Midsommar (2019)

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Movie
German title Midsummer
Original title Midsummer
Country of production USA , Sweden
original language English , Swedish
Publishing year 2019
length Theatrical version: 148 minutes
Director’s Cut: 171 minutes
Age rating FSK 16
Rod
Director Ari Aster
script Ari Aster
production Patrik Andersson ,
Lars Knudsen
music Bobby Krlic
camera Pavel Pogorzelski
cut Lucian Johnston
occupation
synchronization

Midsommar is an American - Swedish mystery - horror drama by Ari Aster that was released in US cinemas on July 3, 2019 and in German cinemas on September 26, 2019.

action

Young PhD student Dani is desperate after her sister Terri, who suffered from bipolar disorder , killed herself and her parents in an extended suicide. The already crumbling relationship with her boyfriend and fellow student Christian suffers as he feels overwhelmed by Dani's problems. He plans a trip together with his friends, the anthropologist Josh and his buddy Mark. They want to go to Sweden to attend the summer solstice celebrations in a remote rural community , to which they were invited by their friend Pelle, who grew up there. Christian initially kept the trip a secret from Dani because he wanted to split up, but invites her after she found out about the trip. Dani impulsively decides to go with her - believing that she is on the verge of collapse, she sees no better way to relax and put things right again.

The group flies to Sweden and arrives in the municipality, where they meet Simon and Connie, an English couple invited by Pelle's church brother Ingemar. After consuming magic mushrooms on the way , they reach the remote settlement of Hårga in Hälsingland province , where the newcomers are greeted with a smile by the white-clad, exuberant villagers. Josh is working on a dissertation on European midsummer rituals, but the tradition celebrated here is still unknown to him. The elders of the church willingly give him information about this peculiar pagan tradition.

Tensions rise after the group witnessed an Ättestupa in which two community elders commit senicide by jumping off a cliff. When the male elder survived the fall, the sect imitated his screams of pain and smashed his skull with a hammer. The cult elder Siv explains that this is normal; each member does the same at the age of 72. The scene upsets the group, but they decide to stay as Josh is writing his dissertation on the commune while Simon and Connie decide to leave. An elder tells Connie that Simon has already left without her. Confused, Connie decides to follow him alone. Later you can hear a woman screaming in the distance. Christian also decides to write his dissertation on the Hårga, and Josh accuses him of copying, creating a rift between the two, while Dani's already weak mental state worsens. After Mark unknowingly urinates on an ancestral tree and arouses the cult's fury, a member coaxes him away. That night Josh sneaks into the temple to photograph the sect's sacred runic text. He sees a man wearing Mark's skinned face and is hit on the head, causing his body to be dragged away.

The next day, Dani is tricked into taking more psychedelic drugs and taking part in a maypole dance competition. She wins and is crowned May Queen . At the same time, Christian also takes more drugs and is seduced into a sexual ritual with which Maja, one of the members, is supposed to get pregnant while other naked cult women watch. After discovering Christian and Maja, Dani has a panic attack and the Hårga women cry with her with empathy. After the rite, a naked and disoriented Christian discovers Josh's leg and finds Simon, who was ritually dismembered as a blood eagle . Christian is then paralyzed by an elder. The cult explains to Dani that nine human sacrifices must be made to purify the community from its evils. The first four victims are outsiders - Josh, Mark, Connie, and Simon - who are loved by Pelle and Ingemar. The next four victims are sect members - two sacrificed elders and two volunteers: Ingemar and Ulf. As Queen of May, Dani has to choose the ninth and final victim: either Christian or a villager. She decides to sacrifice Christian. Still paralyzed, he is stuffed into an eviscerated bear and taken to a temple with the other victims. The temple is set on fire and the sect celebrates. At first Dani sobs with horror, but gradually smiles.

production

Film title and staff

Swedish midsommar (painting by Anders Zorn 1897)

The film can be described as Scandinavian folk horror revolving around a pagan cult . The main element of the plot and thus decisive for the title is the Midsommar , the Swedish name for the midsummer festival . During these summer solstice celebrations, special customs are celebrated not only in the Scandinavian countries but also in the Baltic States.

