well since she was the main character, it seemed likely Dani would end up as May Queen... the question is did she win the dance contest fair and square, or was it rigged to ensure she would win?
― the girl from spirea x (f. hazel), Monday, 22 July 2019 15:47 (four years ago) link
as soon as she arrives there, everything from her asking about the May Queens, looking at the photos, having a bed directly under a picture showing part of the rite, directly points to that
― untuned mass damper (mh), Monday, 22 July 2019 15:48 (four years ago) link
obviously they don't need to rig anything because in a movie if gods are worshipped, said gods are the director and writers. whatever the gods want to happen, will happen
― untuned mass damper (mh), Monday, 22 July 2019 15:49 (four years ago) link
Although they must do a lot of the rituals in other years, because otherwise there wouldn't be all of the photographs of May Queens
had a confused discussion about this with the ppl I saw it with immediately afterwards - as referenced upthread, it must be that they have May Queens every year (because why else all the photos), but the sacrifice stuff is only every 90 years?
― Οὖτις, Monday, 22 July 2019 15:50 (four years ago) link
^^^ otmI thought they may have rigged it because they could tell from the screaming ritual that she needed a success. And she got it!! :) big smile!!
― weird woman in a bar (La Lechera), Monday, 22 July 2019 15:51 (four years ago) link
well, I mean... it's about if Dani wants to be they May Queen or they do
― the girl from spirea x (f. hazel), Monday, 22 July 2019 15:52 (four years ago) link
e they could tell from the screaming ritual that she needed a success.
doesn't the screaming ritual happen afterward?
― Οὖτις, Monday, 22 July 2019 15:53 (four years ago) link
which actually lines up with the cycle of life: youth until 18, on a quest until 36, pillars of the community until 54, ritual suicide at 72, and every 90 years they reset the cycle with sacrifices
― untuned mass damper (mh), Monday, 22 July 2019 15:53 (four years ago) link
That otm was for knowing there was a May Queen situation happening for Dani
― weird woman in a bar (La Lechera), Monday, 22 July 2019 15:53 (four years ago) link
Idk — I thought the screaming was first but I saw it like a month ago and I’m in a doctors office rn so my brain may be mushy
― weird woman in a bar (La Lechera), Monday, 22 July 2019 15:54 (four years ago) link
when Dani is sharing screams with all the ladies it's after she sees Christian having sex with Maja, so she's already the May Queen at that point.
― the girl from spirea x (f. hazel), Monday, 22 July 2019 15:58 (four years ago) link
my memory is that the ritual orgy thing happens *while* the May Queen dance contest is happening, then when she wins she wonders where Christian is, finds him goin at it in the barn, flees to the other house where all the women follow her and they have their primal scream therapy session
― Οὖτις, Monday, 22 July 2019 15:59 (four years ago) link
but I think it would have been clear to them well before that that Dani needed a win!
― the girl from spirea x (f. hazel), Monday, 22 July 2019 16:00 (four years ago) link
well yeah
― Οὖτις, Monday, 22 July 2019 16:01 (four years ago) link
hey, I saw it only yesterday so I can weigh in!
the dance contest happens, and she wins. they sit down at the long tables with her at the head, and Chris is drugged during the meal. Dani is taken away off to the fields to bless the crops in the chariot thing, and asks if Chris can come along
shortly after she's carried off, Maja makes this little flower petal path up to Chris and he's led away. while Dani's doing the ritual to bless the crops, he's being prepped and the entire mating thing begins. by the time she returns, it's nearly done
― untuned mass damper (mh), Monday, 22 July 2019 16:02 (four years ago) link
so it's quite a while after she's already won the dance contest -- they've already finished dinner and she's been taken off to the fields
― untuned mass damper (mh), Monday, 22 July 2019 16:03 (four years ago) link
the sex ceremony doesn't start until Dani's been crowned May Queen, but it's a rapid succession of events... Dani is crowned, and taken in the carriage to bless the fields and concurrently Christian is taken to Maja and both rituals are interwoven.
