Midsommar | Key Shots

In this section of our Colossus Movie Guide for Midsommar, we look at the key shots that help us understand the film.

Cast

Dani Ardor – Florence Pugh
Christian – Jack Reynor
Josh – William Jackson Harper
Mark – Will Poulter
Connie – Ellora Torchia
Simon – Archie Madekwe
Pelle – Vilhelm Blomgren
Ingemar – Hampus Hallberg
Maja – Isabelle Grill
Ulf – Henrik Norlén
Inga – Julia Ragnarsson
Written by – Ari Aster
Directed by – Ari Aster

Key shots of Midsommar

Winter, Grief, Summer, Relief

Midsommar is about Dani’s journey with grief following the loss of her family. She initially begins that journey with a boyfriend who is performative rather than supportive. He brings her little comfort. The story that follows that is a hyperbolic and exaggerated version of events where she eventually reaches a place of breaking up with him and discovering a new support system. It’s a process many people have gone through in their life. But because Midsommar is a horror movie, it can defamiliarize this journey and express it in new ways, both narratively and visually.

Visually, Midsommar accomplishes this through the dichotomy between winter and summer. With winter being the low point of Dani’s life and summer representing the start of a new season of hope. So the early portion of the film is very dark and shadowed. While the time in Hårga, as Dani begins to heal and transform, is bright and flowery.

We also see graphic matches that highlight the difference between Christian’s attempts to comfort Dani during a panic attack and the Hårga’s attempt. In the one, it’s just Christian and Dani in a cramped, low lit apartment. In the other, Dani’s surrounded by seven other women who hold her, look at her, empathize with her.

Near the end, we’re told that the Hårga view the bear as a symbol of the “unholy affekts” or negative emotions that the community experienced over the course of the year. By burning the bear, they purge their negative feelings and experiences, and thus can begin a new year with a clean slate. Through this motif, Midsommar dovetails Dani’s grief over the loss of her family with Christian’s toxicity. Christian becomes one with the bear. And when they burn, it’s metaphoric for her relief from both. That’s why, at the very end, Dani smiles. Because she’s now free from the burden she had been carrying.