Fewer moments in modern horror have been as viscerally satisfying as Christian’s(Jack Reynor, who is currently playing another asshole in Netflix’sThe Perfect Couple) death scene inAri Aster’s 2019 film,Midsommar. A movie that helped launch the production company, A24, into the collective consciousness,MidsommarfollowsFlorence Pugh’s Dani as she travels to Sweden alongside her boyfriend, Christian, and his friends for an anthropological study of a small commune’s midsummer festivities. The commune turns out to be a cult picking off the members of the visiting group. After nearly two hours of watching Christian prove himself to be one of the most noxious boyfriends ever put to screen,there is a nasty pleasure in watching him get paralyzed and trapped inside the skin of a bear to be sacrificed by fire. If horror is about expressing and evoking intense emotions, then this scene does it best. It is a stand-up and cheer moment, until the audience realizes they too have been indoctrinated by an incestuous, murderous cult. Oops!
Jack Reynor’s Christian Is One of the Worst Boyfriends of All Time
It is honestly impressive how, in a movie about a pastel cult wherethe opening scene is a double murder and suicide,the most upsetting aspect ofMidsommaris how toxic the main couple is.Christian is an awful boyfriendto Dani. The audience is introduced to him through a scene where he’s moaning to his friends about wanting to break up with her. Unable to do so because of the death of Dani’s parents and sister, Christian states his obvious frustration with the prolonged relationship by treating Dani horribly. He forgets her birthday, reluctantly invites her to Sweden only after prodding from his friend, and is distant and taciturn, constantly rebuffing her attempts at reaching out.
When Dani comes to Christian with concerns that something is not quite right with the commune, he ignores and dismisses her. Dani’s suspicions and horror over the cult’s practices, specifically after the two 72-year-olds jump to their death, are treated as her being less open-minded or knowledgeable. To make matters worse, Christian is not just a bad boyfriend,he seems to be an all-around crummy guy.Despite the trip primarily being a research opportunity for Josh’s (William Jackson Harper) thesis, Christian decides to switch histopic to the commune, as well. He is effectively muscling into Josh’s area of expertise, as Josh points out that this is not even Christian’s field. There is little patience left for Christian by the halfway point of the film, let alone at the end.
Christian’s Death Feels Satisfying and Justified
Trapped inside a disemboweled bear, paralyzed, as fire ravages the temple,there is no sympathy for Christian.After all his transgressions, the audience is smug with satisfaction. In another film, with an actor who had not fully committed to being the most infuriating character, this scene might create a distance between the audience and Dani. It is by her hand that Christian is burning. After witnessing the “mating” ritual between Christian and a cult member, she picks him to burn over a member of the cult. The cheating only occurred after Christian was drugged and effectively assaulted, but his long list of transgressions prior to that scene keeps the viewer firmly on Dani’s side.Midsommarmaintains its bright palate, shooting the horror in vivid technicolor lighting.
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The horror of Christian’s death is inescapable, with Aster practically shining a spotlight on it through the aesthetics of the scene. And yet, the audience smiles alongside Dani. Having served as both the proxy into the film and the character the viewer feels closest to,it is impossible not to feel protective over Dani. She starts the film enduring unimaginable trauma, and instead of stepping up and supporting her, or doing the hard thing and breaking up with her anyway, Christian stays and makes things worse.Watching him burn, especially after diminishing her valid concerns, feels like justified comeuppance.
It’s Easy to Forget That ‘Midsommar’ Is a Movie About the Dangers of Cults
After smiling alongside Dani, there is then the uncomfortable moment where the audience remembers what the movie is about.Cults, and the dangers of being seduced by their rhetoric.Christian’sdeath scene is whiplash. At first, it appears to be a moment of pure elation. Dani has freed herself from her horrible boyfriend. Hooray! And then, one realizes that Dani has severed her last tie to her old life and left herself without any exit route. She is trapped, more than she was with Christian.The cult successfully preyed on Daniand isolated her from any potential escape.
For all their pastel revelry, the cult is still a cult. They are deeply incestuous. Part of the reason Pelle (Vilhelm Blomgren) brings his friends back to Sweden is so that the cult can access fresh genetic material. Christian is selected as a breeder because they need to diversify their DNA. The cult annually traps outsiders for festive human sacrifices. Connie (Ellora Torchia) and Simon (Archie Madekwe), the only two characters of color, are the first to get picked off. The cult kills off its members via lottery and has the elderly fling themselves from great heights onto rocks.Midsommarhas framed this asdeeply disturbingand, until the last few minutes of the film, Dani and the audience were afraid of them.These are now the people Dani is trapped with. It’s not such a great victory, after all.
Midsommarwas a landmark film in modern horror, achieving significant heights and helping to establishA24 as one of the best sources of horror storytelling. Christian’s death scene is outlandish and frankly horrific, but the aesthetics of the scene as well as the build-up makes this macabre murder feel ecstatic.The audience is brimming with smug satisfaction as they watch the most infuriating character in the movie finally get what is coming to him.This pleasure is undercut by the reminder that Dani has not saved herself. Rather, she has found herself locked in an even more dangerous and hopeless situation than before. Worse, the audience finds they too would have been seduced by an all-around skeevy cult.
Midsommaris available to watch on Max.
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