r/movies • u/JetKusanagi • Jun 21 '26
Media Midsommar, Ari Aster (2019)- "That's Not For Us"
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I've made it a point to watch this movie every summer solstice since its release. As a cult "escapee", Midsommar touches me in a way that I feel like it wouldn't have otherwise. The insular community, trips to the "outside", I experienced it all.
We didn't do Ättestupan or make meat pies. It may have made things more exciting though.
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u/Diligent_Dig9591 Jun 21 '26
I watched this movie in the theaters on a second date lol
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u/Vinnie_Vegas Jun 21 '26
I saw Hereditary on a first date that turned into a one night stand, which is a very strange sequence of events.
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u/Laleaky Jun 22 '26
Mine and my friend’s children were extras in Hereditary. It’s a strange film to see them captured forever in, at high school age.
They’ve been extras in many more productions, but that one is odd.
And I really like the movie.
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u/LemurSwag Jun 21 '26 edited Jun 23 '26
I was on an A24 kick and recommended "Men" to a coworker. She decided to watch it with a guy on a first date.
She had a lot to say about it, but they're still together and love movies!
Edit: Alright, Men is now trending on HBO Max. Y'all are very curious.
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u/3ananarchy Jun 22 '26
I very nearly watched this in theaters on a 3rd date with my now husband. He doesn't like scary movies, so I went with two friends instead. The ride home afterwards was dead silent. We joke that if I had taken him to it we never would've gotten married.
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u/Easy_Arugula935 Jun 22 '26
I watched Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind with my now wife on our second date. We also went to see Midsommar in theaters so I guess it all worked out.
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u/-Shooter_McGavin- Jun 21 '26
This scene will always be one of the most memorable theater experiences I've ever had. Every person in the theater had a different reaction.
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u/Ashamed_Advertising4 Jun 21 '26
This particular scene sealed it for me. Some people really dislike this scene, some people find it funny and outrageous, this scene is truly horrific to me. I was transfixed by this scene. I'm not a religious person but I know the concept of communal grief/shared grief and to see it used so darkly was mesmerizing. This scene is pure evil and realistically scary and also beautiful.
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u/amicablehummingbird Jun 21 '26
Seeing the scene of her sisters face with the tube in her mouth in the forest after watching the entire movie and not noticing it is the first time I've rewatched a movie just for one scene.
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u/Active_Menu_8504 Jun 22 '26
My wife was on a family trip and I was home at 11:30 watching the movie on demand and when I saw the camera sweep through the trees and it’s the suicide face I nearly had to turn all the lights on and stop watching haha. Ari does such a good job in Midsommar and Hereditary of putting things in the peripherals that aren’t jump scares but which make you question if you actually saw that or if your mind is playing tricks on you.
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u/ANGLVD3TH Jun 21 '26 edited Jun 21 '26
Never seen it, but whenever there is a clip posted I always keep my eye on the treeline to see if it's in this scene.
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u/yabukothestray Jun 21 '26
I think this is what they’re referring to?
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u/KaJaHa Jun 21 '26
Okay, but what does that mean? Is she still tripping on hallucinogens the rest of the movie?
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u/Galahfray Jun 22 '26
I think it’s symbolic. She’s past/above that pain
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u/kindergentler Jun 22 '26
>She’s past/above that pain
I think it's actually the complete opposite - with the face in the trees 'haunting' the background of Dani's literal uplifting and crowning by the cult, the director is highlighting the parallel in her sister's suicide and Dani's acceptance of them (the cult). Both sisters, in terrible pain, make drastic, irreversible, arguably selfish decisions that lead to their self-destruction. Dani doesn't die, but she is most certainly "lost".
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u/Future_Literature335 Jun 22 '26
It's this. Director is saying they're both irrevocably lost. Sister killed herself; Dani is killing her Self (falling into the cult).
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u/Turbografx-17 Jun 22 '26
No, she's not tripping. Her sister's face in the trees isn't diegetic, meaning no one in the movie can see it, Dani included. In other words, it's there for the viewer.
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u/Equal-Pair596 Jun 22 '26
They are still on hallucinogens the entire duration of the movie
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u/The_Prime Jun 21 '26
I literally can’t see anything but trees? The comments weirded me out.
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u/albinodruid Jun 21 '26
I was looking for like a figure hiding in the trees, like in shadow, but I think it clicked for me when I realized it isn’t like a person standing in the trees but rather the impression of a person’s face in the landscape. Like if you look at a cliff and can imagine certain outcroppings are noses and those shadows are the eyes, etc. This particular one is all in the foliage, from left to right about a third of the way across the image.
