The Pelle/Dani Receipts

Our first Dani/Pelle evidence comes with the very first image of the film, a medieval-style tapestry we like to call the Spoiler Tapestry by New York-based artist Mu Pan. The Spoiler Tapestry covers pretty much Dani’s whole journey, segmented into five parts, beginning with the Ardors’ murder-suicide and ending with a triumphant feast and maypole dance. Notably for our purposes, you will notice Christian failing to comfort Dani in the second panel, watched over by Pelle, who is sketching while sitting in a tree. The way that Pelle is positioned over and above grieving Dani and hapless Christian gives the impression he’s doing more than simply documenting their strife, and the fact that he’s sitting in a tree is significant because he will be the Green Man/May King at the end of the film. Trees/greenery in association with Pelle will be a repeating motif. In the third panel, we see Pelle playing a flute, Pied Piper-like, as he leads the Americans through the woods to Hårga. Also note how Pelle’s costume contrasts with the other men depicted, putting him in 18th century nobleman’s clothes (in blue and yellow!), the Prince Charming to Dani’s princess. (Thanks to @octobers-snow​ for pointing this one out!) In the fourth panel, we see the arrival in Hårga, Pelle bringing up the rear behind all of his American friends, his flute held like a phallus. That’s the last we see of Pelle himself on the tapestry, but the next and final panel shows Dani dancing happily around the maypole, looking transcendent.

There’s one more prophetic segment before we actually meet Dani and begin her story properly though, and that’s several winter shots of Hälsingland, Sweden, location of the film’s Hårgan community. Over these shots, which might be suggestive enough on their own, a woman–we later learn it’s Maja, who has her sights set on mating with Christian–lifts a haunting, melancholy vocal. This type of music is called a kulning, an ancient Scandinavian herding call. That’s right; the movie begins first with a tapestry telling you Dani is going to go to Sweden and become May Queen, and then, the actual events of the film start with an unseen Hårgan sister calling something or someone home to Sweden. Moo, Dani.

OK, let’s talk about when we actually meet Dani. Remember how we said Pelle and greenery and trees are a thing? Please take a look at Dani’s apartment. While Pelle hasn’t yet been introduced in the film, his presence and the shadow of Dani’s destiny already reach for her. Ari Aster loves to foreshadow with interior design, and both Dani’s and Christian’s apartments are prime examples of this. First and foremost, Dani has plants everywhere, all along her floor, on shelves, all through her living room and bedroom. Note that these aren’t flowers either; they’re ferns, which we only really see in reference to Pelle elsewhere in the film.

In Dani’s living area, violent, frenetic pieces by Mu Pan feature prominently alongside many pictures of her family and Christian, plus a stark poster depicting a celestial alignment. Now, Western astrology isn’t explicitly referenced in the final film, but an early draft of the script has Dani and Pelle comparing star signs (they are Taurus and Cancer, super compatible!), which has become a beloved piece of fanon – problematic fanon, as it turns out, as detailed in this post. But the idea of celestial alignments and destiny is still very applicable, as Matriarch Siv later informs Christian that he and Maja are an ideal astrological match, though she doesn’t specifically mention Western astrology and could as easily be talking about runeology. Of course, the chef’s kiss foreshadowing in Dani’s interior design is a piece we won’t actually see until after her family’s deaths, a large canvas of Poor Little Bear (1912) by Swedish artist John Bauer. The painting dominates Dani’s bedroom as she lies sleepless beneath it, depicting a crowned little girl kissing a bear on the nose. Note that Bauer is renowned for fairytale illustrations like Poor Little Bear. Note also that the bed is flanked by ferns. Oh, and the walls are blue.

So let’s talk about when we do finally meet Mr. Pelle. While hanging out at a pizza place, Mark is complaining to Christian that he needs to man up and break up with Dani, as he has wished to do for months. Christian is at the end of the table; Pelle is sitting directly across from Mark and next to Josh. He’s dressed in a Green Man green sweatshirt, but Pelle is silent for almost the entire scene, as Mark and Josh offer their opinions and Christian feebly defends his relationship. He’s just sketching a flower arrangement and maybe half listening. Until Mark tells Christian if he breaks up with Dani, he can find a girl “who likes sex.” That gets his attention. He stops sketching, glares at Mark, sits back, and cocks his head, apparently bemused. It is as though not only is he immediately irritated at Mark’s vulgarity about Dani, but either he has not heard this about Dani (Christian also seems dismayed by Mark bringing it up, though he doesn’t deny it) and is processing the information and/or he has reason to believe differently. 

