⚘ Artwork in the Movie: Girls Picking Flowers ⚘

This is one of those details in the movie that is truly delightful.

In a scene in Dani's apartment, you can barely see a painting peeking out behind Christian when he enters the room. But the painting name is in the movie credits, so I managed to track it down...

It's by the artist František Kupka and it's called "Femme cueillant des fleurs" which translates into English as "Woman picking flowers"

When you see it, you SEE IT!!!

The same artist also did the moon painting on Dani's wall which I will cover in another post. 

⚘ Meet the Hårgans: Ulrik ⚘

Here is Ulrik! He is a distinguished gentleman. Ulrik is portrayed by Martin Karlqvist, who not only acted as this member of the Hårga, but he is a psychologist who is one of the original creators of the idea of Midsommar! From an interview with Midsommar producer Patrik Andersson:

Can you tell us more about how the idea of Midsommar came to be and the development, production, etc?

I had the ambition of making a very ambitious Swedish folk horror. Much on par with "The Wicker Man", yet from the Swedish perspective as we have such an iconic Swedish pagan remnant in our Midsummer traditions. Me and my childhood friend Martin Karlqvist started to develop the idea and set out some frames for it. We wanted it to be clearly psychedelic as the genre of folk horror in itself has an even bigger luster when you go towards the world of "Valerie and her week of Wonders" for instance, and we clearly needed a myth, a philosophy and a community that took this into something completely new, yet with a rich and true background into Swedish and Scandinavian history. So we started to construct the world of the Hårga's. Deep into it we knew we needed and wanted an American writer (given that the lead characters coming to Sweden where from the US) who clearly knew how to challenge the genre and make it into something richer and new. Through LA liaisons, we managed to get in touch with writers and I got my hands on the "Hereditary" script. Ari's talent was immensely obvious. Ari was eager to make something in Europe and specifically in Sweden, being a huge fan of Ingmar Bergman and Roy Andersson. So he came. A number of times. For research together with our production designer Henrik Svensson, celebrating Swedish midsummer and of course road-tripping to Hälsingland. Ari's take on the story and world was of course connected to the huge break-up-story that is the main arch and heart of the film and he brought Dani as the guiding light into the story. And we just loved it. This made it into something new, even though being in the world of a folk horror film we had a new way into the genre.It took us years and years to make the film happen after the script was completed. Mainly due to the ambitions of the film and that we really wanted to this on an unprecedented scale from a Swedish perspective. Ari managed to step into production of "Hereditary" and the success of his first film gave us the possibility to make our film as A24 who had been tracking the project for a long time as they were the distributor of "Hereditary", gave us the means needed to greenlight. We shot the film in Hungary due to many reasons, yet mainly ability of building the complete village of the Hårga's within our time-frame and also having less unstable weather for continuity reasons. Since the film is taking place almost completely in daylight and outdoors, this was a big thing. 

⚘ Meet the Hårgans: Mats ⚘

The truly evil Mats. He is the hammer boss, the roofie giver, the bear butcher, and the fake comfort pusher. In the director's cut, it's said that he did his pilgrimage as doctor. Mats is performed by Lennart R. Svensson  who kindly pointed out: "And he is making the drugs! Can you spot the scene were he has the mortlar and testing herbs?" Yes! 

⚘ Behind the Scenes: Florence Pugh describes the group crying scene ⚘

Today on Instagram, Florence wrote:

Swipe right for deep info on a simple but beautiful pic.

Truly, these women made this scene possible. It was TERRIFYING. As terrifying as it was to watch, it was to read and know we had to do it.

I love these girls so much. I’m not a big crier, so going through that with them was true safely and love and respect. It only happened because I had them.

Funny fact- I lost my shoe every time I crawled off the bed and worried that the camera could see a dirty muddy espadrille sweaty foot in the background.

Thank goodness that wasn’t the case...

