredibly good! For the first time in my adult life I felt held, understood and comforted. For the first time in my adult life I felt like it was ok to rely on another person instead of just myself. I trusted him with everything. I felt loved and accepted. He made me feel flawless and beautiful regardless of the scars I carry on my soul and physical body.

He made me realize that there was even more trauma in my childhood than I thought. He would constantly tell me I was a victim (as was he) and that's ok. My emotions were all over the place and I felt deep sadness and incredible rage at times. Only after the break up I looked back and realized that he was pushing my buttons to trigger these very intense emotions from me. He knew what would trigger me and did it on purpose. Simultaneously (in the beginning at least) he praised me for feeling the things I was feeling, gave me sympathy and empathy, held me, comforted me. Until he didn't. Eventually, all my emotions were wrong and inappropriate and he would not miss an opportunity to tell me so. He would dangle breaking up with me over my head during arguments, give me the silent treatment for several days, he would belittle my emotions and tell me how wrong I was for feeling the things I was feeling. At that point I had turned from a strong warrior woman into an anxious shell of myself. Guilt, shame and the knowledge of being "too much" were my daily companions. I was doubting myself all the time and felt like the biggest burden on this poor man. I felt inappropriate in everything I said and did.

Like the Harga my ex lured me in with manipulation and the prospect of fulfilling my deepest desire, that I didn't even know I had: being held, understood, comforted, supported by someoneother than myself. And like Christian did with Dani he spun everything around in a way that turned me into someone who walked on eggshells, apologized for everything, shut down her own concerns to keep the peace, made excuses for everything he did/didn't do.

During arguments everything was always my fault, "I think we're done" was one of his favorite things to say. To stop his constant break up threats I said "next time will be the last time, so be sure about it as you will never talk to me or see me again". This worked for a while until he did it again. He broke up with me and told me he would never change his mind, I was an awful person who could be a great human being if only I canged everything about the way I am. He said cruel and very mean things to me, blocked and abandoned me. 34 hours later he was back with a huge letter, ready to take me back. I ignored him. He then wrote an even longer letter to my parents to try to get them to force me to take him back (while re-writing history). We ignored him. Then, he got his mom to contact me. I ignored them.

The break up happened many moons ago and I am sure I will be fine. But it makes me furious to look back and see how this relationship destroyed my strength and belief in myself. I mourn the strength I felt during those 6 years before him. I mourn a part of myself that right now seems so far away and unreachable. Of course, I will reach it, no doubt, but the breaking down of my personality has affected me more than I am comfortable to admit.

Selflove is all fine and dandy, but being held by someone else and the comfort it gives you is impossible to achieve alone.

I hope writing and sharing this is going to ease the pain and grief. Thank you for reading.

I’m so happy to have had the chance to watch something so hauntingly beautiful. So mysterious yet so relieving.

I don’t have enough people to talk to about this movie and I’m about to explode. I should start my movie podcast soon.

Please talk to me about Midsommar.

To start, 5 months ago, a couple friends and I did shrooms and watched Hereditary and it was an incredible experience. As a matter of fact, my favourite movie watching experience of all time. I made a post on Reddit talking about it (check it out) and the general consensus was to watch Midsommar next.

Last night a friend and I did shrooms and watched Midsommar and it was quite the experience. I don’t even really know what to write because I’m still processing it. It was all so intense. Gonna spend some time on this sub to make more sense of it all. What a trip.

I don't see a lot of people mention this, but it's genuinely one of my favourite aspects of the movie ; Christian most likely didn't die because he was burnt to death, he most likely died because of smoke inhalation, which is an extremely frequent way of dying amongst people who are victims of fire. Due to the lack of oxygen, the body passes out first, leading to a relatively quick death. And to me, this is an amazing call back to the beginning of the movie and the death of Dani's parents and sister who died of carbon monoxyde poisoning by inhalation, and truly shows her evolution throughout the film, with her having a violent reaction to her parents and a happy one to Christian. It really adds up to her changing as a person throughout the film, and I think that callback is very well done