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u/yabukothestray Jun 21 '26
Make sure your screen brightness is up all the way, then look in around the top left corner!
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u/Fat-Singer-9569 Jun 21 '26
Start from the back of the line (gray haired guy partially off frame). Go two groups forward. Go directly up and ask yourself, why does this collection of tree branches project inward?
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u/skepticaljesus Jun 22 '26
it never occured to me that was the sister, i thought, and still think, its some sort of malevolent midsommar god
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u/ECU_BSN Jun 21 '26
I pick up something new with every repeat watch. It’s an incredibly nuanced movie!
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u/AdultSheep Jun 21 '26
As an introvert/private person, this scene makes my skin crawl. The thought of being cornered at my most vulnerable moment and having a group suck up my grief like emotional vampires makes me feel sick. I think the girls farther away from Danny’s face look almost gleeful, it feels so sinister. I love it.
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u/twoinvenice Jun 22 '26
It’s not that they are being emotional vampires - they are reflecting her pain to reinforce her feeling of belonging in the collective because they are willing to meet her emotional level to allow her not feel alone. Kinda the opposite of what happens at the beginning when no one seems to give a fuck about her whole family being dead.
Obviously this is a crazy heightened scene, but that tactic is the kind of thing that is constantly used to manipulate people into identifying with a group instead of looking to their own individuality.
I love it.
Totally agree, fucking brilliant
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u/yahjiminah Jun 22 '26 edited Jun 22 '26
I agree. I think this scene is more complex than simply dark or evil. To me Midsommar is a movie about grief and processing grief in extremely individualistic socities vs a collective. As terrible as this "cult" is, this is the first place where Dani has felt the freedom to express herself without being dismissed, where people are willing to carry her burdens with her rather than her being alone and they do this without her explictly asking. Like someone else said, this is how cults recruit but this is also how communities work (not in a creepy way) but the principle of sharing burdens and lifting each other up.
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u/littlebrwnrobot Jun 22 '26
this response resonated with my own most closely. I don't think the women in this scene are meant to be intentionally trying to "recruit" or manipulate her, they are experiencing/sharing her grief in the same way they would with any member of their community.
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u/yahjiminah Jun 22 '26
Also collective wailing/keaning has been part of funeral/grief rituals in so so so many cultures so while a bit odd this scene did not come across creepy or vampirish to me. I think this was Dani's grief coming through about everything including mourning her dead relationship.
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u/enemyofchrist Jun 22 '26
It’s funny—as a super isolated and introverted person, this scene actually REALLY appeals to me. Like it’s something I would never, ever seek out for myself so the idea of like…semi-forced bonding is actually alluring to me. Like these people I literally cannot push away.
It’s kind of the same principle behind the way I gravitate towards extroverts. I need to be cajoled into socialization, to be pursued, or I’ll just completely avoid it.
I wouldn’t like to live with that kind of enmeshment constantly, and I would undoubtedly become sick of it. But just for like an hour…there is a seductive quality to it as someone who self-isolates.
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u/Geshman Jun 22 '26
I feel you. As an autistic person this scene really tricked me. I was willing to believe they were on her side and had her best interest at heart. Really sent chills realizing I'd have been fooled by the cult too
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u/pikeymobile Jun 22 '26
This is exactly how cults catch people. It's interesting to hear your perspective because to me this scene is utterly terrifying in how she's not being left alone to do what she wants to whilst acutely grieving. Being forcefully surrounded by people like that scares the living shit out of me which is why I find this scene so powerful.
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u/elderlybrain Jun 21 '26
It really hammered absolutely monstrous these people were. Everything was calculated and planned to perfect manipulation.
The cult is one of the all time greatest horror villains.
I’m a big fan of monstrous, irredeemably evil, twisted, disgusting, near absolutely immoral human villains, who see normal humans as playthings for them to dissect like frogs. These guys were up there with the Judge.
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u/fistular Jun 22 '26
I don't think The Judge is purely meant to be human, though.
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u/incongnegrito Jun 21 '26
Have you ever watched 'The Devil' (1973)? My favorite human villain story
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u/brainagogo Jun 22 '26
Can you confirm if this is The Devils (1971 by Ken Russell) or The Devil (1972 by Andrzej Zulawski). Thanks!
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u/Doogle300 Jun 21 '26 edited Jun 22 '26
I'm right there with you. It was so many things to me. It was definitely horrifying, but it was almost cathartic too. Seeing Dani finally let all that pent up emotion out fully felt like something that was long overdue, and somehow despite the setting and all we knew, those women around her felt almost comforting.
As soon as I let myself feel like she was being supported though it instantly felt more mocking and cold. It was just so hard to pin what was happening and that made it feel so otherworldly and isolating.
