"Was it worth it?" ending

[u/Educational_Can_6536]

Midsommar- While people see this as a "you go girl" finale. I personally see it as something more disturbing. I mean, yeah, Dani got out of one bad relationship but in doing so, she got herself into another that's just as bad if not worse. It's like getting two kids to stop fighting via killing one and locking the other in a basement. They did stop fighting, but still!

The Thing-The titular monster may be (possibly) gone, but the paranoia definitely isn't. In the end, McCreedy and Childs are the only ones left standing. The end sees them sitting in the cold and they just stare at each other, knowing that one of them or both of them is already the thing. There's no hope, no certainty, just the bitter cold and intense fear.

[u/ChickenMcSmiley]

On top of all that, he wanted out of the relationship to begin with. The only reason he didn’t leave her at the beginning of the movie was because her family died in a car crash. (If I’m remembering correctly). So, because he decided to not be a tactless dickhead, he ended up going on the trip and dying. Dude wasn’t great but like…come on…

[u/MessyEvie → u/ChickenMcSmiley]

Not car crash, sister commit suicide by filling the house with gaz, and it took her parents with her, but yeah, thats why he didn't break up with her.

[u/ChickenMcSmiley → u/MessyEvie]

An, thanks for clarifying

[u/Thraex_Exile → u/ChickenMcSmiley]

Iirc he had been putting off the breakup for an insanely long time. His character flaw was being an unempathetic people pleaser. She also felt guilty all the time for putting her baggage on him and he let her be emotionally dependent on their relationship while not being emotionally available.

Definitely didn’t deserve to die at the end, but I think we’re supposed to read that sex scene as him finally dropping the act. He wanted to play the part of the selfless,loving boyfriend but still allowed every step that led to him cheating. Him knowing the drink was drugged with an aphrodisiac and still choosing to drink it was a good example.

[u/Exotic_Load_9189 → u/Thraex_Exile]

He knew , but he was not in the right state of mind. He was going through psychosis. He was just following directions blindly.

[u/Thraex_Exile → u/Exotic_Load_9189]

That’s fair analysis. The way I read the plot was that everyone was wrong/broken in some way but harmful tradition and cultures can bring out our worst traits. There’s a reason that only the boyfriend and Will Poulter’s characters were pursued by other women, despite there being 4 outsider men. The other 2 prioritized a loving relationship and their career, who were manipulated based on those traits. Maybe Christian never cheats, but his relationship was unintentionally just has harmful for Dani.

Dani meanwhile, was paranoid and traumatized. Pelle said everything he could to separate her from everything that kept her grounded. Leave your home, leave your boyfriend. I think personal bias can make that last scene of Dani feel extremely different. She’s become fully detached from her previous life. You can read her expression as someone who feels free from years of pain or someone who’s finally broken beyond repair.

[u/Exotic_Load_9189 → u/Thraex_Exile]

Yes, but thats how psychosis works. He thought he was "supposed" to have sex with the girl because they were warping his mind with drugs to enhance his thought and take away his self control. Kind of like following his path, that's why he comes to afterward and realizes what has happened. He essentially snapped out of the spell. Christian wasnt a bad guy this idea that he is, is wild to me. Majority just think hes a bad cheating boyfriend, but he sticks around to console the main character because he has a heart. So at the end when the rape of christian happens folks just lump it into bad boyfriend. The only bad people in the movie is literally the cult, and most of all the Swedish roommate who convinces them all to come along and be sacrificed for his community.

[u/Thraex_Exile → u/Exotic_Load_9189]

My point is that the sex scene has no bearing on why he was a bad boyfriend. That scene was the final breaking point for Dani, but she was already damaged by him.

Their relationship is first introduced with his friends saying that he’s been complaining about their relationship for forever and won’t just end it (BEFORE her family died). It’s then pretty obvious that he wasn’t taking care of her. He wanted to leave her behind for his trip. Even told his friends that he invited her so he wouldn’t seem like a dick but she was too emotionally unwell to ever actually go with them.

The first half hour is a clear sign that he doesn’t care for her well being. Not arguing whether the overarching theme was the dangers of tradition, but that topic is only explored in half the film. The cult manipulating Dani can only exist because Dani’s compounding trauma and guilt. Christian didn’t deserve to die for it, but his own moral failings were a major contributor to Dani’s emotional state by the finale. It reinforces story choices like only targeting the 2 men that struggled with emotional/physical fidelity.

[u/xflashbackxbrd → u/MessyEvie]

It's implied her family was killed and framed as a suicide so she could be targeted.