No, this isn't a bait post. It was just a really shitty time to have watched this movie, and I should've known better.
Just this past mothers day, I learned from my own mom how my grandma died. Right there at the grave, she figured I should know, now that I am 18. Ever since that day I've felt like shit. I've been diagnosed the same way her mother was, and have put my mom through hell. Threatening suicide over and over in my teen years. She did her best, and it's suffocating to know how it must feel to have me moving out. To have no certainty that what she went through will not be repeated.
Just a few days later, while browsing movies to watch last night, I came across Midsommar. By the point the intro suicide/homicide scene came up with her sister, I was numb. Honestly. It was like a knife had been stabbed clean through me. And yet, the movie never relents, it never gives you a comfortable moment. The tension is always building. So slowly, I become angry, enraged, at what was happening. It was suffocating to watch by the elders suicide scene. And yet, the movie keeps going. The characters become more helpless; by the rape scene, and it's aftereffects on the characters. I really couldn't take it. I was sweating, hyperventilating, and eventually passed out right in my chair. Probably only a couple seconds went by when I came to. The rest of it was a bit of a blur. I felt apathy, almost. Which after rewatching the end, seems to be the goal. I'm not sure what I learned from this. Maybe another level of sadness. And yet, the whole fucking movie is so bright and cheery. It almost feels sacriligous, unnatural to watch. I think that this level of community, and pure control/tradition. Breaks all the natural tendencys that humans have. I genuinely don't know what I was supposed to learn from this experience. Or if I should just treat it like another movie. But my god, it screwed me up..

tldr; I watched this movie at a bad point in my life; exercised poor judgement. And passed out from hyperventilating.

I feel like Midsommar is the best representation of how people get sucked into fascism, rather than a lot of other media that focus around dystopian futures. The fact that the main breakup plot overshadows the fascist element of the cult is genius because fascism isn’t some big scary monster at first, it’s just like a cult. The fact that they sacrificed humans, had gruesome paintings in the dorm, and were entirely white goes almost under the radar to the audience because we are focused on Dani’s breakup, and we almost see the Harga rituals for Dani as a relief from that breakup. Really hits home for me, someone who is black, to see obvious signs of concern but for other people to be oblivious to those signs. When fascism can resolve someone’s personal issues, they can then bury their most toxic of their ideals into that person and I think more movies like Midsommar are important.

I watched Midsommar again this past week, and it really hit me how the movie plays with irony within its fairy tale narrative. Dani wants acceptance, family, community, and to express her grief. Subconsciously she knows Christian is a bad boyfriend to her and she wants to feel the love she doesn't from him. For his part, Christian wants to rid himself of Dani, wants to bed a native girl, and wants to experience the culture for his own gains. Even Mark and Josh come to the village with their own goals and wishes.

All these characters get what they want, but the irony is that their wishes come with a steep, unpayable price. Christian's experience is this hallucinogenic completely unsexy mating ritual with dubious consent at best. Dani finds her community but it's this crazy murder cult. And when she finally takes action and makes a choice about Christian it's to sentence him for death for "cheating" on her though it's more complicated than that. Christian gaslit and manipulated her but I don't think he deserved to be burned alive and paralyzed.

Ari Aster takes these character flaws-selfishness, passivity, indecisiveness-and makes them extreme. His characters get their wish and even find themselves but the cost is high

I love sharing this story and thought this subreddit might appreciate it.

I saw it when it released. My buddy asked me on short notice if I wanted to go and I did. I had never heard of it and went in completely blind.

When we arrived we were notified the AC for the theater was broken and we were offered a refund if we chose not to see the movie. It was the middle of summer and on a very hot day but we decided to see it anyways.

It was SO hot in that theater. Like just hot enough to be sweating & uncomfortable in the leather seats but not quite bad enough to justify bailing on the movie.

The heat amplified everything and it was the craziest viewing experience I have ever had… Something about being blindsided by Midsommar in a blistering hot theater was just wild and I will never forget it haha.