Ari Aster directed the mystery horror drama . Like Aster's directorial debut, Hereditary , the film was produced by A24 . Other producers are Lars Knudsen and B Reel. In March 2019, Aster said in an interview with Vulture that Midsommar cannot be compared with Hereditary : “It is less of a horror film, but it is still in the same realm. He is very macabre. But people shouldn't expect to see Hereditary . ”As with Hereditary , Aster begins the story with a tragic family death. More and more, the characters in Midsommar would be degraded to caricatures over the course of the film if the young Americans stumble into a situation that was beyond their control and into a world that wanted to exploit this weakness, according to Eric Kohn in IndieWire . As with Hereditary, Midsommar also has a showdown like in an opera, in which everyone comes together to a terrible breakup, says Kohn.

Oscar winner Jordan Peele , director of Get Out and We , who was allowed to see Aster's film in advance, was full of praise and said in a conversation with Aster for the horror film magazine Fangoria that he wrote to Aster after the screening that it was probably the most idyllic horror film of all time created. There are a few films that Midsommar can be compared to, but this film is still unique. There has never been anything like it before and everything after Midsommar has to be compared with this film. Midsommar is replacing The Wicker Man as the reference film on pagan rituals, Peele continues, and the final act featured some of the most terribly disturbing images he has ever seen in a film, with his mouth open and eyes wide.

Cast, filming and score

In the fall of 2018, the cast with Will Poulter , Florence Pugh and Jack Reynor was announced. Pugh and Reynor play the roles of Dani and Christian on vacation in Sweden. Vilhem Blomgren , William Jackson Harper , Ellora Torchia and Archie Madekwe can also be seen in other roles .

Filming began in Budapest, Hungary, in July 2018. Filming was finished in mid-October 2018. As with Hereditary , Aster worked again with the Polish cameraman Pawel Pogorzelski .

The score was composed by Bobby Krlic aka The Haxan Cloak. The soundtrack album was released two days after the film hit US theaters. Krlic was nominated by the Association of International Film Music Critics (IFMCA) for his work in the category Best Music for a fantasy, science fiction or horror film.

Marketing and Publishing

After a short teaser at the end of February 2019, a first trailer was presented at the beginning of March 2019. A first German trailer followed on June 11, 2019.

After previews in New York and Los Angeles in mid-June 2019, the film was released in US cinemas on July 3, 2019. A theatrical release in Germany took place on September 26, 2019.

An extended Director's Cut of the film premiered on August 17, 2019 at Lincoln Center in New York , which opened in selected cinemas in the USA on August 30, 2019. The extended version has a running time of 170 minutes.

reception

Age rating

In the USA, the film received an R rating from the MPAA , which corresponds to a rating of 17 and over. In Germany, the film was approved by the FSK from the age of 16.

Reviews and grossing results

So far, the film has won over 83 percent of all Rotten Tomatoes critics and received an average rating of 7.6 out of a possible 10 points.

John DeFore of The Hollywood Reporter thinks Ari Aster's idea of ​​this Swedish community and folk tunes benefits from attention to detail and is rooted in real-world cultures. Pictograms on the walls reminded outsiders of tarot or Mexican loteria cards, in which their fate is determined. Dani's nightmare describes DeFore as a Cubrickian vision, with the ornate ceiling she huddles under reminiscent of the carpet in The Shining .

Eric Kohn from IndieWire notices the many details in the film, like a native runic alphabet that adorns the walls of the dollhouse-like settlement. Such visual refinements, together with the acrobatic camera work and an absorbing soundscape, triggered a bewitching magic. The film reminds Kohn of Robin Hardy's The Wicker Man , a defloration in Midsommar makes Ken Russell's The Devil appear tame.

Andrew Barker of Variety writes that great credit should go to composer Bobby Krlic, whose inventive, extremely self-confident score provides much of the emotional harshness that the script neglects and the often uneven film carries. So it is also the interplay of Florence Pugh's performance and Krlic's suddenly thundering music, which is the focus when Midsommar finally reaches its climax in a wild, hallucinatory finale and Dani's previously suppressed sadness, anger and longing for compassion finally find an outlet. It is a shame that it takes so long to focus on this, says Barker.