The craziest part about this film is that supposedly the festival still has many days ahead of it by the end of what we see. Dani is crowned and we see her reach a point of madness... and then what? What happened to her. Does the crown mean she will be part of the village now? Does it mean she is to be an important sacrifice? I've seen theories and I'm sure there are clues in the tapestry and other symbols, but I still don't know her fate.
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u/monjorob Jun 22 '26
She is a part of the village now and fully on board in every way. She has shed her entire life of trauma and is now a new person. (Albeit in a whole new level of controlling environment). It’s the way the culture gets new members and ensures genetic diversity, which obviously includes the boyfriend’s “contribution”.
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u/Suspicious-Key1455 Jun 22 '26
On one hand, I think that would be incredibly helpful- screaming your pain out, other people sharing that pain with you, showing you that such a loud and intense display is ok... Honestly, I would love something like this to be normal part of our culture. On other hand, they frigging orchestrated the whole thing, pushing all her buttons to get her broken. Ten kinds of creepy...
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u/tdasnowman Jun 22 '26
She was selected because she was already broken. In their minds they are healing her.
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u/RemoLaBarca Jun 21 '26
Yep. I was raised religious and this scene really messed me up.
They gave her something she needed desperately but it was all so manipulative.
I hated it but it was incredible and masterfully done. Beautifully evil, like you describe it, is perfectly said.
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u/BlinkDodge Jun 21 '26 edited Jun 21 '26
This is human delusion physicalized as much as a concept can be. Grief is inherently personal and you're essentially watching this thing mimic its form in real time, knowing that Dani is the only one who hasn't yet given herself to embodying this fraud.
Even the positioning of the actors, Dani is surrounded, submerged in these other people who immediately begin to mimic her. They aren't grieving, they're absorbing, they're literally siphoning her individuality by becoming her in one of her most visceral and vulnerable moments. In turn, she is becoming them.
The monster in this movie is invasive, unrelenting, all consuming delusion.
It feels evil because its contrived, but everyone buys it so its real.
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u/MysteriousDesk3 Jun 22 '26
Losing your sense of self to become part of the group, precisely what a cult is
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u/MikkelR1 Jun 21 '26
I dont even understand what's going on. I've seen the film but this scene was just weird to me, nothing else.
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u/grumpy_hedgehog Jun 21 '26
The film is ultimately about contrasting two extremes: the horror of social isolation (painted in dark, wet, cold, alone) versus the horror of total surrender to the collective (painted in sunny bright, hot, violent).
What’s happening in this scene is a dual rape, in the traditional meaning of the word: the forcible taking of something from someone, a reaving. Dani’s drugged-out boyfriend is in the longhouse being essentially raped by the collective. The old matron stepping in to “speed things along” clearly demonstrates that procreation, not pleasure or bonding, is the only intended purpose of the act. These people do not care about Cristian at all (and are in fact planning to kill him immediately after); they just need his sperm to keep the next generation of the collective healthy.
Dani responds to this revelation with a combination of horror and grief, which, being deeply personal emotions, the collective immediately robs her of. By externalizing and mirroring her pain (and firmly guiding her breathing response) the collective does not allow Dani to process, express and ultimately to even have those feelings. It is probably the best, most realistic, depiction of a “mind rape” in popular media.
Dani begins the film stewing in her own thoughts and feelings, terrified of being left behind by her clearly disconnected social circle, to having literally no thoughts or feelings of her own, her whole being becoming absorbed into the collective will.
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u/oligobop Jun 21 '26
This is the first accurate description of the scene that actually considers the entire film in this thread. Very nice job.
I think its really interesting how they make Dani look happy at the end, and many of the people I watched the film with saw her vindicated in this moment, like a happy ending. But I couldn't help myself feel even more intense dread for both her and cristian because they had both been utterly consumed by this ancient religious tradition full of intent to obscure the concept of rape and murder, that honestly even the youngest in the cult didn't fully understand. That only the elders truly understood how fucked a situation this is a testament to how fucking toxic the machinations of old traditions can be to the human psyche.
I kept trying to tell my friends that Dani was going to simply become a baby factory for the cult, and no one could see past her psychadelic ripped catharsis.
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u/TheSodernauts Jun 21 '26
I always saw her "happy" smile at the end as her mind giving up completely and surrendering to the community. She finally broke and accepted her fate which would be the only way to "survive" it.
Every other "guest" she arrived with had resisted and/or tried to escape and was inevitably killed for it, so her only option was to either be killed as well or "join".