Fun fact no.2, everytime we cut there were at least two hands around all of our rib cages, holding each other as we sobbed. #midsommar

Dani’s sisters in Hårga:

Hanna - Louise Peterhoff @louisepeterhoff

Dagny - Agnes Rase @agnesrase

Karin - Anna Åström @annaastrom2

Majvor - Tove Skeidsvoll @toveskeidsvoll

Kajsa - Kati Dombi @kattidombi

Ulla - Liv Mjönes @mjonesliv

Inga - Julia Ragnarsson @juliaragnarok

⚘ Meet the Hårgans: Jarl ⚘

We first spot Jarl in the field outside of the village. Pelle explains that he, along with Ulrika and Majvor, are "younger people from my village. Everyone’s returning from their trips outside." Jarl is the one who lies to the group that he drove Connie to the train station to meet Simon. He also places Mark's skinned corpse into the fire temple. Jarl is performed by Tomas Engström.

⚘ Meet the Hårgans: Sten ⚘

Meet Sten, who likes to stand up and give a speech. He seems to place great importance on traditions and rituals of the community. (He also sings a song in the Director’s Cut!) Sten is performed by Lars Väringer.

⚘ Meet the Hargans: Odd ⚘

Father Odd welcomes the visitors to the village and receives a compliment from Dani about the dress he's wearing. Later, he upsets Connie by telling her Simon left without her. In the chicken coop, Odd blows some powder into Christian's face leaving him paralyzed. Odd is performed by Mats Blomgren.

⚘ Production Designer Henrik Svensson Discusses the Influence, Symbolism and Lore Behind One Particularly Ominous Festival ⚘

 

photo credit Gabor Kotschy

This whole interview is truly wonderful and you should read the whole thing! Here are some of my favorite excerpts:

Marisa Maribal: Dani’s past seems to be strongly associated with the color yellow. It’s exhibited in the decor of her parents’ house, the flowers leading into Hårga, and the pyramid shaped temple. I also noticed blue is a prominent color within the community in terms of artwork and clothing. Can you elaborate on your use of color theory and symbolism within the film?

Henrik Svensson: I did a draft for a color synopsis of the film early on, for how I thought the movie should feel. Like a color score, with the main vibe and the arches of the characters and settings. I of course had one foot in with Goethe, since we already kind of traveled that road in visiting the anthroposophists in Sweden, one foot in with Plutchik, to get some structure in it; but eventually it went more and more freestyle, even if the first draft still really stands when I look at it today. The yellow flowers and the yellow of the house is actually in the script. More and more things along the way made me want to make the yellow and the blue our signs of death — our bad signs; The main reason being it is the colors of the Swedish flag, and I wanted to make the point of how wrong nationalism is. Additionally, of course what the colors ’normally’ represent, symbolically and physically. I wanted to do something that hits you physically on every level. But mostly in a subtle way, work with dynamics, dial it down to save it for where it really hurts.

and

Marisa Maribal: Runes were used throughout the film in both set design and costume design.  Can you discuss the specific intention of the symbols, their placement, and meaning within pivotal scenes? For example, the two runes in the maypole and those mentioned on the stone covered in blood. I believe the table was also set up in the shape of a rune as well, but I’m not entirely sure.

Henrik Svensson: You got it. All the meals, except the last one, had the tables set up as runes. More or less everything in the village is either a part of something runic or has something runic to it.

The runes are made-up modifications of symbols mainly from the elder futhark, with ’’our’’ interpretation a bit different. I’m not sure if this is making any sense now, but for example we have a rune for ’’cultivation of art, soul and craft’’ that is very prominent in the film. The entire village is built in that shape, including all the houses, fields and gardens, but I’m pretty sure that doesn’t shine through. Our rune for ’’healing and cure’’ was also a big one.

The stones, and all of the other older stones on the mountain, bare the names of their ’owners’. The runic names for the Hårgans consists of combinations of runes. One to five runes, depending of age. The newborns have one, the elders have five. Each rune stands for different aspects of the bearer, such as temperament and purpose. Dani’s name, that is on her dress, consists of the Hårgan runes for ’’crisis/death’’ and ’’helplessness/innocence.'”

