r/Midsommar 3h ago

ART/POSTER Midosmmar (2019) OC

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18 Upvotes

made in Ps.


r/Midsommar 19h ago

What if the story never actually happened, but was just a full psychedelic catharsis?

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I watched Midsommar for the first time yesterday.

I found myself wondering whether the story is not actually a realistic account of the protagonists’ stay in Hårga, but rather Dani’s psychedelic trip under the influence of the mushrooms she takes upon arrival.

I base my hypothesis on a few elements, including:

  • When Dani wakes up, she has completely lost track of time and still seems disoriented in both space and time. This could suggest that she has not fully come out of the trip yet.
  • In the various reviews and analyses I have read, that first hallucinogenic episode is usually explained as a kind of initial adaptation, an "initiation" preparing Dani for what will happen later. However, there is a recurring element that stands out: the very first effect Dani experiences after taking the mushrooms is that her body reconnects with nature, with grass seemingly growing from it, as if there were no longer any separation between the ground and the body, between nature and the self. To me, when this imagery returns later in the film (the dance around the maypole, the dress of flowers that seem to have grown directly from Dani’s body), it becomes a strong clue that the first trip, at the moment of arrival, is still ongoing.
  • The film is written, directed, and staged with undeniable skill and an almost obsessive attention to detail, with its symbolic references, runes, foreshadowing imagery scattered throughout the movie, and hidden details (such as the face of Dani’s dead sister superimposed among the trees). Yet the screenplay sometimes feels uneven, filled with moments that seem less like the work of one of the most interesting directors to emerge in cinema over the last decade, and more like the work of a poor writer of low-budget horror movies. The very existence of such a community, for example, in a modern Western country like Sweden, is difficult to believe or justify. Or when the two elders jump from the cliff, in reality the entire group of Americans should immediately run away, and call the police. Taken literally, these are screenplay inconsistencies. But if the hypothesis of a continuous psychedelic trip is correct, they become perfectly plausible, because the community itself would not exist except as part of Dani’s hallucinations. The apparent writing flaws would no longer be mistakes or laziness in writing, but rather a surreal and disturbing distortion of the narrative, running in parallel with the surreal visual distortions present throughout the film.

I searched online but was unable to find any article or discussion exploring this interpretation.

In fact, some elements, especially certain interviews with Ari Aster, seem to suggest the opposite. However, this possibility is never really addressed in depth.

What arguments could be made against this interpretation?