A cult expert reveals the true meaning behindMidsommar’s group crying scene, explaining the more troubling reason for the cult members' behavior. Released in 2019 and serving as director Ari Aster’s anticipated follow-up toHereditary(2018),Midsommarfollows Dani (Florence Pugh)and her friends as they travel to Northern Europe to participate in the titular Swedish festival in a small village. It soon becomes clear, however, that the village is actually a pagan cult, and plenty of chilling and memorable scenes follow, including one in which cult members echo Dani’s crying during an emotional breakdown.
In a recent video forWired, professional cult deprogrammer Rick Alan Ross breaks down Dani’s group crying scene inMidsommar, explaining that there’s more to the moment than appears on the surface. Answering a question sent in from someone on the Internet,Ross explains that the scene is less about the cult members showing empathy, and more about them absorbing Dani into their group and stripping her of her individuality. Check out Ross' explanation below:
I’ve seen Midsommar, and I would say that [the group crying scene is] really not about empathy. It’s about quelling Dani’s feelings. The group wants to essentially anesthetize her so that she no longer will be a problem. So by surrounding her, they have encapsulated her, and it’s almost as if they’re saying, “Dani, you no longer have your own individual feelings. There is just the group.”
How The Moment Is Crucial To Dani’s Character Arc
The following contains a brief discussion of suicide.
Though theHarga cult membersmay indeed be operating with the intention of absorbing Dani into their ranks inMidsommar’s group crying scene,the moment does still work on an emotional level in terms of Dani’s arc. The film opens with Dani’s sister killing herself and her parents through carbon monoxide poisoning, and Dani is, understandably, not taking this well. She’s getting little support from her boyfriend, Christian (Jack Reynor), and his friends treat her as someone mostly to be tolerated.
Midsommar’s Deaths Represent The Four Elements - Theory Explained
A theory about Midsommar suggests that every character’s death in Ari Aster’s movie can be connected to one of the four major elements.
The crying scene, then, is a crucial ingredient to the chillingMidsommarending, which sees Dani smiling as the May Queen as Christian is sacrificed. She is no longer treated as a social outcast, and she instead feels celebrated, loved, and free from the trauma that haunts her throughout the film. Even if the group crying scene is a manipulation by the cult,Dani feels as if it is empathy, and real empathy is what she’s been missing in the story from the people in her life.
Midsommar Announced Florence Pugh As A Force In Hollywood
2019 Was An Incredible Year For Pugh
Midsommaris far from Pugh’s first notable film appearance. She had previously appeared in movies likeLady Macbeth(2016),The Commuter(2018),Outlaw King(2018), andThe Little Drummer Girl(2018) miniseries. It’sMidsommar, however, that pushed Pugh’s career to the next level. Aster’s film puts Pugh front and center, andit serves as an impressive acting showcase, with many moments built solely on Pugh’s ability to convey complex emotions. Select scenes fromMidsommar, such as the crying scene and Pugh’s haunting smile at the end, still live on as some of the most iconic moments of her filmography.
Together,Little WomenandMidsommartogether made 2019 one of the most formative years of Pugh’s acting career.
ThoughMidsommarwas crucial to showing Pugh’s impressive range as a performer, it’s also part of a larger one-two punch with Greta Gerwig’sLittle Women, a period drama that was remarkably well-received. Together,Little WomenandMidsommarmade 2019 one of the most formative years of Pugh’s acting career. They undoubtedly paved the way for some important roles, including inChristopher Nolan’s acclaimedOppenheimer(2023) and Denis Villeneuve’sDune: Part Two(2024).
Pugh most recently appeared inWe Live In Time(2024) opposite Andrew Garfield, and she’s next set to reprise her role as Yelena Belova inMarvel’sThunderbolts*.
How Midsommar Compares To Ari Aster’s Other Movies
Hereditary Has Yet To Be Beaten
AfterHereditary, Aster was seen as one of the most exciting new voices in the world of horror. That film earned positive reviews and was a major box office hit for A24. As seen in the chart below, however,Aster hasn’t yet topped his 2018 effort either critically or commercially.
90%
71%
$10 million
$80 million
83%
63%
$9 million
$48 million
68%
$35 million
$12 million
In terms of audience reception onRotten Tomatoes, bothHereditaryandBeau Is Afraid(2023), Aster’s most recent movie, are tied. The latter, however, is also his lowest-grossing movie at the box office, a fact made worse by the fact that it features his largest budget. There’s certainly a question, then, of whether Aster’s next movie,Eddington, which has been described as a Western, will be able to recaptureHereditary’s magic.
TheEddingtoncastfeatures an impressive list of actors, including Joaquin Phoenix, Pedro Pascal, Austin Butler, and Emma Stone.
Our Take On The Group Crying Scene In Midsommar
Ari Aster Delivers Plenty Of Memorable Moments
As was also seen inHereditaryand that movie’s shocking ending, Aster is a director skilled at delivering memorable moments in his movies.Midsommarhas a handful of these moments, including its opening scene, and the group crying scene is certainly among them.
Even though the scene isn’t scary or gruesome,it’s exceptionally powerful in terms of Pugh’s lead performance and its overall impact on Dani’s development. The moment has now been fairly heavily memed online, but in context it remains powerful. The expert analysis above affirms that this particularMidsommarscene, like so many in Aster’s filmography, also has more sinister undertones.
Midsommar
Cast
Ari Aster’s Midsommar follows a group of American college students who travel to a friend’s isolated rural hometown in Sweden to experience their renowned midsummer festival. What starts out as idyllic quickly becomes a disconcertingly violent pagan ritual, with the friends engaged in a ruthless competition that will test more than just their friendship. Florence Pugh stars alongside Jack Reynor, Will Poulter, and William Jackson Harper.
