Midsommar Review: A Hauntingly Vibrant Film

By Zola Kambandu Schilz

‘Midsommar’, a 2019 film directed by Ari Aster, is a horror film detailing the journey of Dani (Florence Pugh) and friends as they travel to the lush, green Swedish countryside. 

After her parents’ and sister’s death, Dani finds herself struggling to accept the loss of her family and decides to travel with – though much to their dismay – her lackluster boyfriend, Christan (Jack Reynor) and his friends to their friend Pelle’s (Vilhelm Blomgren) home country for a midsommar solstice celebration. Beginning with an unsuspectingly gruesome opening celebration, what was supposed to be a fun summer celebration quickly becomes a disturbingly violent competition at the unmerciful hands of a pagan cult, Härga. 

In addition to keeping the viewers on the edge of their seats with every twist and turn in the plot and an ending so shockingly unpredictable, a major factor adding to the suspense of the film is the fact that almost the entirety of it takes place in broad daylight giving the film a vibrant and almost happy feel. However, this lack of darkness also highlights a carefully hidden detail of the Härga. This detail is the anti-immigrant and neo-pagan views by some on the very far right that are perfectly woven into the film. 

The settings in the beginning of the film are very dimly lit and mostly take place at night or dusk. This makes the moment they step into a vibrantly bright countryside of Sweden – where the celebration is to take place – even more overwhelming. We also notice the complete and utter lack of people of color within the all-white clad Härga. The only people of color throughout the entire movie are from the incoming group of tourists. This does well to clue us into the underlying theme within the film mentioned earlier –anti-immigration and neo-paganism.