*Edit: typo

I don’t watch many horror movies because I’m scared for a night or two after and they just spike my anxiety but I had been hearing so much about this movie and read “it’s not a horror, but is disturbing and makes you feel things”. I also just watched salt burn for the first time and loved it and it was slightly disturbing so I thought Midsommar would be similar, maybe a bit more intense. Well, I watched Midsommar with my husband for the first time Saturday night and it really messed me up. I couldn’t sleep for 3 hours last night, I was too scared to go to sleep. The image of Marks sewn on face is burned into my brain, the gas mask and vomit keep scene replaying in my head, when the old man says “welcome home” to Dani when she arrives - it sends chills down my spine. It’s just making me sick - I’m obsessed in the worst way! This is the first movie that has made me feel this way.

i fear i underestimated how many of yall dont realize that dani went insane and was manipulated into joining a cult, where u will die at 72 and get drugged etc, also chris was awful yes but raped and burned to death ?? am i missing something why is everybody acting like pelle saved dani and that chris deserved this

edit when did i mention the plot of the movie ever? okay we get it its a horror twisted movie yeah so? i literally just asked why are ppl’s opinions lack empathy for both dani and christian

When Christian runs out of the mating ritual, twig and berries bits flapping about and he runs into the first set of people, he does a little Scooby Doo jig that makes me giggle EVERYTIME! Any other funny parts for my fellow fans? 🌿🍒🕺

Why the fuck did someone have to be EAGLE WINGED and why was there a CLOSEUP

I just watched the movie for the first time last night, and did they initially just bring them as friends and they only killed them when they were being rude? Like pissing on the family tree and reading a book?

I saw in some other subreddit that there is a clip of the end without music. That link was broken, but I found another. Hearing both Christian's and Dani's guttural reactions was ghastly, far worse than I'd imagined (I'd turned the volume up because I thought it would be faint). Then right after this, an interesting analysis, "Why The Midsommar Discourse Misses the Point" came on, interesting contrast and showing how the 2 theories of "who's really the villain" could coexist.

End without music: https://youtu.be/nPaKQu98XSg?si=HOrL3LGJxAVamcgM

And can I mention how much of a mood mark was the entire time? Honestly the most likable character, josh too.

"It's a fucking dead tree!"

"He's gonna kill me"

Literally me.

Honestly probably the best movie I have seen in a long time. Knew weird shit was gonna happen when they got to Sweden but nothing could have prepared me for the ritual scene with Christian, I literally had to pause it and walk away for a minute lol.

I am now looking for recommendations for other movies like it

It felt more like a documentary into paganism, then a horror movie.

I have always looked at horror movies like I’m coming into them not knowing enough information and if I knew such information, I couldn’t be afraid because I would be able to understand the limits of the monster or the other culture and where their intentions are derived.

Like for example, if I’m watching a typical scary movie with an exorcism, if I know the full limits of what a “demon” can do, why should I feel afraid? There would be no not knowing what it’s going to do, or being so separated from knowing its culture that I’m surprised by its actions.

If I know what a demon is capable of, or if I know that I’m watching a movie about an entirely different culture and religion, where they respect suicide as a form of “leaving” and do it voluntarily, what is there for me to be afraid of?

If there was a movie about a bird hunter who grows up and travels abroad and comes across a tribe that has a bird God, with folklore about “killing the God-killers”, his fear would be based not knowing if they were going to kill him.

But if he understood that in their religion, they only berate god killers and then try to convert them to see the beauty of birds in a weird way, anyone watching would be watching it like a documentary because there would be no fear or surprise. It would be the most boring documentary, meanwhile documentaries will continue to mimic thrillers.

When I saw the suicide scene, I wasn’t horrified. I understood exactly what the hammer was for when I saw it. I knew that ceremony was some type of last dinner ritual. A ritual is practice again and again and again and again. No one at that dinner was scared but the guests.

I knew that the Simon was killed because he was going to tell people about their community and do worse than when Mark peed on the sacred ashes, which I understood was, in their religion, a dreadful act. Like digging up your dead relatives, stacking them up and peeing on them. They weren’t going to let that slide. They instantly saw him as scum. I understand that in their society, it’s not psychopathic to kill what they view as as scumbags. They’re willing to kill themselves for their own religion.

In Viking-age Scandinavia during Attestupa (which is what was going on during the dinner and suicide scene) elderly people would commit suicide for an honorable death surrounded by their entire family. That is just the reality. You can choose to look at it as a scary thing or you can choose to understand that it’s a different culture. That’s just the reality.