Pelle’s first and only real line of dialogue then is spent on tempting Christian with “all the Swedish women you can impregnate in June.” This is important for a couple reasons. Number one, now we know that Christian knew all the way at the beginning of the film–which Dani’s email places in late December, possibly early January–that he was going to Sweden in June, and Pelle already expects him to impregnate someone. (A line of dialogue in the Director’s Cut has Siv mention to Christian that Pelle showed Maja his picture, so possibly Team Hårga is already that far along in the process.) Second, it’s important because Pelle is clearly trying to drive a wedge between Dani and Christian, which is very suggestive given his apparent intentions to make sure Dani joins them on the Sweden trip and his utter delight when Christian grudgingly invites her. That’s supported, too, by the resigned/disgusted headshake he performs for Josh when Mark tries to keep Christian from taking Dani’s call. He’s either irritated at Mark or indicating that Christian is doing the wrong thing by taking Dani’s call to Josh, and frankly, whichever way you take it, either he’s telegraphing affection for Dani or supporting a breakup with her, and both support the ship.

We should underline this because while it’s obvious from later events that Pelle likes Dani, it is not obvious when or how that liking begins. He doesn’t say it, and they don’t have a scene together until months later, but as far back as this pizza parlor scene, Pelle is at least interested in Dani and is clearly trying to break her and Christian up. But how is he going to get Dani to Hårga without Christian, especially when he also clearly has plans for Christian? What does he know (or suspect) about Dani that Mark and Christian don’t? And if you’re thinking…well, how do you know that this interest came before? Maybe he wasn’t even thinking about bringing Dani. Why couldn’t he have planned on getting Christian and then she just fell into his lap later after Terri kills their parents and herself? Keep reading.

The tragedy happens, Christian finds himself trapped in a relationship with Dani, who’s trapped in her grief, and we get Sad Title Card in snow. We skip through several months of Dani’s sorrow and next find her sometime in late May, given dialogue clues, at a party at Christian and Mark’s apartment. She’s zoned out, the only one without a drink, when the conversation turns to the Sweden trip. In the script, Pelle actually brings it up, but in the film, an unseen man broaches the subject to Josh. Pelle, standing next to Josh, confirms that they are all going to visit his home in Hälsingland. As he does this, while Josh and Mark totally ignore Dani watching them, Pelle looks directly at Dani, and also the camera, for several seconds. We call this THE LOOK. He’s doing a couple things in this scene. Number one, he’s making sure Dani notices the revelation about the trip, but it’s not just a fleeting glance. Since the camera is Dani’s point-of-view, she could not have missed him looking at her that way. For several significant seconds. And she’s looking steadily back. Interesting! 

So Pelle’s making sure Dani knows about the trip. Why? He definitely doesn’t want Christian to have to cancel, so making the neurotic girlfriend hip to it seems unwise. The only thing that makes sense is he wants her to know so she will come. So at this point, after several months of no contact or only superficial contact with Dani, given dialogue in the next scene, Pelle wants Dani to come, but he can’t invite her himself. Add to that the smoldering of that lingering, shared look. Dani is freaked out, obviously, because this is the first she’s hearing of this trip, but she still holds that look. Is he pressuring her or tempting her? I mean, he doesn’t look at Josh like that. And if he likes her and wants her to come to Hårga in this scene, why wouldn’t that be true in the pizza parlor, before all the bad stuff, when he’s reacting to Mark’s gross comment and trying to break Dani and Christian up? Because the suicide makes Dani more vulnerable than before? Maybe. The problem with that is…we know he hasn’t really seen her much in those intervening months. Maybe he has some weird “you are also an orphan now” kink? Also, we will argue that later dialogue suggests a preexisting relationship that couldn’t have occurred between the suicide and the party, so let’s revisit this question then. It’s still extremely good circumstantial evidence Pelle was always planning to rope Dani into the trip.

Back to the scene. Dani naturally begins to ask about the trip, while (badly) playing it cool and Christian (badly) plays it off, as though the plans are last-minute and uncertain. When Dani asks “for when?” she appears to be asking Pelle directly, and Pelle is the first to make an “uh” sound,  leading the others in “helping” Christian obfuscate their plans, when it only makes it more obvious Christian is playing dumb. (This feels a lot like Pelle “helping” Christian by reminding him of Dani’s birthday later.) With the camera centered on Dani, she casts over everyone, but she reserves particularly frequent and significant looks for Pelle, as though she hopes for the truth from him. The camera swings back to observe the whole group and we can see Pelle watching both Christian and Dani like a hawk through this whole period. He might be playing it cool himself a bit, but his expression appears mostly to be one of confirmed expectations.

