Midsommar, written and directed by Ari Aster
How on earth did i know that elder people would jump off that cliff and hence I anticipated the peculiarness of this feature?
I really enjoyed reading the screenplay, it gave me some new insights into the film that I didnât necessarily get from a first watch. I donât have a review as much, just a collection of thoughts:
1. The script magnifies how abusive Christian is. He certainly comes across as a bad boyfriend in the film, but reading scenes with Dani and Christian really accentuates how much he gaslights her, twists situations when heâs done wrong and makes her feel guilty for questioning things.
2. There is a little justification for Ruben as a character. He often appears in the background of scenes doing mirror things that donât serve the plot in any way. It seems that he is being used as a stock character (person with disability having some âspecial powerâ). In terms of positive representation, itâs not great.
3. The script seems to put a lot of emphasis on family and suggests that this is Dani's biggest desire. It begins and ends with an image of Dani being embraced by a family - her own and then the Hargas. This is interesting because I don't find that it translates in the film. From a first watch, I found that what Dani really wants and needs is emotional support (which she wants from Christian but doesn't get). This doesn't necessarily come from a family; early on in the film, we see Dani giving a lot of emotional support to her sister and checking in on her parents but getting nothing back. She is especially in need of emotional support after the loss of her family, which she eventually finds in the Hargas.
4. The Hargas have a physical language called 'affect' which is based on emotions rather than words (which reinforces the idea that emotional support is what Dani is really looking for). Either I missed this when watching the film, or it wasn't clear enough. It's a really fascinating detail that comes out in scenes where the Hargas seem to be imitating the raw emotion of people in distress, as if it empathise. Are the Hargas actually a very compassionate society?
5. I found it odd that Pelle doesn't get sacrificed. There is a line in the script that suggests that Hargas who bring in outsiders to be scarified (like Pelle and Ingmar did) are rewarded with being sacrificed. Ingmar (who brings the two Brits) is sacrificed, but Pelle isn't. By the end of the film, I didn't feel particularly attached to Pelle as a character, so I thought this was an unusual decision. The only reason I can think of is that if Pelle dies, it doesn't give Dani much of a reason to stay because everyone she knows that connects her to the outside world is dead. Plus (aside from being an accomplice to all the killing) Pelle seems like a decent guy, and the only guy who actually listens to and supports Dani, so maybe it sets up the potential for a romance if he lives.
6. How the comedy translates from page to screen was interesting to see. I remember finding the love scene between Christian and Maja funny in the film because it's so bizarre, but reading it is a different experience. It's quite disturbing, especially as Christian has been drugged and isn't in his right mind. I also found Christian's woes about his PhD and Josh taking him to task for stealing his topic much funnier in the script. 'You didnât even know how to use J-Stor before I taught you' is a great line.
completely enthralled by the religious acts and the thought process of creating this whole new culture. The only thing that felt out of sorts is Christian giving his âseedâ to the young Hargas girl. In the final ceremony, itâs made very clear that Christian symbolizes bad/negative energy that must be banished from their society. If thatâs so, why encourage him to impregnate someone. Dani wasnât meant to see his infidelity - the women were pulling her away from the temple. If their God requires sex, death and rebirth, who choose Christian?
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