The Hårgan runic alphabet consists of 16 runes. Eight positive ones, four unbalanced ones and four really bad ones.

and

Marisa Maribal: Henrik, is there anything you’d like to specifically talk about or add that I didn’t mention?

Henrik Svensson: While we are on the topic of the honeycomb: an interesting fact that I’m sure maybe only two or three people know about is that Hårga is based on the bee society. The infrastructure with the drones, in our case pilgrims, the youth, the workers, the elders and the queen. How we divided the ages and purposes of the inhabitants. The gatekeepers at the door, the welcome committee, the ’eye’ that IS the very door.

⚘ Meet the Hårgans: Evert ⚘

This is Evert. He is my favorite villager, even though he doesn't say a word. Evert is clearly a devoted Hårga member - he can be seen helping out the community in the background of many scenes. He delivers the final hammer blow to the elder in the ättestupa, leads the spreading of ashes on the ancestral tree, and carries an elder effigy into the fire temple. He even helps out in the kitchen! You can see him bidding farewell to Ingemar before the end. Evert is performed by Maximilian Slash Tiger Marton.

⚘ Meet the Hårgans: Ulrika ⚘

Ulrika is the woman who leads the singers laughing at Dani during the visitors' first trip. Later, she invites Dani to "help join us" making meat tarts, and she is the one who sings to Maja and Christian during the ritual mating scene. Ulrika is performed by Rebecka Johnston. 

⚘ Behind the Scenes: The Official Web Site of the Hårga ⚘

 https://welcometoharga.org

⚘ Meet the Hårgans: Dani's Sisters in Hårga ⚘

The young women rush over to Dani. They surround her, touching her, rubbing her. Dani CAN’T BREATHE. She’s panicking. Hanna directs the women to LEAD Dani to the Main House. They all hurriedly guide her in that direction.

The young women usher Dani to her bed. They sit her down, gathering intimately around her. Dani struggles increasingly to breathe. Hanna HOLDS Dani’s FACE in her hands. She locks eyes with Dani and affects DEEP BREATHING. Dani’s eyes, unwilling to settle at first, gradually become FIXED to Hanna’s. Hanna continues to affect deep, measured breathing. Dani struggles to follow her. Her breathing trembles to meet Hanna’s example. Finally, Dani BREAKS DOWN into tears. Everything she’s bottled up, all the emotions that she’s labored to stifle - it all comes BURSTING out. She falls into deep, anguished SOBS.

Still locked onto Dani’s gaze, Hanna also breaks down. She SOBS DEEPLY along with Dani. They are sympathetically connected. It’s remarkable, and very unsettling. The surrounding women have also started CRYING, although not as intensely as Hanna, who has absolutely fixed herself to Dani. The crying is infectious, and the deeper they go, the greater the outpour.

It has become a circle of hysterical, weeping women. They moan and scream and cry. It’s positively TRIBAL.

Dagny - Agnes Rase @agnesrase

Ulla - Liv Mjönes @mjonesliv

Hanna - Louise Peterhoff @louisepeterhoff

Inga - Julia Ragnarsson @juliaragnarok 

Karin - Anna Åström @annaastrom2

Kajsa - Kati Dombi @kattidombi

Majvor - Tove Skeidsvoll @toveskeidsvoll

⚘ Meet the Hårgans: Hanna ⚘

Here’s Hanna! She seems to be in a leader of the May Queen activities. In the later parts of the movie she wears an ankle brace and doesn’t participate in the dance contest. She feeds Dani a herring, and she leads the harvest blessing ceremony. She’s one of the wailing handmaids. Hanna is performed by Louise Peterhoff

⚘ Meet the Hårgans: Arne ⚘

Arne, explainer of the Rubi Radr and bingo ball lottery picker. I think he's the masked lead torch carrier too. Arne is performed by Anders Beckman, does he have an Instagram?