Last couple notes about this scene, before Dani and Christian leave and argue about the trip like Pelle’s wind-up toys. Pelle’s right front shirt pocket is unbuttoned, the one above his heart. Given Ari Aster’s meticulousness, all noticeable details like that warrant a second thought. Also – and this is far less likely to mean a thing since the labels are mostly covered – but it sure looks like they’re all drinking Coronas, which is Spanish for “crown.”

HERE WE FUCKING GO.

(Nine is the Hårgan holy number, you know…)

We left our cultboy disconcerted at having broken Dani a little too much as a result of his deliberate traumatizing, now walking into the Youth House to find her packing. As we’ve established, Pelle meant to upset Dani with the Ättestupa, but not so much that–oh, shit, she wants to leave?

This is the most upset we will ever see Pelle. He launches into what sounds like a pre-planned spiel that attempts to explain his not warning her: “I know I shouldn’t have let you stay for that. I mean, I know it looks extreme, but we only–” But then Dani bursts out with a tearful, distraught, “I don’t know why I’m here, Pelle!” And Pelle’s face drains of assurance–he looks scared–and he drops the planned speech and hurries to get physically close to Dani, putting his hands on her arms to comfort and calm her and even to pull her down onto the bed with him.

She shrugs him off and turns even briefly turns her back to him. Not good, cultboy. As he pleads with her to sit down with him, his voice modulates between several different tones–firm, begging, commanding, soft. It’s like he’s spinning through all possible approaches to try and find one that works. His hand rests on the spot where Dani is meant to sit, almost like if he can’t touch her, he’ll touch where he wants her to be.

Now, this scene’s dialogue, as we all know, will essentially amount to a declaration of love from Pelle. The more important thing to uncover is how much this scene reveals about Dani’s feelings and the romantic implications of what happened before, which result in the dynamic in this scene. We mentioned in an earlier post that many Dani/Pelle scenes mirror Dani/Christian scenes in their framing and body positions, as though the Dani/Pelle scenes are overt, wish-fulfillment revisions of the Dani/Christian ones. This moment recalls the scene at the beginning of the film, when Dani begs Christian to sit and talk with her after she finds out about the Sweden trip, but the difference here is Dani does sit at Pelle’s behest.

Several times in this scene, Dani’s reactions to Pelle’s dialogue indicate the same kind of sublimated relationship which we saw earlier in the movie, when Pelle gives her the birthday portrait. First off, Pelle includes Dani as one of his “friends who I knew would appreciate it,” and she doesn’t question this. Their awkwardness in the couch scene–and the fact that Pelle can believably pretend he doesn’t know Dani’s academic field–seem to indicate that they haven’t spent a lot of time with each other post-tragedy, so why doesn’t Dani question being categorized by Pelle as an appreciative friend? She assents, “Okay, but I’m not an anthropologist, and I don’t understand any of this,” to which Pelle responds, “And yet I was most excited for you to come,” a statement which even more blatantly goes unremarked upon by Dani. Let’s spell this out: This rather bald declaration from Pelle that he was most excited for his good friend’s girlfriend to come visit his home–which, by the way, he supposedly didn’t know she was going to do until only a few weeks ago–does not provoke any kind of retort or question from Dani, suggesting that this might not be wholly strange or unexpected to her.

So Pelle has recovered a bit from overzealously breaking Dani: He’s gotten her to sit down with him (very close together on the end of a tiny little bed) and has all but said, “I wanted to show you specifically this place that is special to me because I knew you would get it on a deeper level than my silly anthropologist friends.” But then he miscalculates again and attempts to entice Dani into smelling a “calming” herb sachet, which he seems to use just as much to calm himself as he takes a deep inhalation. We interpret this as a miscalculation on Pelle’s part because it’s such an uncharacteristically tonedeaf thing to do. Like, dude, she is only about 24 hours away from a hellishly bad mushroom trip, she does not want more questionable hippie substances. Also, attempting to placate trauma with aromatic herbs seems oddly insensitive and not-well-thought-through for our master of manipulation, Mr. Pelle. Dani actually knocks his hand away, rejecting the sachet with an offended roll of her eyes. Pelle seems a little at a loss, asking, “Are you sure?” Still so discombobulated at having found her on the verge of leaving.

