Midsommar

There are spoilers.

Expectations:

Skepticism. I thought Ari Asters highly acclaimed film, Hereditary, was disappointing. I was afraid this movie would be good up until the middle/end like Hereditary was.

Reality:

I enjoyed it! It was visually stunning, the score was so perfect. The plot and flow was almost identical to The Witch. “Tormented girl succumbs to the only thing she feels that has given her any worth or value.”

A personal pet peeve of mine is when people say they don’t like a movie because it was “predictable.” I actually hate ridiculous plot twists. I want a good story (and so do you). I think stories like The Witch and Midsommar have great stories.

I will say that it’s easy to assume this is a movie about how terrible the boyfriend was but I actually think this was more of a movie about how terrible they both are. It’s extremely obvious how much of an ass the boyfriend was. But let’s not forget that we have a woman in a 4 year relationship that was not being clear, almost ever. Whether it’s not saying anything at all and apologizing or making a passive aggressive comment — she never made her desires or feelings clear. I know a gut reaction is “this is victim blaming” but she literally had him burned alive…..without saying anything still. At a job, when you fire someone, you have receipts. It’s clear: we are firing you for X, Y, and Z. Hopefully no one is getting fired and being told “well I thought it was obvious how I felt about you.” Absolutely not. The fact is — he probably did know he was an ass. But it was hard for me to empathize with her because her complete absence of vocalizing how she was really feeling was making me insane. We can also make a separate case about how women are constantly being forced to apologize at every turn, how we’re told too often that we are being emotional, and that is very real. As a direct woman myself, I hear this constantly. I would love to live in a world where an honest woman isn’t called “direct” but is just a “grown-ass woman.” However at some point we need to be just that: a grown-ass woman. Explain to to Christian why not telling you-his gf of 4 years-that you’re leaving the country is disrespectful and hurtful. Tell Christian that he’s a selfish dick for forgetting your birthday. Ask him to explain his nonchalant reactions to disturbing events. Don’t just pout and then tell people to burn him alive instead lol.

That being said the only characters I actually really loved were Pelle — for his deep love for his community-and Hanna because she was so excited to call Dani a sister and seemed to like to take care of her the most.

Midsommar is a beautiful film and I am excited to see what Ari Aster brings us next.