Midsommar: Who Killed Dani's Sister?
Spoilers!
Like the people of Hälsingland, Midsommar has consumed my mind. I watched it, enjoyed it, but it never left my mind. And I watched it again the next day. A week or so later, I watched it again. For me, it is an entrancing journey with an entirely sardonic ending, an ironic ending, a punchline of an ending. It is one of the best films I’ve seen in a long time.
There is so much you can say about Midsommar, but like all great art it’s exact meaning isn’t important. Part of what makes it compelling is its elusive nature. You can see it as a psychological narrative, or allegorical, or even a surreal adventure. It’s kind of all of them.
If this blog had any regular readers, they might know that much of my critiquing of fiction looks a lot at story structure and narrative, and it is through this prism that I am going to take a look at this movie.
Director’s Cut
For the record I think the original theatrical release is a better edit than the director’s cut. While there are a few extra moments in the director’s cut that reveal more of the various characters, and show more of Christian’s toxic personality, there is an extended night time scene which I feel breaks the beautiful, almost entirely daytime element of the movie. It also contains an extra ritual with a boy, which is interesting but not an essential part of the movie. And There is an argument between Christian and Dani that I feel is way to explanatory. During the argument, Dani expresses her wish to leave, to which Christian tells her he’s staying.
This does two things: It makes their reason for staying mostly at the fault of Christian; and it breaks the sense of the characters being manipulated and under the influence of the commune. In the shorter edited version, Dani doesn’t express such an explicit desire to leave, so when she witnesses Connie being told her boyfriend left without her, there’s a clear understanding something is wrong, but it is not clear Dani has made the decision to want to leave. She knows something is wrong but she needs conformation from the people around her, which she doesn’t get.
This makes more sense to me why they stay. If Dani really had alarm bells ringing, she would perhaps be more desperate to leave. The shorter, edited version plays the awareness/self-doubt thing perfectly while the director’s cut feels to me like Dani being a touch too aware, making her choice to stay less believable. The shorter version creates a better tension of uncertainty that I find enjoyable. It leaves the viewer more uncertain of the character’s next move, which enhances the creeping sense of horror.
I also don’t like the way Dani seems too aware of her own character flaw. It is clear Dani is desperate to stay with Christian. It seems to me that she would still have tried to gatecrash the men’s trip to Sweden if it hadn’t been the case her family had died and Christian was compelled to invite her. As toxic as Christian is, becoming more toxic throughout, Dani has a certain clinginess and denial. I feel that the scene where she admits to her clinginess is just too revealing, too much stating what the narrative and drama already reveals in a much more sophisticated way.
And after expressing her understanding of their failing relationship, it seems there is little reason for her to stay. Being aware that Christian no longer wants her surely would make her free to walk away. You can easily state the case for reasons why she doesn’t just leave Hälsingland at that point, but I think the narrative works just that bit better when she doesn’t so openly express her awareness of their relationship.
The movie
Much of Midsommar works on playing or subverting horror movie tropes. Because of this, so much of the events are not shown to the viewer. Yet we know pretty much what has happened to each character. For saying this is a long movie, and considering its reasonably slow paced, it is actually very economical with its drama. The drama packs a real punch, and so much is revealed in just a few blank faces or silence.
The movie directs the viewer very nicely. You look at and hear exactly what you are meant to, yet it never feels particularly forced or obvious. And it is such a beautiful movie to look at. I could watch the May Pole scene again and again forever.
The biggest draw for me is how the movie conveys a subtle manipulation on its characters. One of the most powerful scenes for me is the breakfast scene after four of the newcomers have been disposed of and there is only Dani and Christian left.
What makes the scene so compelling is how neither Christian or Dani are particularly concerned with their friends’ disappearance. The narrative has so steadily built up to this point that it feels completely natural that they show little concern. Midsommar isn’t so much about going through the obvious horror movie tropes. The movie uses those tropes that are familiar with the viewer, yet presents them in an entirely different way. In a regular horror movie, the characters would be desperately trying to escape. In Midsommar they are – in a way – comfortable staying.
Did Dani’s Sister Kill Herself?
This is the notion I want to discuss in this blog post: Did Dani’s sister actually kill herself?
