My interpretation of Midsommar's visual language

Ari Aster's second film in partnership with A24 features clear and bright visuals, making it a work that, at first glance, would not be immediately associated with horror. Many have called this film "a cult of aesthetics." Let's try to understand the visual and auditory language of this film and how it uses bright and vibrant imagery, typically associated with "beauty," to portray the unusual world of a cult and its followers.

Brightness and Piety

Unlike typical horror films with their gloomy settings, this story, which unfolds around the Midsummer festival, maintains a very bright color palette throughout. When initially portraying the suicide of the protagonist Dani's family and some scenes in the United States, the lighting is ordinary, and the color tones are colder, shrouding the imagery in the apathy and confusion of modern urban civilization. However, as the plane lands in Europe and the main characters enter the village of Hårga, the entire visual atmosphere becomes brilliantly bright. The sky is blue, the grass is green, and the use of yellow and blue is particularly prominent: the small flowers by the road leading to Hårga, the pyramid-shaped temple, and the houses where everyone sleeps are all vividly yellow or blue. Production designer Henrik Svensson mentioned that he wanted to create a contrast for the audience through the use of yellow and blue. The bright, calming colors that people typically associate with beauty are, in this film, harbingers of evil. Furthermore, these two colors are also the components of the Swedish flag, and their significance in the film is a critique of nationalism.

This film frequently uses the contrast between yellow and blue, and it cleverly incorporates the color of the blue sky.

Everything is exposed under the direct rays of the midsummer sun, as if the radiant glow of the villagers' devout faith envelops both the protagonist and the audience. Even rituals involving "death" and the cremation of individuals reaching the age of 72 take place in broad daylight. This is because the villagers view it as a natural occurrence, even with a sense of honor. Therefore, there is no need to conceal it. Like the villagers' faith, everything is open and unabashedly revealed in the sunlight. Is it the perpetual sun of the summer solstice or the unwavering "light of faith" passed down through generations in this village that surrounds the protagonist and the audience, who are "foreigners" from modern civilization? Because of faith, there is light; because faith is firm and enduring, the sun never sets.

Openness and Closure

Just as there is light, there is inevitably darkness, and where there is openness, there must be closure. The seemingly open village bathed in sunlight, seemingly removed from the noise of mainstream society, conceals many secrets that defy common sense and cannot withstand scrutiny from the outside world. For most of the film, there is an eerie silence, devoid of any noise or disturbances. This is one of the prerequisites for the cult's establishment and maintenance: seclusion. Upon entering the village, all outsiders find that there is almost no signal, and they cannot connect to the internet or communicate with the outside world. This means they are cut off from external contact and lose any chance of seeking help. They are like bears initially puzzling to the audience, locked in cages and offered as sacrifices to the cult.

The closed, yellow temple is also a foreshadowing. When initially asked about its purpose, Pelle briefly dismisses it and warns everyone not to approach. In reality, the granary serves as the location for human sacrificial rituals, sealing off the cult's biggest secret. Josh gains apparent permission from the village elders to document and investigate for his thesis, but his true intention is to break into the temple at night and photograph the religious scriptures and inscriptions. He intrudes into the core of the cult's secrets, touching upon parts that can not be exposed to outsiders. This poses a danger to the community, as any discovery by modern secular society would shatter the village's seclusion and lead to its disintegration.

Complexity and Simplicity

To make the cult in the film appear more authentic, the director and the production team not only built the fictional village of Hårga on location in Hungary but also created various texts, images, and murals related to the cult in the film. These were inspired by Hälsingland, Sweden, where the village of Hårga is set. The film presents a contrast between complexity and simplicity. Religious images and texts appear intricate and have been passed down through generations, contrasting with the pure white clothing of all the residents and their unadorned and simple faces. The elaborate religious doctrines and complex rules are designed to make people lose their ability to inquire and think critically, maintaining faith in its singularity and purity. The director mentioned that the murals in the film already foreshadow all the plot developments and the ending, indicating that everything is inevitable because Hårga has been preparing for a long time, and all plans will unfold as depicted in the murals.

For example, a series of religious images in the film depict a female figure cutting her lower body, adding blood to food, and casting spells on males to make them fall in love. This represents the traditional process through which Hårga's maiden, Maja, bewitches Christian. It exudes a sense of mystery rooted in ancient folk traditions but appears extraordinary under the gaze of modern civilization. However, Maja's intentions are straightforward: she wants to conceive offspring for the village's continuation. I believe the character of Josh serves the purpose of analyzing Hårga from an objective and modern perspective among outsiders. However, if approached with normal thinking, it would expose the true face of the cult because the complex doctrines act as a carefully woven sugar coating that envelops the core, which can not withstand scrutiny.