Okay, she won’t let him touch her, won’t smell the calming herbs, time to just cut straight to the point. “I know what you’re going through, Dani.” She wouldn’t engage with this topic on the couch back in New York, but just as Pelle made her endure the Ättestupa, he’s going to make her talk about her family’s death. And Dani ruptures. But this is the right kind of rupturing. The cultboy is in his element now: emotional honesty. As Dani denies and avoids, he insists and pushes through, placing his hand on her back even as she wails, “No, I don’t want to talk about that.” And–this is key–even in this moment where she verbally pushes him away, she accepts his hand on her back, which lingers and even begins to caress her as the scene goes on. Whereas she shrugged off his hands on her arms and batted away his herb sachet, now she allows a much more intimate touch.

And during this most famous monologue in the film, Pelle’s body language is intensely keyed in on Dani. He is hunched so his face is level with hers, his torso is angled to her, and his eye contact is unrelenting. His voice breaks with emotion over “by a family,” his eyes glossing with empathetic, unshed tears. This is all capped with a straightforward enclosure of her hand in his, after which, finally, there is no more pretending, no more plausible deniability. This is romantic, and Dani can’t hide from it. Her objection, “Pelle, Christian could walk in,” is quite feeble, as is her “push” of his hand off of hers, which doesn’t actually make for a sincere attempt to extricate herself. We saw her unhesitatingly physically remove Pelle’s touch before, but she doesn’t do it now. The line itself is also revealing. If Christian did walk in, couldn’t Dani simply explain, “Pelle took my hand, but I didn’t want him to”? Why would that not suffice? Because Dani is complicit in what is happening. She has essentially now acknowledged the emotional affair that was already underway.

And, notably, “Christian could walk in” is the only moment at which Dani and Pelle are shot from a distance in this scene, through the Youth House door, as though the cinematography is asking us, the viewers, to step into Christian’s hypothetical shoes here. And, be honest, if you were Christian, what would you think of this sight?

On another level, it’s as though the mere mention of Christian has brought with it all the alienation of the shots that feature the fraying couple. But only momentarily. Because now Pelle is laying it all out before her, and for that we are back to a very close close-up. “Do you feel held by him?” Pelle asks while literally holding Dani’s hand. “Does he feel like home to you?” Pelle, master rhetorician, makes his verbal checkmate. These are pinnacle examples of suggestive questions whose answers ring out without needing to be spoken. You don’t feel held by him, but here I am holding you. He does not feel like home to you, but I do.

And, cruelly, we are cut off in that moment, just as we see Dani’s eyes change with dawning realization. Ari Aster does not let the romance take center stage. But guess who we see carrying that herb sachet and smelling it, in a later scene?

So between “Does he feel like home to you?” and cooking meat tarts with the ladies, Dani changed her mind about that herb sachet. How did that happen, we wonder?

So, as mentioned in our last post, Pelle reaches new heights of cultboy calculatingness with his handling of the Ättestupa. Beyond his avoidant throat-slash “joke” about what happens at age seventy-two, as the young folks are settling in for “beauty rest” on their first night in Hårga, Pelle dangles the fact that “the first of the big ceremonies” is happening tomorrow (in the trailer version of the scene, which didn’t end up in either the theatrical or director’s cut, he flashes a mischievous, teasing expression at Dani–pictured below). Of course, Josh takes the bait and asks for specifics, and Pelle sobers performatively but only replies, “Ättestupa.” Now, our cultboy must know full well that Josh is the only one who knows wtf that is, and he clearly is counting on the fact that Josh will enjoy lording his secret knowledge over Christian and thus not spill the beans about what the ceremony actually entails–for he declines to explain even after directly asked by Christian.

Now, the reason we are fixating on Pelle’s obfuscation here is that it goes beyond simply keeping his American friends from finding out just how extreme Hårgan beliefs are for as long as possible. No, no, this strategy is all about getting to Dani, and we can prove it. First of all, it’s a major change from the original script, in which Pelle, anticipating how much it will upset Dani, actually warns her about what Ättestupa entails.

As you can see, in the original envisioning of this scene, Dani chooses to witness the Ättestupa, knowing what it is, as though trying to prove something to herself (as well as Christian). However, in the film, Pelle does not warn Dani and in fact treats the whole thing rather lightly, joking and teasing the day before as though it’s no big deal. So what happened between the script and the film? Did Pelle somehow become less emotionally sensitive and empathetic, thus not realizing how traumatizing it would be for Dani to witness a double suicide? OF COURSE NOT. Pelle deliberately hides what Ättestupa is from Dani in order to traumatize her.

