Midsommar Ending Explained: The Village Of The Damned, The Explanation Of The Ending

This is the question we ask ourselves when we reach the end credits of Midsommar – The village of the damned, the second feature by Ari Aster that confirmed the crystalline talent of this young director, a demiurge of immersive and perturbing worlds. Yes, because the charm of a film like Midsommar (but also of the previous Hereditary) lies precisely in its asking questions rather than giving answers. In making the viewer experience a whirlwind of horror and pain, such as to send him into a trance, as if hypnotized, and then give him a feeling close to ecstasy. Something that, in its liberating and positive being, it is difficult to explain.

We, however, will try. We have already analyzed how the endings of Hereditary and Midsommar present similarities, but now the time has come to understand what lies behind the smile of Dani, the young girl dressed in flowers, played by Florence Pugh, who enjoys while the flames devour the body of her boyfriend Christian, during a Swedish rite.

Midsommar: How The Story Begins

Let’s take a step back. The film opens with a tragedy: the bipolar sister of the protagonist Dani ends her life and that of her parents in an organized and sudden suicide murder. For Dani, it will be a very hard blow, yet another for her in a life that does not seem to give her too much space for happiness. Her relationship with her boyfriend Christian seems stuck in limbo: Christian would like to leave her but cannot find the courage to take her step, Dani tries to avoid the truth as much as possible. The family tragedy “will force” Dani to find comfort in Christian, even if on her part the boy continues to treat her in a detached way, without naturally showing her affection, but only the routine of past affection.

If we dwell on these initial elements it is because it is good to underline how the heart of the film is the toxic relationship between Dani and Christian, far from that sense of family and mutual love that we would expect (and which, paradoxically, they try to re-find). Dani will feel more and more alone, while Christian would like to selfishly think only of himself, as a pure careerist (he will also behave badly with his friend and fellow student).

To demonstrate how little Christian considers Dani in his life, it would be enough to underline how the invitation to travel to Sweden takes place. Christian intended to go on vacation with her friends, excluding Dani from her, only to invite her almost under obligation after the girl had learned of it. Despite everything, Christian was convinced that Dani would have refused the invitation to participate due to the grief still being processed. This is the very original sin that will lead Christian to death.

What is the Midsommar and What Rites We Are Witnessing

In Sweden, Dani, Christian, and friends Josh, Mark, and Pelle (a native of the place) will participate in Midsommar, a festival that belongs to Swedish folklore, linked to the summer solstice and based on pagan and pre-Christian rites. During the film, Dani will witness some rituals by the strange clan to which Pelle’s family belongs.

The first rite involves an elderly couple made up of a man and a woman. After an outdoor banquet, the couple is led to the top of a cliff, where they will throw themselves into the void and find their death. The meaning of this rite would symbolize the life cycle, the death of an elderly person would correspond to the life of an unborn child.

A second rite (present only in the Director’s Cut of the film) continues the discussion: a young boy is about to be thrown into the lake, where he will drown. Dani will be the first to want to interrupt the ritual, followed by the voices of the other members of the community. A first clue that suggests the union between the protagonist and the commune, which will lead to the final scenes, and Dani’s attempt to avoid reliving the personal tragedy (the two elderlies as her parents, the boy as her sister) being able to stop it.

The third rite is a dance that involves all the girls of the community, including Dani. Under the effect of hallucinogenic substances, which make the environment fluid, Dani will be the last dancer to remain to stand and will be proclaimed Queen of May, dressed and adorned with flowers, symbolizing a maternal and regenerating figure, like spring.

Midsommar Ending Explained: What Happens In The Film’s Ending

So let’s see what happens in the final minutes of Midsommar with our explanation of the film’s ending. In the last scenes, the stories of the two main characters definitively converge. Christian, intoxicated by a spell, will make love with Maja, a red-haired girl belonging to the commune, definitively betraying the relationship with Dani. The protagonist will discover the boy’s sexual ritual and externalize her pain, immediately shared by the other girls of the commune. It is at this moment that Dani cuts off any kind of relationship belonging to his past and feels like he is part of a new family.

Midsommar is a film based on liberation from toxic relationships and the search for a new family. For Dani, the Swedish community is the place where she finally reaches her peace. She feels understood, free, and loved. It is no coincidence that the last rite, the most important of the lot, will have to do with a baptism of fire and a purification in the flames.

Nine human lives were sacrificed to the Sun God, including the last choice directly from the May Queen. Dani will then choose to sacrifice Christian himself, dressed in bearskin and burned alive inside a temple. His death will finally bring peace to Dani’s soul who, surrounded by spring flowers, illuminated by the summer sun, and acclaimed by the community, can finally smile. It is the first time that we see Dani smiling heartily in the film The girl was reborn.

The First Image Tells It All

The first image of the film is a painting with the style of the paintings that we will find later in the film. If the first time we see it, everything takes on a somewhat particular and enigmatic connotation, once we get to the end credits it is interesting to note how Ari Aster has played with the viewer since the first frame. In the painting, we see exactly the whole plot of the film, a path that, if read from left to right, leads from the dark to the light.

It begins with a night sequence, the prologue of the film, where we see Dani’s family surrounded by death. It continues with Dani inconsolable, while Christian tries to give her support and Pelle sitting on a branch of a tree above them, which he observes and is ready to give a solution. And it is Pelle himself who brings friends to the Swedish community (depicted playing the flute like the Pied Piper), ready to welcome foreigners. The painting ends with the rite of the May Queen, the sun smiles, and the dance symbolizes liberation and happiness.