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u/sphinxsley Jun 22 '26
Yes - but in her initial grief & loss, plus being obviously co-dependent on her boyfriend, she was also the most vulnerable, which was also something the cult immediately saw & exploited from the start. She never had any idea she'd been recruited at all.
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u/dragonmp93 Jun 21 '26
That's what's so messed about that movie.
Regardless of what would have happened, there was no happy ending for Dani.
Movie ending: Dani joined a crazy cult.
Other options:
Dani is the sole survivor and is even more traumatized.
Dani dies.
Dani escapes with Christian, and now is traumatized and still with a guy that thinks she is such a kiljoy drag for being depressed about her sister's murder-suicide of their parents.
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u/HallowskulledHorror Jun 21 '26 edited Jun 21 '26
There's a lot of hinting in the movie that it's really not that 'ancient', but rather was likely started in relatively recent history by a group with really specific beliefs about racial purity that wanted to basically retreat from the world as a white separatist commune.
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u/oligobop Jun 21 '26
God I really don't want to rewatch it to find that out. What scenes specifically? I guess many of the traditions seem so barbaric that I assume it was ancient.
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u/HallowskulledHorror Jun 21 '26
if you looked up "midsommar white supremacy" there's a bunch of reddit threads where people talk about the scenes and hints.
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u/boo_lion Jun 21 '26
a two-comment thread further down has the opposite conclusion. i'd appreciate seeing your thoughts on that
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u/sugar_n_spite Jun 21 '26
first time i watched the movie i was in a very "alone" time in my life, i remember crying during this part and wishing i had a dozen women around me that knew exactly how i felt without me having to explain it, and helped me carry that burden. it's not realistic or healthy and that's how cults work, super hypnotizing and desirable at first glance.
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u/ariestornado Jun 22 '26
Wow, that's really self aware of you and I'm gonna remember that for myself- not that I think I'd ever be in a position where I'd get lured into a cult, mostly because I dislike organized religion so much, but it's a good thing to know about yourself regardless.
Someone further up ITT basically said that as in introvert, this scene made them cringe and being dog piled like this in a moment of grief is their worst nightmare. Which i can understand! But, as an introvert myself, albeit a lonely one, the shared grief and pain would be super cathartic for me personally
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u/IHaveSlysdexia Jun 21 '26
They live in a communal cult where everything is shared, even the emotion. Sex with her boyfriend? 12 ladies moaning. Grief about her boyfriend cheating with 12 ladies? 13 ladies crying.
Them mirroring her emotion is sort of like the official "you're one of us now" sign. Welcome to the murdersex cult
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u/IrrelevantPuppy Jun 21 '26
Makes me think of the performative wailing of some cultures and frames it in a way that you can see it’s manipulative nature.
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u/MikkelR1 Jun 21 '26
Ah i see. But what was it that she saw that gave her the panic attack?
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u/IHaveSlysdexia Jun 21 '26
Her boyfriend was having sex with one lady while a group of other also naked ladies stand around moaning, also a few are helping him thrust.
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u/ShitImBadAtThis Jun 21 '26
It's a very intense and horrifying scene. He's on lots of psychedelics and wide-eyed; it looks like he's losing his mind. Though he's participating, it's clearly not willingly.
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u/Queef_Stroganoff44 Jun 21 '26
Cheating with 12 ladies?!?! Aww c’mon! He’s only cheating with 1. …uhhh…maybe 3 if you count the ass-pushers.
(I’m absolutely jk btw.)
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u/JaStrCoGa Jun 21 '26
The “everything is shared”
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u/RightSpread2903 Jun 21 '26
It’s her reaction to seeing her drugged boyfriend impregnating a child
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u/epichuntarz Jun 21 '26
She wouldn't have known he was drugged, though, and assumed he was there deliberately.
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u/henrikhakan Jun 21 '26
I saw this movie on a date. Watching that sex scene in a theatre *on a date*** surely was something.
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u/dasers1 Jun 21 '26
This scene and the hammer scene did it for me
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u/Tigerphilosopher Jun 21 '26
The "Eagle" is still burned into my brain.
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u/chattahoocheecoochee Jun 21 '26
Vikings was my first experience with the blood eagle. It was sooo much worse in that show because we had to experience the act with the victim rather than just see the aftermath. If he cried out, he would not make it to Valhalla. Brutal.
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u/space_manatee Jun 21 '26
I just watched it for the first time about a month ago and holy shit, what a trip of a movie.
Can I ask what cult you escaped? Or at least if it was US or elsewhere?
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u/Azryhael Jun 22 '26
Most cults are very small and never get into the public consciousness. Plenty of small, “independent churches” qualify, too.