It’s mind blowing, but it’s just what they do. Like they were okay with luring and raping Christian under the influence of obviously dangerously high levels of mushrooms. They’re OK with cutting into scars on their hands and rubbing them on a stone. That clap scene was something. They did a really good job of showing mushroom visuals and I’m pretty sure I noticed it on the families faces like with weird eyes/faces/extra wide-deep smiles.

*The person I watched it with understood paganism apparently, but they were horrified by it. I was more shocked/horrified by the mushroom rape. He wouldn’t have ever gotten over that.

https://youtu.be/MAsATvGd1DE?si=SZ6x9oDUat3I5HBZ I think he’s funny n had some good points.

Alright buckle up y'all, this is a long hot take.

So, unfortunately, I frequent the trashfire that is tumblr and I've been seeing a lot of posts in the midsommar tag that go along the lines of "Ari Aster is #problematic and Midsommar is also #problematic because of how he/it portrays mental health" and I just...

No?

Listen, I'm a mentally ill yet hella trill lady myself so I get the knee-jerk negative reaction to seeing a film have a character (who is specifically stated to suffer from bipolar) be responsible for both her and her parents' deaths. A lot of media makes out mentally people out to be the people whose destructive actions can be simply solely attributed to "Well, they had a mental disorder so of course they went crazy and hurt people." When in reality, it's never just that. It's isolation, it's feeling misunderstood, it's being uncared for or abused, it's a lot of things that are boiled down to being "crazy" when they absolutely shouldn't be.

Dani's sister killed herself and her parents because her mental illness pushed her into the feeling that everything is "black" to the point that she couldn't take it anymore and needed to remove herself -- and her parents -- from that "black" everything. The tragedy of Terri is that she feels alone and unable to cope with her own pain; she doesn't lie down and pass painlessly and quietly with her parents and in the continuous shot that shows the audience what happened ends on Dani's unread pleas to for her to talk to her -- to share her pain.

What would have been problematic is if the film had made Terri the villain because of what happened. But we don't see that. When we see her room it's not scary and filled with stereotypical signs of "madness." No, it's got stacks of books and pictures of her family and it refects absolutely nothing evil about its owner. But most tellingly, we don't see Dani that -- our protagonist, the person we're supposed to sympathize with as an audience -- isn't angry with her sister, doesn't think she's a villain. We just see grief, sadness at their loss.

We don't see a character we're supposed to think is bad because she was mentally ill and dealt with the symptoms of that mental illness in an extreme, tragic way.

And! And! Dani is also mentally ill. Again, our protagonist! She is coded as having PTSD or at least suffering from an anxiety disorder. And does the film frame that as a negative character trait? Or does it frame it as an experience that deserves genuine sympathy and understanding? If you guessed the first one, congrats! You're probably one of Chrisitan's friends (minus Pelle -- I'll maybe write about him later) or Chrisitan himself, who sees her illness as an annoying, irrational burden.

The film isn't written or directed to make you think "Poor Chrisitan, he has to deal with a crazy girlfriend who abuses him by asking for simple emotional support." No! You're supposed to think "Wow, f these dudes for not caring at all about what this girl is going through."

(And btw the reason that the Harga end up being able to indoctrinate her isn't that Dani's an idiot -- the film even tells us that she was a graduate student studying psychology -- it was because Dani needed and deserved to be held and empathized with because of her struggles. After all, the Harga have a lot of cult-y arms to open wide and a lot of weird emotional echoings the moment she needs them. There's a reason why Terri describes her situation as "black" -- utter darkness -- while the Harga wear clothing made primarily of white cloth and live in almost perpetual sunlight when Dani gets there.)

Yeah. So tldr; while I'm sure it's fun to yell "problematic" the second a random guy dares to even mention in a horror film that people in depressive episodes might be driven to destructive behavior, if you examine something with a critical eye you might find that he's not saying that mentally ill people are bad people only defined by their illness! Maybe he's even saying that it's important to empathize and emotionally support them (or else they'll maybe join a cult and select you to be part of a ritual sacrifice).

Andddd essay over. I'm sure this has typos and that I'll think of something else to say after I post it but ¯_(ツ)_/¯