― the girl from spirea x (f. hazel), Monday, 22 July 2019 16:04 (four years ago) link
literally everything that happens in this film is clearly and deliberately signposted and the joy of it is experiencing all the things you know shall happen. it's also about how they happen
― imago, Monday, 22 July 2019 16:04 (four years ago) link
Yeah it's kinda like Taken in that sense... you're just watching a falling object shatter through a succession of barriers until it hits the ground
― the girl from spirea x (f. hazel), Monday, 22 July 2019 16:06 (four years ago) link
the biggest red herring for our anthropologist character is the interest in the inbred sage and the holy book -- there might be something interesting in there, but every part of the rituals is documented right on the walls of the room they're sleeping in!
― untuned mass damper (mh), Monday, 22 July 2019 16:12 (four years ago) link
yeah everything's on the murals, I noticed a bunch of stuff while watching it
― Οὖτις, Monday, 22 July 2019 16:15 (four years ago) link
dude showed her sketch of her as may queen fan art even before they left right?
― Philip Nunez, Monday, 22 July 2019 16:21 (four years ago) link
yup
― Οὖτις, Monday, 22 July 2019 16:21 (four years ago) link
pretty sure he was humming Stairway to Heaven too
― the girl from spirea x (f. hazel), Monday, 22 July 2019 16:30 (four years ago) link
Side note, no anthropology grad student doing field work in 2019 would take photos of a sacred book after being explicitly told not to. In fact what actually happened to Josh is not far off from the response he would get from his thesis advisor upon discovering he'd done that. Dani was much closer to what an actual sociocultural anthro grads are like.
― the girl from spirea x (f. hazel), Monday, 22 July 2019 16:43 (four years ago) link
― the girl from spirea x (f. hazel), Monday, 22 July 2019 16:06 (forty-eight minutes ago) bookmarkflaglink
or as others have said, Mandy...
― imago, Monday, 22 July 2019 16:55 (four years ago) link
xp kind of unclear whether he would have done that if left to his own devices or if he's reaching for unique material after getting his thesis sniped by Chris
which, if the prior scenes of him being a dick to his girlfriend weren't enough, clearly established him as a shithead. a few grad student friends of mine will be seething mad at that scene
― untuned mass damper (mh), Monday, 22 July 2019 16:57 (four years ago) link
I need to watch Mandy!
― the girl from spirea x (f. hazel), Monday, 22 July 2019 17:07 (four years ago) link
update: one of said friends was, in fact, very mad at that scene. lol
― untuned mass damper (mh), Monday, 22 July 2019 17:11 (four years ago) link
Have trouble believing Josh would feel any academic threat from Christian, he was such a fuckup it would be more funny than insulting that he'd decided to do his dissertation on the Hårga. No way is that guy going to make it through a seven-year Ph.D. program.
― the girl from spirea x (f. hazel), Monday, 22 July 2019 17:19 (four years ago) link
Also on an academic note, I will add that I absolutely loved during the dance contest when Dani begins to speak Swedish and is, like, completely delighted by it, maybe the most joyous part of the movie?
― the girl from spirea x (f. hazel), Monday, 22 July 2019 17:29 (four years ago) link
that was the closest to a supernatural moment, imo!
like.. is she speaking Swedish because she's becoming the May Queen? who knows!
― untuned mass damper (mh), Monday, 22 July 2019 17:52 (four years ago) link
To me it sorta pointed towards her wanting to be the May Queen, and also that actual magic was affecting events in the film.
― the girl from spirea x (f. hazel), Monday, 22 July 2019 18:10 (four years ago) link
The old guy clapping to fuck with tripping Christian cracked me up
― Fuck Trump, cops, and the CBP (Neanderthal), Monday, 22 July 2019 18:21 (four years ago) link
(a bit of online research reveals that they were not in fact speaking Swedish in the dance contest, but nonsense... that's a bit less fun)
― the girl from spirea x (f. hazel), Monday, 22 July 2019 18:25 (four years ago) link
speaking in tongues, maybe?
you know, the version where you're speaking in the pre-babel universal language that all humans understand
― untuned mass damper (mh), Monday, 22 July 2019 18:44 (four years ago) link
Glossolalia
― Οὖτις, Monday, 22 July 2019 19:02 (four years ago) link
maybe it's an oblique ABBA dancing queen joke?
casting-wise are there any easter eggs like bergman actors or such?
