After the runaway success of his debut feature, Hereditary, one of the greatest horror movies in recent memory, writer-director Ari Aster was contacted by Swedish production company, B-Reel Films, about possibly making a slasher movie in Sweden. Aster initially turned down the offer, as he couldn’t find a way into the story, but changed his mind after connecting it to a breakup.
The visual style of Midsommar is ripped straight from folk horror classics, like The Wicker Man, but its emotional core is Dani Ardor and Christian Hughes’ struggling relationship. Aster has described his ambitious opus as “a breakup movie dressed in the clothes of a folk horror film.”
Dani & Christian’s Relationship Is Irreparable From The Start
At the beginning of Midsommar, Christian’s friends encourage him to break up with Dani. They tell him she’s holding him back and he should free himself of her emotional neediness. But Dani’s opening scenes show that she has a suicidal sister who keeps threatening to take her own life, so her emotions are pretty warranted.
It’s clear that Christian is a selfish jerk who couldn’t be less interested in the needs of others, and that breaking up would be best for both of them. From the beginning of the movie, this relationship seems irreparable.
Dani’s Family Tragedy Delays The Inevitable
Christian can see that breaking up with Dani is the best option, but just before he can do it, Dani’s sister dies by suicide and kills her parents, although it is hinted at that they are actually killed by the cult and this point remains ambiguous. Nonetheless, he can’t very well break up with her in the immediate aftermath of losing her entire family – she needs more emotional support than ever.
The problem is, Christian isn’t in the business of providing emotional support. It’s obvious that their relationship is unworkable and a breakup is inevitable. Dani’s poorly timed family tragedy just delays that inevitability.
Christian Is Emotionally Abusive
Most of Christian’s interactions with Dani are straight out of the gaslighter’s handbook. He never tells Dani how he really feels; she tries to communicate with him, but he just speaks in vague terms, so he’ll be able to deny it later.
In this regard, the Hårga cult that Dani leaves Christian for is much worse than him. They, too, manipulate people’s thoughts and use emotions as weapons, but they’re much more cunning and effective at it than Christian.
Florence Pugh & Jack Reynor Share Convincing Chemistry As A Couple On The Verge Of Breaking Up
Florence Pugh and Jack Reynor were perfectly cast in the lead roles of Midsommar. They share enough on-screen chemistry for the audience to buy that Dani and Christian would fall in love in the first place.
But they add enough emotional distance to that chemistry for the audience to buy that they’re at the tail end of their relationship and on the verge of breaking up.
The Cultists Mirroring Dani’s Emotions Amplifies The Horror Of Finding Christian With Another Woman
The cultists mirroring Dani’s emotions creates one of the most memorable moments in the movie. After Dani sees Christian having sex with another woman, she breaks down in tears. All the cultists around her do the same and reverberate her own screams of horror back in her face. By having several people breaking down crying instead of just one, this scene amplifies the heavy emotions attached to catching a significant other with someone else.
There’s also a valid defense for Christian in this particular instance because he was drugged with all kinds of hallucinogens and coaxed into impregnating a woman – not your average cheating story.
It Flips The Gender Politics Of The Horror Genre To Empower Dani
Female characters haven’t always had the best luck in horror movies, which Midsommar subverts by putting its male protagonist through the ringer. In the original script, Christian got dressed before running out and finding his friends’ corpses dotted around the commune, but Jack Reynor suggested that the character be naked to flip the horror genre’s excessive use of female nudity on its head.
This ties into the overall notion that the movie is about empowering Dani to have the confidence to leave Christian behind and move on with her life (under very extreme circumstances).
Dani Choosing To Sacrifice Christian Is An Extreme Metaphor For Moving On From A Breakup
In the haunting final moments of Midsommar, Dani is asked to choose a sacrifice: Christian or a local villager she’s never met before. She chooses Christian and he’s paralyzed, stuffed into a hollowed-out bear carcass, and burned alive in a wooden temple.
Choosing to spare the stranger’s life over Christian’s is an extreme metaphor for letting go of someone after a breakup and moving on and embracing the future.
As Christian Is Burnt Alive, Dani Smiles
While Christian is being slowly burnt alive in the temple, Dani initially weeps. But the tears soon dry up and she smiles for the first time in the movie, accepting her new role as cult leader and embracing a future without her boyfriend.
It’s rare for a horror protagonist to get a "happy ending" (even one as disturbing as Midsommar’s), and while it's a bit of a stretch to say that Dani has a "happy ending" when she is really just one of the few who doesn't end up dead, her ending subverts the tropes of the genre, while making for a gruesome end for Christian.