Midsommar

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“A couple travels to Northern Europe to visit a rural hometown’s fabled Swedish mid-summer festival. What begins as an idyllic retreat quickly devolves into an increasingly violent and bizarre competition at the hands of a pagan cult.”

It’s hard for me to start writing about this movie since it’s one of my favorites and mixes so many emotions form. As a witch, some of the things portrayed are so accurate that I found myself pulled in deeper.

Er, not the homicidal part. Just to be clear.

I am going to give you fair warning here as well – the movie does open with a particularly disturbing suicide scene so if that is something that may prove traumatizing – be advised.

The heart of this movie actually centers on the meaning of family and traditional customers. The main protagonist, Dani, is pulled straight from a time of grief into a foreign land that, piece by piece, is offering her a new form of family.

In doing this, it also sheds a light on some of the more callus and vulgar entitlements that some men feel should just be accepted.

The secondary use of hallucinogens allows us to some of Dani’s revelations through nature itself. Sometimes the grass seems to grow through her and sometimes the flowers seem to breathe alone with her, pulling her into this new land and family.

SPOILERS FROM THIS POINT!

Dani’s rise through the community is something to note. Unlike the other people Pelle brough, she has this open wonder. By the time we get to the May Pole Dance, she’s dressed like them and being eagerly welcome.

Becoming the May Queen, one of the other women tells her “you are the family now.” This statement solidifies that this family is where Dani can truly be loved.

WHich is why, to me, the smile at the end is because the metaphorical chains that held her, were now burned into ash.