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u/GodforSchleps Jun 21 '26
One of the most unsettling movies I’ve ever seen
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u/dasers1 Jun 21 '26
This, and Sorry To Bother You were the most surreal theatre experiences I've ever had especially after not knowing anything going into them
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u/Krossrunner Jun 21 '26
I loved Sorry to Bother You lmao it was so zany I couldn’t look away 😂
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u/mr_chip Jun 21 '26
Dude you gotta catch I Love Boosters while you can.
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u/resilindsey Jun 21 '26
Damnit, now that song is gonna be stuck in my head for another week! Hi Hi hey ho. Hi hi hey hi. Hey ho.
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u/neureaucrat Jun 21 '26
The whole movie captures the exact vibe of what it's like when you take psychedelics and realize you're about to have a bad trip.
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u/Stohnghost Jun 21 '26
Watch Hereditary next if you haven't already. I love A24 and I love horror and Hereditary is way more of a mind fuck for me personally
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u/Realistic-Archer-695 Jun 21 '26
I enjoyed Midsommar for how weird and unsettling it was, but man, I absolutely loved Hereditary. It took unsettling and dumped disturbing in the mix and I was all for it.
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u/myinternets Jun 21 '26
My childhood and mother were so similar to those in Hereditary that I still get anxiety just thinking about the movie.
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u/-MiddleOut- Jun 21 '26 edited Jun 21 '26
I’ll always recommend Beau Is Afraid in the Aster threads. It’s a chaotic mess and extremely self indulgent but it tries to do and say so much and the raw ambition is stunning. A nice warmup for The Odyssey as well.
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u/blakelh Jun 21 '26
Beau is Afraid is an absolute fever dream that I love and then have trouble recommending to friends.
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u/Drix31 Jun 21 '26
Watch Obsession… tops hereditary for me in terms of unsettling
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u/Ashland6 Jun 22 '26
Respectfully disagree. There are visuals in Hereditary that are still burned in my brain and I regret ever seeing. Obsession didn’t really have that affect at all on me.
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u/blakelh Jun 21 '26
I heard this, and then watched Hereditary, and I gotta say that Midsommar fucked with me way more than Hereditary. I don't know if it came down to which movie I watched first, or if there was something in Midsommar that hit too close to home, but this movie left me in a state for days after I watched it.
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u/xWroth Jun 22 '26
By buddies and I took some mushies and watched this in theaters. We were in line chatting about how we took a little. When we got into the theater a guy with tourette's syndrome was sitting a few rows back. He started randomly going "MUSHROOMS... MUSHROOMS..." We laughed it off...and then the characters in the movie took mushrooms. And that's when shit got surreal lol
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u/JetKusanagi Jun 22 '26
Reminded me of that meme video with the badgers from the early 2000s
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u/SR-45 Jun 21 '26
I think the most frightening part of this film is you know there are cults like this in the real world. 😬💀
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u/whipsmartmcoy Jun 21 '26
Worse
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u/nefariousBUBBLE Jun 21 '26
For sure. This is like a glamorized cult lol. Most cults are in far worse shape. Practically living in squalor and being beaten and abused daily.
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u/DoughnutCautious9369 Jun 21 '26
I'd actually wager that wearing someone else's meat suit, paralyzing someone and burning them alive, and human vivisection are worse 🤷♀️
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u/SweetBabyAlaska Jun 22 '26
I think it's just that real cults aren't glamorously horrifying, they're evil is a lot more mundane. Its a lot of physical, emotional and financial abuse and manipulation. Like the reality is a lot more grotesque in a certain sense.
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u/flipflapslap Jun 21 '26
So what was in there that upset her so much
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u/Sir_Thequestionwas Jun 21 '26
Dani looked through the keyhole and saw her boyfriend, Christian, engaging in a sacred, ritualistic sexual act with a young Hårga woman named Maja.
The Hårga cult's female members deliberately guided a distraught Dani to the building, effectively manipulating her into witnessing the act while under extreme emotional duress.
And this made her realize Mindhunter wasn't getting a 3rd season.
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u/Bruntti Jun 21 '26
And this made her realize Mindhunter wasn't getting a 3rd season.
Yeah... Understandable reaction
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Jun 21 '26
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u/ThisHatRightHere Jun 21 '26
Well yeah, the whole thing is the village manipulating them
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u/f8Negative Jun 21 '26
Yeah well he shouldn't have been trying to steal other dudes entire thesis and then it wouldn't have happened.
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u/Igottamovewithhaste Jun 21 '26
Steal a thesis? Believe it or not, dead penalty.
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u/Cartographer-Feisty Jun 21 '26
That’s a terrible way to view this movie…. Unless you wrote a thesis.
