Midsommar (2019)

In preparation for Beau is Afraid, we’re closing out the week with Ari Aster. Let's look at the man, what he has to say, and his approach to psychedelic imagery on film.

For those who have not seen this film or haven't seen it in a while, here is a refresher:

Midsommar is a film about Dani, a young woman played by the always fantastic Florence Pugh, who after the death of her sister and parents, joins her god-awful boyfriend and his insufferable friends on a trip to Sweden.

One of the boyfriend’s pals is from a village there and wants them to take a visit. Soon, however, the village takes on a Wicker Man (1978) feel and the group begins to witness some strange occurrences.

The film is a bit of an enigma.

It's tonally dark, yet visually so bright, disturbing yet hopeful. It also has such a deft touch in its discussion of toxic masculinity that it must have flown over some heads. Somehow, it’s become the ultimate film bro movie (yes that term is very played out but the point still stands).

One thing that makes Ari Aster such an interesting voice in Hollywood is his cohesive narrative obsession.

The man clearly likes himself a story about family.

Watching an Ari Aster film always feels like watching a therapy session in real-time, breaking down childhood trauma, dealing with familial grief.

Now, in Beau is Afraid, apparently a look at not wanting to disappoint your parents and dealing with generational baggage.

We don’t know if Aster has had to deal with these questions himself (and frankly it’s not for us to know), but it’s incredible the way he is able to direct his films with such empathy in the face of how grueling they can be to watch at times.

As we take a look at today’s scene lets keep this quote from Aster at the forefront of our minds on how he pulled from his own life to create this scene:

“I’ve done mushrooms before, back in college, and I’ve had very good trips, and I’ve had very bad trips, the good trips tend to bring you very close to people and you feel like a family. Then when you come down, there’s this hangover where that all kind of dissipates and you’re back to being alone again. Sometimes it’s the inverse, where the revelation is that you’re alone and you’re gonna die alone and then when you come out of that, it’s a huge relief.”

I believe that in this quote Ari Aster is laying out the entire thesis of Midsommar.

According to him, he is using drugs to emphasize how characters are emotionally positioned in the film.

While the men in this scene are all connecting with Will Poulter’s character, literally saying “You guys are my family, like my actual family”, Pugh’s character is outside of the group, actively rejecting what she is experiencing.

She rejects not just the people around her (which is honestly a good thing) but also her rejection of oneness with the universe. Close by, Vilhelm Blomgren’s character Pelle is feeling the oneness Dani rejects, saying “Can you feel the energy coming up from the earth [...] even the trees are breathing.”

Not to spoil the rest of the film, but it is quite interesting to watch as it continues and how the different characters interact with a new culture compared with how they experience their individual trips. Just something to keep an eye out for.

When I saw this in theaters I was in my assigned seat, sitting next to a seven year old boy who was there with his sister and grandparents. His grandmother gave him a phone to play on for the duration of the movie.

While normally that would drive me crazy, I thought that given the circumstances it was best that this child was not paying attention to the screen.

Guess Tomorrow’s Film