Vibrancy and Zeal

Another prominent visual element in the film is the flowers of the midsummer festival. This not only aligns with the folk theme of the midsummer festival but also complements the bright color scheme throughout the film. At a glance, there are hardly any grayscale colors in the frames. The sky is deep blue, the grass is vivid green, and even the charming farmhouses are painted in various vibrant colors. Together with the flowers, these elements contribute to the cult's glossy appearance. Who can resist flowers? Whether it's the girls from the community expressing their love for outsiders or Dani and the girls dancing tirelessly under the Maypole to crown the May Queen, everything is accompanied by enthusiastic and beautiful flowers. This enthusiasm is overwhelming and irresistible.

Unity and Empathy

When capturing the religious rituals and collective activities of Hårga, the film frequently uses symmetrical compositions commonly seen in cult films. This visual orderliness aligns with the cult's characteristic of unified thinking. Everything in the community, from daily life to eating and sleeping, is regulated and uniform. Pelle, who invites the main characters to Sweden from New York, initially dresses casually but quickly changes into the community's attire upon returning to the village. He mentions that all the clothes are handmade and uniform. Additionally, one of the defining features of a cult is that collective thinking takes precedence over individualism. Therefore, most activities in the community are communal and imbued with religious significance, including communal meals. For instance, during these meals, everyone picks up their knives and forks in a specific order, starting with the elders and mentors at the head of the table and continuing down the long table with a domino effect. Such highly regulated behaviors serve to tame and control individuals psychologically.

However, more often than not, this sense of unity is ingrained in the residents' lives and psyches from birth, making obedience to the collective and adherence to uniformity a spontaneous routine. Two scenes that leave a deep impression are the sex scene and the moment when the female lead breaks down in tears. During the sex scene, older women from the village stand naked in a row, surrounding the couple and the flowers, mimicking Maja's moans. When the female lead experiences betrayal and cries uncontrollably, the girls around her also join in, echoing her sobs and matching her breathing rhythm until she calms down. These two scenes may seem bizarre, but they illustrate how others express and perceive the subject's emotions through actions and sounds. They convey the message that "you are one of us, and we share a symbiotic (codependent) relationship," quickly integrating Dani, who was homeless and lacked a sense of belonging, into the community.

Hallucination, Oscillation, and Confusion

After watching the movie, some felt that it gave them a feeling of being "high." Indeed, from leaving the United States, boarding the plane, and driving past Swedish cities from the airport, all the scenes appeared just like those in ordinary narrative films. However, as the camera passed by a road sign in the village, the frame inverted, signaling the entrance into an abnormal world. Upon entering the village, Pelle gives everyone hallucinogenic drugs, and the common sense of all the outsiders is challenged by the cult's consciousness and behavior. Their reactions to this experience are layered: the British couple, Simon and Connie, have a strong negative reaction to the ritualistic suicide of the elderly and decide to leave; Josh views the community as a subject for his graduate thesis and approaches it with an investigative attitude; Mark and Christian find some things in the village unusual but remain ambivalent, often driven more by curiosity and novelty than strong aversion; on the other hand, the female lead, Dani, who suffers from PTSD due to her family's suicides, is emotionally unstable and lacks a sense of belonging. Her psyche is the most vulnerable and is constantly being targeted by Pelle through seduction and attempts to weaken her trust in her boyfriend.

The fates of all the outsiders are connected to their level of acceptance: those who refuse to be brainwashed face a grim fate; the British couple is the first to disappear. Josh, who seeks to objectively explore and document the community, puts the cult at risk of exposure, and his curiosity leads to dire consequences. Mark inadvertently urinates on the ancestral tree, desecrating it and falling under the spell of the cult's young women, ultimately ending up wearing a jester's hat during the sacrifice. Christian, like the others, is tempted, and Maja is drugged to become pregnant. He becomes a symbol of the border and the line of demarcation for the female lead, Dani, who oscillates between normality and abnormality. During the feast of the May Queen, there are many fisheye shots, reflecting the distortion and transformation of Dani's consciousness. Numerous close-ups of Dani's face show her expressions of confusion and wavering. Her understanding of what is normal and abnormal begins to blur as logical reasoning surrenders to powerful brainwashing and persuasion. In the end, she chooses to sacrifice Christian and leaves behind her normal life to become part of the village.