Jan Künemund is also enthusiastic in Florence Pugh's mirror : “ Midsommar takes the path into the garish folklore hell from the black of the New York nights and the emotional darkening of his heroine Dani (Florence Pugh in a great on-edge performance). […] Ari Aster brilliantly assembles dysfunctional relationships and emotional atrophy in his New York prologue before his film takes place in its main setting for two hours. ”Aster proves to be a clever builder of genre frameworks that are less aimed at surprise effects than rather, out of an interesting disorientation of his characters, tipped into the expected horror scenario. “That, in turn, is celebrated by the film in the brightest daylight (camera, as in Hereditary : Pawel Pogorzelski ), instead of rushing through gloomy interiors in accordance with the genre, in which evil always comes too late into view. Aster and his production designer Henrik Svensson also shake up Nordic legends and myths with virtuosity until they evade ethnographic plausibility, but still give the impression of a closed system. "

In his review for Tagesspiegel, Thomas Groh highlights the soundtrack, among other things: “Aster tells smoldering at first, then with brutal orchestration of all cinematic senses. And remains strangely straightforward and curious at the same time when he thoroughly drives out any positive reference point from the offer of affect: While the film delves into scorching furiosity, Bobby Krlic's congenial soundtrack marks a pastoral idyll of salvation . Empathy, loss of empathy, aggressive regress, melodramatic excess: in this bright and gloomy spectacle, you don't know what to do with your own emotional balance. […] Perhaps Midsommar is actually allegorizing the gender-political tensions of our time: If the boys don't finally learn how to love, it will end badly. "

The film critic Antje Wessels writes, especially because of the only very leisurely tightened tension screw, confronting a mid-summer with the topic of "tradition, or blind trust in it" and is thus also a story about the execution of blind obedience , which is ultimately the real horror . There are hardly any classic jump scares in Midsommar , but this does not mean that the film is not remembered because of the particularly formative scenes: “This time again, Ari Aster and his cameraman compose fascinating images of horror, irritatingly perfect well-composed food tables from a bird's eye view to misappropriated mammals. [...] Midsommar is so packed with symbolism and subtext that just looking at it is not enough to decipher it all at once. ”Wessels sums up, Midsommar is the director's second horror masterpiece after Hereditary , and the film is not a genre -Fast food, but a film whose unique atmosphere you have to get involved with.

The film's worldwide revenue from theatrical screenings to date is $ 41.1 million.

Awards

Critics' Choice Movie Awards 2020

  • Nomination for best science fiction / horror film

Gotham Awards 2019

Independent Spirit Awards 2020

  • Nomination for the best camera (Pawel Pogorzelski)

London Critics' Circle Film Awards 2020

  • Nomination for best film
  • Nomination for Best Actress (Florence Pugh)
  • Nomination for Best British or Irish Actress (Florence Pugh)

National Board of Review Awards 2019

  • Inclusion in the top 10 independent films

Online Film Critics Society Awards 2020

Santa Barbara International Film Festival 2020

  • Received the Virtuoso Award (Florence Pugh)

synchronization

The German synchronization was based on a dialogue book and the dialogue direction by Christian Gundlach on behalf of EuroSync GmbH, Berlin.

actor Voice actor role
Jack Reynor Henning Nöhren Christian
Florence Pugh Julia Kaufmann Dani
William Jackson Harper Tobias Schmidt Josh
Will Poulter Konrad Bösherz mark
Beckman is different Michael Noack Arne
Ellora Torchia Marie-Isabel Walke Connie
Hampus Hallberg Leonhard Mahlich Ingemar
Vilhelm Blomgren Florian Hoffmann Skin
Archie Madekwe Ricardo Richter Simon
Gunnel Fred Isabella Grothe Siv