“AnonLady and Rimanez!” we hear you gasping in shock. “I thought this whole series was about proving that Dani/Pelle is canonical! Why are you making the ship sound ~problematic~?” And to that, friends, we say–what did you expect? This is a horror film. This is a horror romance. Pelle is a soft, sweet, murderous cultboy. But let us explain how this tactic fits in with what Vilhelm Blomgren deemed Pelle’s “totally loving” character: 

First of all, it’s worth noting that, in Vilhelm’s words, “His [Pelle’s] view of death is that it is a great honor. To be able to experience death and everything that is death is a privilege that not everyone gets to experience, until they are 72, obviously, and they jump from the cliff… …” So, at least from the perspective of the actor who plays him, Pelle’s not really looking at the spectacle of double suicide as something horrific in and of itself, just that Dani’s experiences will make it painful for her.

Second–and more crucially–Pelle’s (and all the Hårgans’) entire modus operandi is emotional openness. They are anti-repression, and Dani is nothing if not repressed. Not in a Victorian stiff-upper-lip way, but in a modern-Western-society-won’t-let-you-grieve way (and a your-boyfriend-can’t-handle-the-intensity-of-your-emotions way). She is entirely self-conscious about how vulnerable she is (a quality which, in the original script, Pelle calls “beautiful” and “rare”) and is ashamed of the level of support which she needs, so she’s always fleeing to cry and break down in private. Her sense of being a burden and her compulsion to repress are so strong, she won’t even take support when it’s offered by someone who is not our culture’s Sole Designated Support-Giver, the Significant Other (remember back to the couch scene, when Pelle attempts to connect with Dani over being orphaned and she flees from the emotional intimacy). So, if you’re a cultboy in love with a beautifully vulnerable woman who refuses to be vulnerable to you (and how else do people form genuine connections?), what are you to do? Why, you make her emotionally vulnerable. And, as always with Pelle, this serves both a personal purpose (bringing Dani closer to him, specifically) and a collective, “greater-good” purpose, creating the conditions under which he can graphically show Dani that it is safe and in fact valued to be vulnerable in Hårga. Let’s get back into the action to illustrate exactly how this works…

On the morning of the Ättestupa, prior to the ceremony, we see Dani pleasantly transfixed by Maja singing and people dancing to the same kulning–the livestock-calling song–we heard at the film’s opening. The woman leading the dance is Ylva, one of the elders who will die in the Ättestupa. Remember, the kulning is all about calling the wayward home. Ylva is about to go “home,” rejoining with Everything, and so is Dani, perhaps taking her most significant step in the very next scene…

As everyone assembles in the canyon to witness the ceremony, Pelle gives Dani a very deliberate, lingering look, showing us that it is no accident that Pelle has not warned her about what’s about to happen; he is observing her, noting her reactions out of all the others’. 

When Ylva, the first elder, steps to the cliff’s ledge, she makes unnerving eye contact with Dani, and then when she takes her plunge, Dani actually performs the Hårgan exhale-inhale gasp–a clue to her already-belonging. (She also grabs for Christian, who does not grab back.) The next elder to take the plunge is Dan. Note the name, because by the time Dan gets malleted, Dani has stopped reacting like an outsider and started reacting like a Hårgan. Specifically, she mirrors Pelle’s facial expressions and body language: neither wincing nor looking away from Dan’s malleting, both of them facing forward, upset by the gore but not cringing away from it as Josh and Christian do. Note how Josh and Christian both violently flinch while Pelle and Dani remain stationary.

It seems quite significant that Dani’s induction-by-trauma into her first proper Hårgan ceremony comes through the gruesome death of an elder named Dan, when the Hårgans believe–as Siv explains to the horrified Simon and Connie–that their dead, if not outright reincarnated, are at least honored in namesake in the next generation of children. Siv points out a pregnant woman and says that her child will be named Ylva if it’s a girl. And Dan? Perhaps he already has a next-generational namesake: Perhaps Dan-i is already part of the great cycle that Siv valorizes at one point specifically to her, turning fully around to address her instead of Simon and Connie. (Pelle, while this is happening, takes a step toward Dani before halting, as though disciplining himself not to reach out to her–it’s not time yet.)

