Well, violating cultural taboos isn’t a prerequisite though - the British couple didn’t do anything but freak out and want to leave. As for her being seen as a good recruit, it’s low key, but Pelle’s clearly into her and is grooming her to be part of the cult.
Florence Pugh on reading Midsommar script for the first time (from 16:40).
P.S: although I enjoyed the movie, I think that it was relatively predictable and way too long, considering that the first 20 minutes of it were almost pointless. Also writing a thesis wasn’t a justifiable reason to stay there IMO. All in all, Hereditary was a better movie.
It wasn’t just that, though. If you think this new relationship she has (with the village) that’s literally built on manipulation and falsehoods will turn out better than the last one… yeah, I don’t think so.
I you’re under the impression I think it’s in anyway a happy story for her…I’ll refer you to what I wrote above:
Yeah, sorry, I didn’t mean to reply to you directly. I think I started by quoting you, then erased that, and didn’t realize the link. We’re totally on the same page here.
Oh, certainly it’s not a requirement. But I do think it’s something they selected for.
FWIW, I am not sure they ever lied to her? At least, not directly. I would have to go back through to be sure. Obviously they were manipulating things and drugging her and so on, so it’s not like it’s an OK foundation.
I didn’t get any impression that she would be sacrificed after the end of the movie. The ritual is done. She was crowned the May Queen. I don’t think anything happens beyond that…
Hah, that was one of my favorite parts of the movie. If you’ve ever known a grad student who is desperately searching for some idea to be the seed of their thesis, then it rings true to life that they would ignore red flag after red flag when tempted with the perfect thesis material. I thought it was a clever and original take on why these people would not just run away from the weird/dangerous situation they are in.
Josh also knew what was coming at Ättestupan - as I recall, he asks Pelle if the real thing. (I certainly knew what was coming - the guys asked on the podcast how much of it was real, and Ättestupan is - or at least as a thing that exists in myths. It’s of extremely dubious historical veracity, and it’s definitely safe to come to Scandinavia during Midsummer celebrations.)
They were definitely lying about the British couple, as I recall.
Yeah, but I don’t remember if they lied to her specifically about that. Anyway, doesn’t matter, I suppose.
So I finally saw this! (Spoilers ahead, no hidden tags!)
…
…
…
If Midsommar is anything it’s how men and women see breakups differently, and Midsommar is IMO definitely from a male narrative voice despite much of it being from a female point of view. From a woman’s point of view the ending is her breaking off with a wet blanket cheater. From his point of view, it’s his realization that his reward for sticking around with a drama filled unhappy woman for years is her eventual sacrificing him for her own happiness. The lesson, in effect, is for a guy to dump the “drama” girlfriend and move on, even if the drama is not of her own making, even if it makes you out to be an asshole from her point of view. The essential inscrutable dualism of women is really hammered directly on when one group of women is cheering the guy as he ritually sexes up one woman while another group of women howls in communal, primal angst at Dani’s breakdown at the discovery of his cheating. Though this may be explained by elements below.
I do feel like there were comedy elements - the lottery especially felt like an insiders joke about Swedish culture. I recall in Show Me Love, one of the other more contemporary Swedish films i’ve seen, how all the board teenagers are sitting around just like their parents on a weekend, drinking beer and watching the lottery. There’s also some insider jokes (imo) about the Ikea aesthetic though i wouldn’t push that too far.
Maybe the most interesting and disturbing and brilliant part of the film is when you realize, unlike most chanting cultist mobs, that they seem to be aping the experiences of their victims. This almost seems, again, like some insider point about the facelessness and basic deadness of this cult and (maybe) Swedish culture as a whole, that requires these vivid and destructive events to have a voice, and that voice is nothing but an empty echo. Though i’m not familiar enough with Swedish culture to stretch it that far.
The worst part of the film was the half baked stuff about inbreeding and (skin wearing?) and the slasher movie murders and the slasher movie elimination of the rest of the group. The two screams deep in the background were the best; the almost comical violence to the older cultists was the worst. Here the movie didn’t seem to really know what sort of aesthetic it wanted and it made the whole film weaker (imo) by comparison.
I’ve always imagined there is in that part of the world a kind of existential darkness lurking underneath the shadows of the trees; a world turned upside down, the horror of a much more marginal existence until very recently, of poverty, hunger, grindingly cold winters and deep isolation, of knowing the summer will soon fade. I liked that the film actually started the cult sequence by filming everything upside down.