The answer can probably never be known without asking Ari Aster. You could say Dani’s sister’s death is presented as suicide so therefore that’s what happens. And, yes, you’re probably right.
When I first watched the movie, I had little idea what the movie was going to be. I always have a guess at the way the narrative is heading. While watching I wondered if the story was going to include a twist and reveal it was Dani who killed her own family. But later I realised this film would not stoop to such hackneyed tropes unless subverting them. I changed my mind and suspected that maybe Pelle had murdered Dani’s family.
The thing is, the movie doesn’t necessarily disprove that theory. We see how the characters were all manipulated to get them to visit Hälsingland, and both Pelle and his brother are commended for bringing the outsiders to the commune. At the beginning of the movie Pelle is immediately pleased when it is revealed that Dani is joining them on the trip to Sweden and he gets to work trying to manipulate Dani.
The film reveals Dani’s journey much like it was pre-written. This could merely be a reference to fairytales or to the more allegorical nature of the movie, but taken as a narrative work of drama, Dani’s journey feels very much to be pre-decided. Her winning of the May Pole seems like it was rigged and Pelle is commended for bringing the commune their May Queen as if that was his aim. When the outsiders first arrive at Hälsingland, they are greeted by an elder who hugs everyone and says ‘Welcome’ to them, but to Dani he says ‘Welcome home’. When they initially take the mushrooms, it is Christian who sides with Dani to delay taking them, and Pelle is one of the people who gives them a disappointed look to coerce Dani to take them. All the way through, Dani seems to be given special treatment.
Take also into account that all but one of the four outsiders who are initially killed are people of colour/dark-haired people (the other is crass and foolish). Looking at the largely blond, largely red-headed population of Hälsingland, it doesn’t appear to be the case that the commune intended to breed or adopt any of those newcomers. And we know that the outsiders were mostly intended to be sacrifices. They were always destined to be killed, while the commune had different plans for Christian. The commune’s plans for Dani are not so clear except for the fact they take a special liking to her, making it seem like she was manipulated into going to Hälsingland all along.
You have to also bear in mind the reason why Dani is there in the first place. The fact her parents die stops Christian from breaking things off with her and stops him leaving without her. Leaving without her would be a shitty move, but at least it would end their failing relationship. As much as Christian is toxic, it is clear Dani is unwilling to break up with him. The death of Dani’s family ties Christian’s hands and forces him to stay with her, forcing him to invite her to Hälsingland. The death of her family is a necessary step to get Dani to be there.
It can probably only be confirmed by Aster himself, but it could well be that it was Pelle who killed Dani’s family in order to get her to go to Sweden with the others. When the movie starts, Pelle has already been working on the three men, promising them women, drugs and a privileged insight into a closed-off culture. He would have known about Christian’s relationship because the state of their relationship is revealed to the viewer through Christian’s friends. They have long been discussing it.
So it is possible the death of Dani’s family was entirely masterminded by Pelle. Again, I stress this cannot be proven either way, but the duct tape on Dani’s sister’s mouth struck me as strange from the first viewing. It doesn’t seem like the sort of thing a person would do to themselves, and it would perhaps be a necessary thing to do to keep the hosepipe in place if the victim had been drugged beforehand. There is also the question of the parents who would have smelled the car fumes and woken up. So it is implied that the parents were drugged.
This is just a theory of mine, something I suspect could be so, but something which the movie stubbornly refused to verify. But it also doesn’t really matter whether it is true or not. One of the charming thing about this movie is that it continually hints and things, at other events, at personality traits, yet leaves the viewer to fill in the blanks. The relationship between Pelle’s brother and the people he invites is a good example of that. There’s a story there, but we’re only given parts of it, and what we are given sounds a bit odd. You get the impression that Pelle’s brother’s guests don’t even like him.
There is also the issue of the May Queen. We are never shown what happens to the May Queen beyond the midsummer festival. Apart from a wall of photos, we never get to see an ex-May Queen, or last year’s May Queen. This is a movie that poses questions which might never have an answer. It could be simply due to time restraints and economic story telling, certain details are just not explained.
Anyway, that’s my theory. Feel free to let me know your thoughts on the Fediverse.
Over and out for now, guys!
xxx