Connie and Simon’s freakout also provides a strong piece of evidence for Pelle’s calculation to obfuscate Ättestupa: As Simon is swearing up a storm, Siv asks Ingemar if he warned them, to which Ingemar balefully responds that he “tried.” Now, this conversation is in Swedish, meaning we can presume that it’s a genuine one, with Siv expressing real frustration that Ingemar didn’t properly warn his guests and Ingemar expressing real remorse (he later apologizes both to Siv and to Simon and Connie… poor bb). So Pelle’s choice not to warn Dani did not arise out of a widespread effort to traumatize all the outsiders–which, after all, would have served no real purpose and in fact might jeopardize the broader Hårgan plan, for almost immediately after this, Simon and Connie attempt to leave. The Hårgans don’t let that happen, of course, but it kind of forces their hand when it comes to the timing of the first two kills. In other words, Pelle’s tactic is all about specifically traumatizing Dani, not something intended for all the outsiders.

However, Pelle’s scheme slightly goes awry, for while he intended to break Dani a little in order to open her up and give him space to flow in, highlighting Christian’s comparative inadequacy–look how much better I am at holding you than your boyfriend, Dani–Dani ends up breaking a little too much. On the walk back to the main cluster of buildings, Dani stops numbly dissociating and starts to have a panic attack. Pelle mutters “shit” to himself in Swedish, watching her break away from everyone to go scream-cry at the foot–appropriately enough–of the Fire Temple. 

We know that Pelle is knocked off-kilter by the severity of Dani’s freakout, because the next time we see him, the usually silver-tongued, smooth Pelle actually fumbles his lie to Josh about Christian approaching him about the thesis topic first. Josh catches him in the inconsistency, questions him, and Pelle stammers and swears before stomping moodily off, directly to the Youth House, seemingly in search of Dani.

And he finds her–packing. Oh, shit.

We start with the quick-cut that everyone loves from this movie: Dani’s flight from Pelle’s empathetic outreach to cry in Christian’s bathroom transforms into Dani’s breakdown in the airplane bathroom. As she returns to her seat, she looks directly at Pelle. (Why? Why look at him, specifically? BECAUSE SHE LIKES HIM.) Almost as though sensing her gaze, Pelle looks up with concern and/or interest (he’s the only one who does). As Pelle raises his head, the camera slows slightly in its track before continuing.

To accent this ~empathetic communication~ (which Dani doesn’t realize she’s engaged in yet), we get a few signs that Dani is indeed on her way “home”: sunlight, which is of course a Hårgan motif, flares outside the window when Dani takes her seat, and the plane hits turbulence while the descent into Stockholm is announced. Taken together, these two details–a sunny arrival at the end of a turbulent journey–speak to Dani’s overall character arc and bring to mind Dani’s signature runes, Raidho and Dagaz (more detail on that in a later post).

Some very strong Dani/Pelle evidence comes to light in the car ride to Hälsingland. [Note: We are basing our analysis off the Director’s Cut of this scene, which is longer. If you feel that the Director’s Cut doesn’t count as canon, you’re no fun that’s fine. We feel that there’s plenty of evidence elsewhere.] For instance, one of the biggest directorial winks we feel Ari Aster gives re. Dani/Pelle is Josh’s line in response to Mark’s question about why Swedish women are “so hot”: “Because the Vikings grabbed all the best babes and dragged them over.” Viking Pelle has grabbed Dani, the “best babe,” and dragged her to Sweden. Enough said.

The Director’s Cut version of the scene was reportedly the first scene they shot, which could explain some of the pretty intense facial telegraphing Pelle is doing here, belying his more subtle affect during most of his other scenes. He smirks and glances devilishly in the mirror as Christian reacts pissily to Dani’s question about whether he’s doing his thesis on Midsommar, overtly relishing the further fraying of their worn tie.

Then Dani throws out a rather flirtatious, smiling comment to Pelle: “You see, Pelle? You’ve brainwashed all your friends.” He rewards her with a chuckle, which she seems to enjoy. Their interaction is notably warmer and lighter when juxtaposed with the tense exchange between Dani and Christian about his thesis that happened mere seconds before.

Now, in this scene, the camerawork begins to link Dani and Pelle together in a way that will continue throughout the film but most notably in the next few scenes: The camera’s movement will “phase” Dani and Pelle in and out of each other, having them “touch” by overlapping them or even hiding one entirely behind the other, visually connecting them so completely that they are “one.” In this scene, the camera swings left and right as the riders talk, phasing Dani in and out of Pelle. When she makes her brainwashing joke, she is partially obscured by him, allowing us to see both his laugh and her pleased look in reaction to it before he subsumes her.

