Midsommar (2019) is a sun-drenched nightmare — in a good way! A gorgeous, surreal dream where the audience follows a young adult protagonist, Dani, cope with a crisis-fueled depression.
There’s a ton to talk about with this movie, but very little I can say without giving away spoilers. So, go check out my review at Dead, Buried, and Back, watch the film, then come back here.
Read it? Seen the movie? Good.
Paganism and Midsommar
I don’t often insert my pagan studies and practices into my reviews. However, it was incredibly helpful when watching Midsommar. I knew some of the runes I saw on character’s embroidered clothes or carved in stone. I was familiar with some of the customs and spells, and picked up on the building tension. The finale didn’t surprise me at all, though it seems to surprise a lot of other audiences. My time as an English and Art major meant I was familiar with the art style and reading it to understand the foreshadowing.
And I loved it. That’s the big difference I think. A lot of people saw this movie and cringed, but I was already familiar with many of the rituals and cross-cultural practices: for example, of adding hair or menstrual blood to enhance magic spells. Menstrual blood is a staple in most fertility rituals, and hair has long been associated with ensnaring love. Adding it to food is unethical and gross, but it’s also not without historical precedent.
This movie has a lot for pagans, occult students, or even just anyone well-read in this field. Beautiful art and amazing cinematography.
If you want to read more of my reviews, check them out here.
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