― Philip Nunez, Monday, 22 July 2019 19:13 (four years ago) link
This was great - the sound/music was brilliant.
― Leaghaidh am brón an t-anam bochd (dowd), Tuesday, 23 July 2019 17:35 (four years ago) link
loved this
tired and bad at thinking but:
emil.y and fgti and la lechera otm throughout
saw this with a friend and one of the first things she noted was just how uncannily well-rendered the badness of the bad boyfriend was. not a Bad Human That Deserves To Die, but just always so disappointing
agree that the most upsetting thing was the murder suicide, AND that chalking it up specifically to 'bipolar' was pretty gross and unnecessary. also that the elaborate and lurid nature of the killing was, on one hand, an unrealistic and needlessly macabre and, on the other, in keeping with the baseline psychedelia of the whole movie
don't think it's been noted but dani's apartment had a big ol poster of a big ol bear smooching/snugging a little blonde girl. touches like that and the drawings in the barn etc were v good imo
― gbx, Saturday, 27 July 2019 06:33 (four years ago) link
Dani and bad boyfriend are performed as the same blank person; not sure if it’s written that way or it was actors’ choice.
― Philip Nunez, Saturday, 27 July 2019 15:30 (four years ago) link
Reading the script is highlighting some really interesting points that I missed while watching it. In particular, so far, Pelle really perks up and gets enthusiastic about Dani joining them when he learns that Dani is a Cancer and her birthday is July 7. Also it completely clears up the fact that they do the festival every year, but the human sacrifices only come every 90 years.
― Je55e, Saturday, 27 July 2019 15:50 (four years ago) link
yes, gbx! I remember noticing the framing of many shots before they left for Sweden involved people sitting under large paintings or pictures, want to see it again so I see who was under what image!
― the girl from spirea x (f. hazel), Saturday, 27 July 2019 16:15 (four years ago) link
And Dani apologizing for making her boyfriend remember her birthday was way more cringe-inducing than the cliff diving seniors.
― the girl from spirea x (f. hazel), Saturday, 27 July 2019 16:17 (four years ago) link
Dani’s panic onset was palpable — her facial expressions are obvious standout but the way they changed from bad to worse were very hard to watch and memorable for me. The head smashing, eh nbd (i mean yeah it was gross but it did not have the same effect on me as watching her lose it) that’s part of why her smile at the end is so poignant imo.
― weird woman in a bar (La Lechera), Saturday, 27 July 2019 16:31 (four years ago) link
― Philip Nunez, Saturday, July 27, 2019 8:30 AM (one hour ago) bookmarkflaglink
i’ve heard this reiterated through the thread and i’m not sure what movie you saw
― american bradass (BradNelson), Saturday, 27 July 2019 16:35 (four years ago) link
There’s definitely some mirroring in how they set both characters up (and also how they end up!) but the actors in particular have a really blank affect that none of the other cast have.
― Philip Nunez, Saturday, 27 July 2019 18:05 (four years ago) link
the actors in particular have a really blank affect that none of the other cast have
Still haven't seen the movie but I'll be shocked if this is true - I've seen Pugh in 4 other things to date and the word "blank" would not describe her performance in any of them.
― shared unit of analysis (unperson), Saturday, 27 July 2019 18:50 (four years ago) link
whenever Christian was on screen I had to suppress my "Chris Pratt present, exit theater now" impulse
― the girl from spirea x (f. hazel), Saturday, 27 July 2019 19:05 (four years ago) link
Maybe blank isn’t the right word for it but it’s very pod person or uncanny valleyish—I don’t know how you would write such a thing into the script so I’m wondering if the actors came up with it themselves.
I did think Chris Pratt would be the human version of this character!
― Philip Nunez, Saturday, 27 July 2019 19:09 (four years ago) link