Midsommar and the cult horror (TW suicide/death/spoilers)

TW SUICIDE, SPOILERS, DEATH

Today, I watched Midsommar, an almost 3-hour-long horror movie that shook me to my core.

The movie is about a girl, Dani, who lost her parents and sisters the same night: her sister who was bipolar killed herself and she brought her parents to death with her, leaving Dani alone. Dani breaks down in Christian's arms, her boyfriend. Then, to clear up her mind a bit and try to heal, Dani, Christian and his friends decide to go to Sweden, in the small childhood village of one of their friends, Pelle. Josh (another friend), plans to do his thesis on midsummer traditions around the world. From the beginning, we understand that Dani's relationship with Christian is toxic, Christian being a manipulator. From the day they've arrived to the end, there is a chain of things happening that are absolutely horrible. They see two elders of the village jump off a cliff for a ceremony, and a child saying he wants to give his body to whatever spirit... I really recommend you to watch the movie honestly.

Why was I traumatized by this movie?

Not even in the first 10 minutes, we can see the lifeless body of Dani's sister, and we can hear Dani's phone call to Christian, where she is absolutely hysterical gives an avant-garde of what's about to happen: no movie that starts like that ends well. The succession of body horror, psychological horror, and the uncanny perfection of the place they're in gives you a feeling of suspense until the end of the movie. The fact that there are no jumpscares doesn't give you that sigh of relief when you are past the scary jumpscare: you are constantly waiting for the drop, but it never comes and you're waiting for it for 3 hours. 

The body horror

I am not a fan of body horror at all, but in this movie, it was extremely well portrayed and shocking in a way that I will never really forget: all of the closeups are very scary to watch, and the fact that they last a few seconds too many forces you to watch it and see it and acknowledge it. You want to close your eyes but you can't, because when you decide to do it, the scene is already done. The fact that it's mixed with psychological horror makes it even better: there is a balance between the two that I rarely saw and the lack of reaction of the members of the village enforces your discomfort. As I said, I am not a fan of body horror, but I just didn't watch the right movies as I can see. 

What does the movie actually talk about?

At the end of the movie, we can see Dani, who had been crowned May Queen, wearing a long dress made out of flowers and a flower crown, watching a structure fall because of fire, Christian and his friends in it, burning to death obviously, as a small, happy grin starts to form on Dani's face, who just escaped a toxic relationship, realizing she's in a place where, finally, people share and understand her pain; we can see it in the scene where she catches Christian cheating and the women with her scream and cry with her when she is shocked by what she saw. Maybe she was all along, in the right place? I think this movie can be seen as a movie about breakup and getting out of a toxic relationship.

My rating

This is for me an absolute 10/10 movie, I would recommend it if you like horror and if you're not too sensitive to body horror.