WARNING: The following contains spoilers for Midsommar, in theaters now.
Ari Aster's Midsommar follows the director's 2018 feature debut, Hereditary, and aims to upend the typical horror tropes regarding sinister cults. The daytime psychological drama story focuses on Florence Pugh's Dani and Jack Reynor's Christian as they try to mend their strained relationship by accepting an invitation to take a vacation with some university classmates to a Swedish commune where their friend Pelle (Vilhelm Blomgren) grew up.
One by one, however, the group starts to go missing after committing various social infractions. Nevertheless, Christian is obsessed with studying the eccentric locals for his anthropology thesis, while Dani is fascinated at how these people view life and death. Everything comes to a head in a gut-wrenching finale that reveals the true villain of the story -- and it's not the cult or the mastermind Pelle, as many viewers may have assumed.
DANI'S MENTAL DEMISE
Dani's primary issues stem from her sister killing their parents and herself by pumping carbon monoxide into their apartment. That trauma, coupled with her relationship problems with Christian, drive her to the verge of a mental breakdown, only for her emotionally neglectful Christian to take her on the trip so it doesn't look like he abandoned Dani in her time of need. However, developments begin to wear on Dani as she slowly sheds her old skin.
She witnesses a ritual in which an old couple commits suicide, believing their life cycle is over, but before she's repulsed, she's actually engrossed by how they view death as simply a part of life they can control. Even as friends go missing, Dani -- despite hearing weird screams from the forest -- begins to grow attached to the commune as Pelle tells her how they took him in as an orphan. When commune members make up a story about one of the students abandoning his girlfriend and fleeing for the train station, Christian jokes that it was probably a simple misunderstanding, only for Dani to reply that it's something he would do.
You can sense a turn coming, but because Dani is so sympathetic you can't help but hope she doesn't fall for the tricks of Pelle and his people. After all, they're subtly giving her a choice, as she can leave anytime she wants. That's something Pelle cultivates, as it's obvious he has a crush on Dani, and doesn't want to harm or manipulate her like Christian did. In fact, now, Christian is depicted in a villainous light as he starts entertaining the thought of breeding with one of the girls in the commune.
CHRISTIAN'S BIG MOMENT
Dani is chosen in the finale to enter the May Queen competition, in which the women dance around a May Pole; the last one standing becomes a queen to rule the commune through a special closing ceremony. She wins, but during her victory lap, Christian saunters off, drugged, and has sex with the girl as part of a fertility rite intended to avoid inbreeding. At that juncture, it seems they're fulfilling their purposes: Christian as an outsider helps the commune grow, while Dani is seemingly being indoctrinated.
Dani, however, realizes something isn't right, and spots the ritual in a secret house, and breaks down. This time, the women grieve with her, sharing an experience she's never had before. And so, after Christian comes to his senses, he's knocked unconscious, and the film cuts to a ritual in which the cult reveals nine sacrifices have to be made to a god. It includes the four students who were secretly killed, four commune members and, lastly, Dani has the choice to choose a lottery winner or Christian (who becomes a metaphor for the religion, as Aster portrays him as someone who appropriates and breeds).
The movie ends with the nine victims being burned, and slowly reveals Christian inside a bear that's been gutted; they're locked inside a wooden hut, a nod to films like The Wicker Man. In the final frame, Dani's frown turns into a wicked smile as the flames grow hundreds of feet high and Christian burns to death. She's now comfortable in her new skin, with her new family, and is literally burning the pain of the past to become this queen of the Hogar commune. She had the choice to save Christian and leave, but Dani experiences no remorse for what she sees as revenge.
Written and directed by Ari Aster, Midsommar stars Florence Pugh, Jack Reynor, Will Poulter and William Jackson Harper. The film is in theaters now.