Midsommar

Despite the fact that I screamed out loud both times I saw Ari Astor's previous film, Hereditary, (I even knew what was coming the second time I saw it and I still screamed), I decided to see Midsommar last night.  I don't know why I do these things to myself because this movie is just as unsettling as its predecessor.  Dani (Florence Pugh) and Christian (Jack Reynor) have a precarious relationship because she is needy and he is emotionally distant.  Christian contemplates leaving her but, when Dani suffers a family tragedy, she is so traumatized that he stays with her out of guilt.  Dani learns that Christian is planning a trip with his friends Pelle (Vilhelm Blomgren), Josh (William Jackson Harper), and Mark (Will Poulter) to Sweden.  Pelle has invited them to his remote village to observe a Midsummer festival that occurs every 90 years so they can conduct anthropological research.  Dani is distraught at the thought of him abandoning her so Christian reluctantly invites her along.  At first they find the festival to be enchanting but the pagan rituals become increasingly bizarre and then, ultimately, terrifying.  However, when Dani participates in one of the rituals, she eventually finds a release from her fear and suffering (and her toxic relationship).  What I found to be most interesting is that Dani is truly an outsider in this community, as Christian and his friends are anthropologists who have studied religious rituals, but she is the most accepting and respectful of it.  Although many of the practices are violent (a ritualistic suicide) or strange (a mating ritual), they all are driven by the cycle of life, death, and rebirth and have a certain logic which Dani ultimately embraces.  The fact that the most terrifying scenes take place in a beautiful setting in bight sunlight creates an atmosphere that is full of tension and the score adds to the sense of dread.  Pugh gives a mesmerizing performance as a woman consumed by grief and her look of exultation at the end of the movie is worth the price of admission.  This movie is incredibly difficult to watch (there was much nervous laughter in my screening) but it is brilliant and I am sure that I will be thinking about it for days.