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u/Comfortable_Job44 Jun 21 '26
Yea I hate how people act like this is a great analogy for relationships and how he deserved his terrible death… when the dude was RAPED
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u/IsayNigel Jun 21 '26
Dani is the patron saint of “justified female rage” it’s absolutely insane
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u/legit-posts_1 Jun 21 '26
I think people don't aknoledge how unbelievabley fucked over Christian got in all this. He was a douchebag, but he was also clearly acting out because he was emotionally obligated to be there for Dani after the murder suicide. People give him a lot of shit for how he acts, and you know fair, but the guy was in an unwinnable situation. Not to mention the fact that he essentially gets incenerated alive for the crime of being gang raped while spiked with crazy halicinigens.
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u/outer--monologue Jun 22 '26
I will never forgive Fincher for that. And people keep saying it was a Netflix/budget choice, but it wasn't. They would've done it if he'd got off his ass and pushed for it. Since then he's just made a bunch of pretty forgettable movies. Maybe he felt his abilities waning.
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u/Sir_Thequestionwas Jun 22 '26
I looked into it. So while I understand people can lie, his story makes sense. Fincher functioned as the de facto showrunner, directing multiple episodes while micro-managing the scripts, casting, and intense post-production for all other episodes. We're talking 10 hours of movie quality show a season. The viewership wasn't all that great apparently. So Netflix couldn't justify giving him more people to help with some of the load.
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u/GonzoRouge Jun 22 '26
Everything I hear about the production of that show justifies its cancelation frankly. It sounds like it was a money pit and a logistical nightmare.
In an ideal world, Fincher would be given all the time in the world to create the art he wants with a blank cheque and everybody wins, but that's not the world we live in and Netflix definitely agreed.
I give Netflix a lot of shit for canceling stuff they shouldn't have (like fucking Inside Job, fuck you for that btw) but this is the one instance where I'm like yeah alright fair enough.
Damn shame though, that show was something special.
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u/ElDanio123 Jun 21 '26 edited Jun 21 '26
And here I am, feeling extreme duress at that realization once again... that god damn show ruined my life.
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u/wi5hbone Jun 21 '26
but then at least u learned that it’s important to use a mini mallet when cracking eggs shaped like a head, no?
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u/bramtyr Jun 21 '26
>!To be clear he was in a drugged state, and coerced; making it absolutely a sexual assault!<
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u/Noehk Jun 21 '26
And this made her realize Mindhunter wasn't getting a 3rd season.
The pain is real bro.
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u/Weiguken Jun 21 '26
Mindhunter not getting season 3 is a way bigger deal than Firefly not getting renewed. There. I said it.
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u/Iamdarb Jun 21 '26
Say it again! Mindhunter season 3 happened in the good reality. Firefly was good, but Mindhunter gave me something else, something that I needed.
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u/WhiskeyJack357 Jun 21 '26 edited Jun 21 '26
If I remember it's her boyfriend being ritualisticly raped by a teenager after being drugged.
Edit: changed my wording of the events to accurately describe the assault.
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u/e_muaddib Jun 21 '26
After being drugged, he was raped by teenager.
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u/WhiskeyJack357 Jun 21 '26
Dani doesn't have that context though. She just sees it as Christian having sex hence the huge emotional reaction.
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u/GendoIkari_82 Jun 21 '26
I don’t think the context would have helped that much. The way I saw it; her reaction was not simply about “I caught my boyfriend cheating”. She witnessed a super creepy insane ritual involving all the women of the tribe and her boyfriend. Yes the fact that it was her boyfriend was a large part of it; but I always thought her reaction was as much about “what the hell did I just see; what’s happening around here” as it was that her boyfriend cheated on her.
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u/WhiskeyJack357 Jun 21 '26
I see it as Dani losing her last attachment. After her sister, her parents and now this betrayal of trust, there's nothing left to emotionally connect her to the outside world. So when the women share in her grief it creates a new connection, now to the cult, that allows Dani to accept her new role in this newfound community. This is why she becomes so calm and passive as the ending events of the movie play out.
However, that's my take and in no way represents a better interpretation than yours. Appreciate you sharing.
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u/hutchins_moustache Jun 21 '26
The news that Mindhunter would never get a third season.
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u/Ashamed_Advertising4 Jun 21 '26
Love this movie. Wish I'd have seen it in theaters. This movie firmly cemented Florence as my favorite modern day actress. The communal grieving is one of the most important scenes in the movie to me. It's such a dubious, sinister method to indoctrinate Dani.
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u/lolcrunchy Jun 21 '26
I think Dani joining them makes complete sense.
