Ari Aster made an enormous impression with last year’s critically acclaimed horror hit Hereditary, and he’s turning even more heads with this summer’s folk nightmare Midsommar (read my review), but that doesn’t mean his films are immune to criticism. For some people, the endings of his films go a step, or two, or five, too far.
And if you’re one of the people lobbing those complaints, he’s heard you. But that’s exactly what he’s going for. [VAGUE SPOILERS AHEAD.]
“I’m a big fan of melodrama,” Ari Aster told Bloody-Disgusting in a recent interview, “and I grew up loving Douglas Sirk and just loving those traditions. The operative word being ‘melos,’ music, so drama as music. And so I guess you could see this as being pretty operatic. I’m treating it like an opera.”
“Which means I’m ending this film, and I guess I end Hereditary, on a crescendo,” Aster explained. “So I’m working with this ramp that’s moving up, up, up and hopefully you end at a ten.”
“I know that there are a lot of people who have responded to both films, ‘I was with it until the end. The end of … was too much.’ And all I can say is I’m just doing what I want to see,” Aster added. “I don’t feel like it’s unique to me at all. Most of my favorite films play in this space of allowing actors to kind of let her rip.”
The ending of Midsommar definitely strikes that note, but is it possible for Aster’s overwhelmingly emotional climaxes to go too far?
“In that scene, there’s not too much for me,” Aster said. “I’m sure some people might argue that I went too far. For what I was looking for, Florence was hitting just the right buttons.”
What do you all think? Let us know after you see Midsommar, which is now playing in theaters!