In this scene and the ones which immediately follow, Dani is also usually shot between Pelle and Christian, suspended between the man she clings to and the man who will hold her. [Excuse us a moment while we weep.] Of these two, Pelle is the one the camera chooses to overlap with Dani. This really picks up in the next scene, in the mushroom-trip meadow.

[Take a moment to appreciate Ingemar’s sublimely dorky expression here.]

Once Hårgans besides Pelle begin to appear, the degree to which Pelle has planned on bringing Dani all along becomes strongly apparent. A great deal of the Hårgans’ signature “empathetic communication” happens in both this scene and the ones following. At the point where Pelle and Father Odd greet each other for the first time (more on this in a future post), the original script includes this direction: (Note: throughout the film, the Hårgas will communicate little things through subtly modulated expressions and gestures. These are their AFFECTS, a language known only to them.) We mention it here because this scene is where these affects begin to come into play and first reveal the intense orchestration that has happened and is happening behind the scenes to bring Dani “home.”

First of all, when Ingemar repeats the names of the Americans he’s just been introduced to, he goes in order from his left to his right, except he skips over Dani and saves her for last, coyly saying her name as though unsure. (Pelle mouths her name along with Ingemar, with an adorable lean toward her.) When she confirms, the two cultboys exchange a swift but pointed look. The same happens when Ingemar introduces Connie. [We are of the opinion that Connie might have still been in the running to be included in the family, like Dani, at this point, but that’s a whole other receipts post.] Ingemar directs much of his drug-peddling to Dani (and Pelle takes a sly peek at her when this happens), and then while Dani waffles about taking the mushrooms, several of the Hårgans go still and observe, including one in the background (Valentin?) who goes completely motionless, an oddity that Josh actually notices. (Ingemar seems like he might be silently communicating with this Hårgan. Or staring sadly at Connie and Simon. Or both.) When Dani finally gives in, Ingemar only offers her the pleasanter-tasting mushroom tea. For an even more minute breakdown of this part of the scene, refer to this post.

This all adds up to the Hårgans, led by Pelle and Ingemar, being explicitly solicitous toward Dani in a way they are not toward the other guests. This is one of those scenes where the line between Dani/Pelle and Dani/Hårga gets blurred, not a lot of difference (at least the way we see it) between the Hårgans courting Dani to join them and Pelle courting Dani for himself. Bringing Dani into the family facilitates his romantic aspirations for her and vice versa. So Ingemar is both wingmanning for his brother and wingmanning for Hårga when he tries to comfort Dani when her trip turns bad: “Want to come meet your new family, I MEAN, my friends?”

Speaking of tripping, Pelle acts as Dani’s de facto spiritual shepherd before things go belly-up with her high. Since Mark lies down, only Pelle and Dani are sitting in the shot when Pelle begins talking (“Can you feel that? The energy?”) and that, combined with Dani’s reaction, makes it seem like he’s guiding her as she first notices the grass/roots growing through her body (a motif which will repeat during the maypole dance scene).

Finally, after Dani wakes up from her post-trip sleep, we get perhaps one of the most obvious moments of Dani/Pelle positioning and framing: As Dani asks where they’re going and Pelle replies, “Where we came for,” he literally steps into the scene between Dani and Christian as Christian helps her to her feet. Pied Piper Pelle comes between the couple and verbally beckons Dani to her (their) destiny.

 Perhaps the first truly straightforward evidence of Pelle’s romantic interest in Dani (which, as we will continue to explore, is very much tied in to his intention to incorporate her into his home community) occurs during the scene where Christian announces to his friends that Dani is coming to Sweden, and Dani and Pelle have their first solo interaction.

First, when Christian simply tells his friends that Dani is coming up to the apartment to join in their studying/sketching/weed-smoking group, Pelle glances up with a smile (the only one to look at all happy at the prospect of her presence). Pelle’s face while Christian admits he invited Dani to Sweden, however, is a symphony. He looks up sharply and freezes as Christian prevaricates about Dani “not actually coming,” literally holds his breath as Mark and Josh seek clarification, and then when Christian says “she accepted,” Pelle relaxes, drops his hovering sketchbook into his lap, and exhales as though in relief. Finally, when Christian informs his friends of the cover story he gave Dani–that they told him to invite her and they all know she is coming–Pelle agrees with a grin, “Yep.” A facetious acknowledgement of his real feelings, or perhaps an implication of some kind of influence on Pelle’s part, overt or covert? After all, the Americans are being hosted by Pelle’s family. It would be incredibly rude to invite another person without checking with Pelle first–or perhaps Christian already knew Pelle would be in favor of including Dani.