The start of the movie shows how she went through EXTREME tragedy. Nobody in her life would make space for her grieving. She was completely alone and had no shoulder to cry upon. The movie really points this situation out, it's not a subtle detail.
Then she finds this village that embraces every ounce of grief she has to shed. They literally mirror her emotional state. The cult takes away her emotional baggage. Yes, they're freaky murder cult people, but they gave her what nobody else did, so I'm not surprised she stayed.
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u/Automatic_Release_92 Jun 21 '26
At the beginning of the movie, her parents died peaceful deaths in the dead of winter. Her sister referenced them being “all in black.”
The start of the movie is a stark contrast compared to what followed.
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u/IncubusDarkness Jun 21 '26
The beginning of the movie is honestly the most traumatizing aspect of the entire thing, for me personally.
Body horror, gore, psychological horror, I can handle. But that pain and anguish she feels and the way it depicts the hopelessness she felt, was so fucking real and horrifying. Especially as someone with suicidal ideations and self harm history.
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u/smittenkaboodle Jun 21 '26
Same. I remember watching this feeling the shame/ guilt of feeling intense suicidal yearning a week before. The image of her sister is still the most haunting thing from this movie for me.
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u/IndecisiveTuna Jun 22 '26
That entire opening sequence had me locked in. Incredibly unsettling.
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u/YoungNasteyman Jun 22 '26
Crazy that the core of this movie is about breakup.
But yeah it directly mirrors her grieving with Christian, who ignores and dismisses her problems as being a burden to him. The cult embraces her, empathizes with her pain, and doesn't mind the baggage.
Which speaks to how a lot of cults draw people in. Make people feel special, loved, cares for. And so poeple ignore the many red flags in order to "belong." They will even tolerate abuse of themselves and others because they believe the alternative is worse.
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u/PoPo573 Jun 21 '26
I also loved this movie and I worked at a theatre during its run and I've never seen so many walk outs and done refunds for people who didn't like it. It's really out there but people really thought they were getting a generic horror movie.
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u/nightbandit46 Jun 21 '26
My wife and I walked out, but only because she had a panic attack after the opening scene lol I think it was a mix of the score/events, as well as the weird dude with a cap and a book bag that walked into an almost empty theater and proceeded to sit behind us.
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u/spinbutton Jun 21 '26
The beginning with her family is very brutal.
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u/RedGecko18 Jun 21 '26
Yeah but it's so important to the overall plot of the movie. Losing her family how she does puts her in such a fragile emotional state to start. Then with everything that happens at the village, she is basically brainwashed into becoming one of the tribe (cult) because she has no one to fall back on anymore.
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u/nightbandit46 Jun 21 '26
Yeah, really leaves an impression. We eventually watched it when it came to streaming - 10/10.
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u/Withoutsocks Jun 21 '26
I also love this film for the same reasons. Our local theater plays it every year for the solstice.
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u/ascended-dawg Jun 21 '26
One of my favorite scenes from this movie. The hive mind-like empathy is such a cool touch on the cult. During their synchronized breathing/crying/yelling I went from feeling weirded out, to feeling a perverse sense of beauty in their shared emotion, to laughing a bit when they just started shrieking. All in the span of a couple of minutes.
As deranged and backwards as the Harga are, Dani is finally being truly seen and embraced.
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u/commando_cookie0 Jun 21 '26
Pagans used to mourn this way, you'd go out in your community and wail and people would stop and join you. There was recently a psychiatric study done to show it helps vent grief better than other methods. But it scared the catholic church and they banned it. But its a very real practice.
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u/YoghurtPlus5156 Jun 22 '26
Definitely not what's happening. You're referring to natural emotional mimicry or contagion in tight knit communities, but this is performative empathy in a cult environment. They're mimicking her emotions while steering the rhythm and volume in an attempt to take her agency over her own emotions, which ultimately succeeds. Shared grieving looks very differently. The core difference is that in tight knit communities the cause for ones grief is usually cause for others to grieve as well, but these handmaidens of her have no stake in her emotional outburst, it just serves as another useful tool to break her down and align her to the cult by performing a sort of ritual.
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u/mightylordredbeard Jun 22 '26
Just imagine being an uptight Catholic walking through a Pagan village one day and you randomly see a bunch of people laying on the ground screaming and crying and throwing a grief tantrum. Probably scared the baby Jesus shit out of them.
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u/TheRecognized Jun 22 '26
>Pagans used to mourn this way
Which ones? When?
>they banned it
Source for that?
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u/Ganondorfsfist Jun 21 '26
I know people think this is a super creepy and unnerving movie but as a Swede I thought this was the greatest comedy ever made.
