Midsommar(2019) by Ari Aster
Midsommar(2019) is a horror film by director Ari Aster, and is one of my favourite films that I have seen for a long time. Literally everything about this film interests me and the sound techniques used are no exception. The film follows a girl, Dani, who’s boyfriend, Christian is insensitive towards her and is fairly useless in general. He complains with his friends about her being over emotional and needy but can’t get up the courage to end the relationship. At the beginning of the film, Dani finds out that her sister has committed suicide and has taken their parents with her. This is of course, devastating, and she relies on Christian’s support to cope. He reluctantly invites her on a trip to Sweden to visit the hometown village of his friend, Pelle along with other friends, Josh and Mark. The village are beginning their Midsommar festivities during the months where there are barely any hours of night, however things quickly become very dark for the American tourists as they begin to disappear and the truth about the place is unveiled.
One of my favourite techniques used in horror is the use of juxtaposed music and Midsommar has some good examples of this, the first being the opening credits. The film starts with a happy, upbeat melody which we already know is not fitting for the genre but is instantly replaced by a single voice singing an eerie tune. This sort of paves the way for the rest of the film, as in each ‘act’ the mood starts high, with sickly sweet and light imagery and music and comes crashing down in the same manor. Another example of foreshadowing in Midsommar is seen way later on in the film when Dani has a dream that the boys get in the car and leave without her. The dream is dark and scary, and she is clearly distressed and very scared of this happening, but when she suddenly wakes up everything seems fine and we hear a baby crying in the distance. This seems insignificant at the time, however, later in the film, Christian has sex and is essentially used as a sperm donor to one of the girls of the village, which Dani finds out about and this leads to the climax of the film. It seems that the director is trying to say, ‘this is bad, but the truth is worse’. The end of the dream seems like a good thing, but actually, the real terror is about to begin.
Unlike Mother!, Midsommar has actual music, however, this is still used in a way that does not give too much away and is also merged with things that are happening in the film. An amazing example of this is at the beginning when the camera pans over Dani’s dead family, and violins play droning notes that almost mimic human voices. These merge with Dani’s voice wailing and crying, creating an extremely powerful and almost sickening feeling to the viewer.
When the group are travelling to their destination, nothing scary or bad is happening, however we are met with more of the jarring and anxiety inducing music. This shows that, even though all that can be seen on screen is a bunch of excited young people going on holiday, they are heading towards something dark and dangerous. This is the opposite of Mother! Where the viewer was only given information that she herself got. In Midsommar, the characters are completely naïve, where the audience knows that something bad is going to happen. We don’t know what it is yet though. This idea of music being used to show foreboding happens multiple times throughout the film, but a particular scene where it feels like it is trying to tell us something, but we can’t figure out what, is when the two elders of the village have their death ceremony. As the elders walk towards the cliff, it is unsure what is about to happen, however the music gives a feeling of melancholy, but also a feeling of acceptance. This music grows more and more intense until it is replaced by Dani breathing as she watches what happens. There is a deathly quiet before the first body hits the rocks and this sound is horrific in itself, but almost an anticlimax. The music was so intense, however making the thud so insignificant and small gives the viewer a feeling of insignificance themselves. We are all just lumps of flesh and bone at the end of the day, and this scene wants you to remember that. This is reinforced when the second body hits the rocks and the sound is even quieter and further away.
There are many times like this where specific sounds are used to make the viewer feel a certain way. Like in Mother!, there are instances where all sounds around Dani are muffled or muted. Muffled voices are used when Dani is at a party whilst still grieving the loss of her family to show how disconnected she is with reality. She is all in her head and unable to properly interact with the world around her. Completely muted background noises signify more intense feelings of total numbness, like after the elders walk off the cliff. She is witnessing something horrific but is still dealing with grief from her family dying, so everything is so overwhelming it is almost as if she has malfunctioned. A scene which I really like from a sound designer’s perspective is where we hear sweet singing and see flowers, however in the foreground there is a bird’s carcass on the table with very loud flies buzzing around. The buzzing is made way louder than anything else in the scene. This all shows how the situation itself is perfect on the outside, however if you look a bit deeper it is rotten and ill.
While sound effects play a big part in the atmosphere in Midsommar, the use of silence is equally as important. Silence is used often to create awkward and unsettling situations. An example of this is when Dani goes to visit Christian and his friends and they discuss the trip. There is no sound at all other than the character’s voices, making the atmosphere feel extremely hostile. Long pauses in between dialogue show how uncomfortable the boys are with Dani. The only character who this does not happen with is Pelle. He is always the rock in the film for Dani and gives her comfort. All strange effects and eeriness are alleviated when he is the focus of the scene, therefore the audience is also drawn to him.
When the group first sit down to eat with the villagers, all is silent and still apart from Dani and Christian talking to each other. The voices are extremely loud and clear. The meal is very ceremonious and sacred to the villagers, so this audio effect gives the feeling of the two of them being disrespectful to the traditions. It makes the viewer cringe as, in real life, you’d never be able to hear them that loud, however in this instance, it seems like they are openly discussing the people around them for everyone to hear.