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Release certificate for Midsommar . Voluntary self-regulation of the film industry (PDF; test number: 193177 / K). Template: FSK / maintenance / type not set and Par. 1 longer than 4 characters
  2. ↑ a b c Chris Evangelista: 'Hereditary' Director Ari Aster's New Horror Movie Coming Next Summer From A24. In: slashfilm.com, October 24, 2018.
  3. ↑ a b Mike Fleming Jr: A24 Pacts For 'Hereditary' Helmer Ari Aster's Next Horror Film. In: deadline.com, May 8, 2018.
  4. ↑ a b c Chris Evangelista: Jack Reynor, Will Poulter and Florence Pugh Join New A24 Horror Film From 'Hereditary' Director Ari Aster. In: slashfilm.com, July 30, 2018.
  5. ↑ a b Rachel Handler: Midsommar Will Be 'a Wizard of Oz for Perverts,' Says Director Ari Aster. In: Vulture, March 22, 2019.
  6. ^ A b John DeFore: 'Midsommar': Film Review. In: The Hollywood Reporter, June 18, 2019.
  7. ↑ a b Eric Kohn: 'Midsommar' Review: 'Hereditary' Director's Latest Horror Epic Is Actually a Perverse Breakup Movie. In: indiewire.com, June 18, 2019.
  8. ↑ Clark Collis: Jordan Peele chats with Ari Aster about his 'atrociously disturbing' horror film Midsommar in new Fangoria. In: Entertainment Weekly, June 6, 2019.
  9. ↑ Adam Chitwood: First Poster for 'Hereditary' Director Ari Aster's New Film 'Midsommar' Is Bright and Colorful. In: collider.com, February 28, 2019.
  10. ↑ Marshall Shaffer: Interview: Jack Reynor on His Reverse Hero's Journey in Midsommar. In: slantmagazine.com, July 2, 2019.
  11. ↑ Michael Allen: Ari Aster's Midsommar Titled a Scandinavian Horror Feature: First Trailer. In: 28dayslateranalysis.com, March 5, 2019.
  12. ↑ Charles Barfield: Florence Pugh, Jack Reynor, Will Poulter & More Set To Star In 'Hereditary' Director's New Horror Film. In: theplaylist.net, July 30, 2018.
  13. ↑ B. Alan Orange: Midsommar Soundtrack Will Be Released Two Days After the Film Comes Out. In: movieweb.com, June 19, 2019.
  14. ↑ 'Midsommar' soundtrack album Announced. In: filmmusicreporter.com, June 19, 2019.
  15. ↑ http://www.filmmusik2000.de/ifmca-filmmusik-nominierungen-2020-knowng
  16. ↑ Matt St. Clair: A24 Films Provides Short Tease for 'Midsommar' from 'Hereditary' Director Ari Aster. In: awardscircuit.com, February 26, 2019.
  17. ↑ Anna Tingley: Watch the First Trailer for 'Midsommar', New Horror Film From 'Hereditary' Director Ari Aster. In: Variety, March 5, 2019.
  18. ^ "Midsommar" by Ari Aster: First German trailer published. In: filmpluskritik.com, June 12, 2019.
  19. ↑ Matt Donnelly: 'Midsommar' Traumatizes Early Audiences (But in a Good Way). In: Variety, June 18, 2019.
  20. ↑ https://www.boxofficemojo.com/schedule/?view=&release=&date=2019-07-05&showweeks=4&p=.htm
  21. ↑ Start dates in Germany . In: insidekino.com. Retrieved April 11, 2019.
  22. ↑ 'Midsommar' Director's Cut: A24 Announces Surprise Unrated Theatrical Release on indiewire.com (accessed August 27, 2019)
  23. ↑ Comparison of the Theatrical Version with the Director's Cut , schnittberichte.com, accessed on October 29, 2019
  24. ↑ Midsummer. In: Rotten Tomatoes. Retrieved March 17, 2020.
  25. ↑ Andrew Barker: Film Review: 'Midsommar'. In: Variety, June 19, 2019.
  26. ↑ Jan Künemund: Horror film "Midsommar": The sun is shining in this hell. In: Spiegel Online, September 25, 2019.
  27. ↑ Thomas Groh: Beautiful death under the blazing sun. In: Der Tagesspiegel, September 25, 2019.
  28. ↑ https://wessels-filmkritik.com/2019/09/17/midsommar/
  29. ↑ https://www.boxofficemojo.com/release/rl805733889/
  30. ↑ Joey Nolfi: Uncut Gems, Lighthouse lead 2020 Film Independent Spirit Award nominations. In: Entertainment Weekly, November 21, 2019.
  31. ^ Andrew Pulver: The Souvenir leads nominations for London critics' circle film awards. In: The Guardian, December 17, 2019.
  32. ↑ Marianne Garvey: National Board of Review names 'The Irishman' best film of 2019. In: cnn.com, December 4, 2019.
  33. ↑ Erik Anderson: Online Film Critics Society (OFCS) nominations: 'The Irishman', 'Once Upon a Time…', 'Marriage Story', 'Parasite' lead. In: awardswatch.com, December 23, 2019.