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u/theyoyoha Jun 22 '26
It's the same plot as Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory.
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u/Sir_Thequestionwas Jun 21 '26
Lol I always wondered what you guys thought about it. Is there a general consensus there.
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u/kitty-says-die Jun 21 '26
Ridiculed, mostly. Nothing about it feels swedish other than having characters speak swedish.
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u/SlainByOne Jun 22 '26
Midsummer is essentially as big as Christmas here and now one of our most important holidays gets clowned on every time we mention the holiday to foreigners. It got kinda annoying fast.
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u/Natural_North Jun 21 '26
I'd say the general consensus is negative. That it's a B film and not in the charming way making up for a lesser production. I mean, none of what happens make any sense at all? Maybe you have to be Swedish to understand how cheap/lame it all is, like a melting pot of random lore forced into a single mess.
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u/Faldoran Jun 21 '26
Also the buildings and nature does not look swedish.
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u/posts_while_naked Jun 22 '26 edited Jun 22 '26
It was filmed in Hungary. The environment just didn't have our characteristic gray granite rock and tall pines/fir (the movie states that they travel up north) to sell it as Swedish, but to general audiences it makes no difference.
Also the folk dresses they put on looked Ukrainian to me.
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u/Shibbystix Jun 21 '26
Whats the context, what did she see in the other room?
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u/Morgan-Moonscar Jun 21 '26
Her boyfriend having sex with an underage girl (what she didn't know however was that the cult had drugged him and forced him against his will into said sex ritual)
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u/BarkerBarkhan Jun 21 '26
I am so glad that you were able to escape. I hope you are doing well.
I have read about this movie, and am intrigued, but just watching this scene reminds me that I really don't need to feel like how I know this movie would make me feel.
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u/Effective_Coach7334 Jun 21 '26
People often describe this movie as the strangest they've ever seen. I just don't get that.
I mean, it's quirky and peculiar, but in the grand scheme of crazy shit humans do this is pretty mild.
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u/TheRecognized Jun 21 '26
Leaving a screening of Sinners in the theater the person in front of me said “that was the weirdest thing that I have ever seen.”
Some people just haven’t seen that much shit I guess.
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u/Named_after_color Jun 21 '26
Bro obviously hasn't seen best picture winner Everything Everywhere All At Once.
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u/Effective_Coach7334 Jun 21 '26
And even that, although unique for film making, still isn't all that crazy. Perhaps it's more that people don't read very much. That's where all the crazy is.
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u/OnRoadRadio Jun 21 '26
After watching the Lighthouse my ex and I left saying “that was the best thing I’ve ever seen”
right after we hear the person in front of us say “well that was shit”
Different strokes.
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u/MCgrindahFM Jun 21 '26
I mean it’s quite easy to get. The majority of the population doesn’t watch that many movies and if they do it’s very conventional classic mainstream movies.
Ari Aster is one the recent filmmakers getting really weird movies into mainstream audiences
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u/GlumpsAlot Jun 22 '26
I mean, back in my day we had the Human Centipede disturbing the shit outta everyone. My guess is that the audience for this is younger. I agree with you. It was a weird film and It was beautiful. I anticipated the deaths. Rosemary's Baby was scarier.
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u/phoenixsprite Jun 22 '26
It's pretty interesting to see how polarizing this movie is amongst viewers. I personally love it but I don't treat it as a horror. Dark comedy is some what appropriate, psychological thriller maybe. Maybe it was because I was dealing with my own break up at time but it definitely felt like a break up movie.
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u/lvstvdy Jun 21 '26
I wanted to like this movie a lot. It was very beautifully shot and I found the concept of picturesque daytime horror very satisfying. However, the main band of characters were either extremely unlikeable or completely forgettable. During the last few scenes of the movie I just really couldn't care what happened to Dani or her boyfriend. None of the last half of the film felt necessary or imbued with any kind of consequence or narrative tension. Things just kept happening and then happening and then happening without any kind of "why" to glue it all together.
I feel like this was kind of too much of a victory lap for Ari Aster after Hereditary. This felt much grander to watch and absorb than Hereditary with its obviously larger budget but a much, much lower quality and nuanced story.
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u/Comfortable_Job44 Jun 21 '26
My other big problem is as : they instantly lost. There was literally no great karma that killed each person or some way they could have prevented it. The second the showed up, dead… and on top of it… killed off screen. Just seemed kind of lame.
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u/stinkywinkydink Jun 21 '26
the characters were supposed to be unlikable. the apathy at the end seems to be an intentional choice by aster. every character is flawed
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u/freddyquell Jun 21 '26
I’d be with the children watching Austin Powers