After Dani enters the apartment, we get even more potentially facetious truth-telling lines from Pelle. As he confirms with Dani, “You’re coming, right?” Dani replies, “I guess so, if that’s not completely ruining you guys’ plans,” and Pelle responds, “Not at all,” still the only one genuinely smiling. Indeed, if you accept that Pelle has planned on Dani coming to Sweden all along, this would in fact be the fulfillment of his plans. The next moment continues the mirror motif, as we see Christian hug Dani from behind in the reflection of the mirror above the couch, allowing us to see what Pelle sees and to see Pelle’s reaction to it–we are meant to pay attention to his perspective here. Dani and Christian’s embrace is out of focus, refracted, spotted with the dirt that’s on the mirror–the way Pelle sees them, in all their hazy wrongness. And sure enough, Pelle’s expression here turns dreamy and even a little creepily vacant as he gazes at the couple, as though he is mentally cutting Christian out of a photograph and putting himself in. If you buy into the Hårgan notion that Pelle has “unclouded intuition,” which might translate into some kind of precognition, you could interpret Pelle’s expression as him quite literally “seeing” what will ultimately happen between the three of them, now that it is affirmed that Dani is coming to Sweden.

Finally, when Mark peels Christian off to “look at a paragraph” (a transparent pretext to scold Christian about allowing Dani to wheedle her way into the trip), Pelle glares at Mark as though to say, Don’t fuck this up for me, you asshole. He even looks as though he may say something but then decides against it, and he sets Mark aside and brightens as Dani approaches.

So much for Pelle’s nonverbal giveaways and facetiously-revealing lines. Over the rest of the scene, we also see how Dani relates to Pelle, particularly what she is like one-on-one with him. Once Dani sits down, the camera gives us constant close-up POV shots between Dani and Pelle, intentionally creating a strong sense of connection. This will continue throughout the movie, with Dani and Pelle featured in close, communicating shots, one to the other and back. Compare this to the way Dani and Christian are often shot from a distance, even during charged moments, evoking their emotional alienation.

In fact, there are several scenes between Dani and Christian which are followed by mirrored scenes with Dani and Pelle, where the framing is in direct contrast. For instance, note the framing and lighting when Christian “holds” Dani in a moment of mourning…

It’s distant, alienated, disconnected (not to mention dark). Compare with the framing when Pelle “holds” Dani during a moment of mourning…

It’s close, tight, and, of course bright.

Here are some more resonant mirror scenes: Notice the contrast in the body language and the eye-lines, even when the shots are comparable.

If you looked at these gifs without any other context, knowing nothing of the story, which man would you guess is Dani’s boyfriend of four years?

Back in our original “couch scene,” the camera draws our attention to Pelle pointedly closing his sketchbook and putting it away, focusing totally on Dani. They are both awkward as they begin their conversation, suggesting they have not spoken to each other in a while. Pelle is so giddy (his “And you???” is pretty darn warm) that he stumbles into bringing up Dani’s tragedy in a way that doesn’t seem purposeful like it will later in the scene. “But AnonLady and Rimanez,” you say, “if Pelle has carried a torch for Dani all this time, how does he not even know that her field of study is psychology and not psychiatry?” And to that we say, “Of course he knows that her field of study is psychology, you fool, you absolute fool!” Seriously though, we presume that Pelle has known Dani for at least an entire school year at this point. It’s clear he hasn’t spent a lot of time with her post-tragedy, but it’s pretty egregious to not know this basic fact about your close friend’s longtime girlfriend. “Oh,” you say, “isn’t this just about obfuscating his intentions to lure her into a false sense of security, thus not tipping her off about future cult indoctrination?” And to that we say, “What would be suspicious about knowing her field of study? Also, Dani is already coming–Christian invited her, and she accepted. But do you let your crushes know the degree to which you’ve stalked learned about them?”

This fairly blatant misdirection on Pelle’s part may be what catches Josh’s attention. He watches Pelle and Dani’s awkwardness from under his brow as though making note–but why would he? Is there something unusual about this interaction? Something that might make Josh look as wary as he does? We could be spinning off into theoretical territory, but remember how we said we have reason to believe that there may have been some kind of interrupted, quasi-romantic spark that ignited between Pelle and Dani, pre-tragedy? Josh’s wariness here could be a callback to it. For instance, when Pelle attempts to draw Josh into the conversation, Josh actually looks to Dani first, before looking to Pelle–almost as though he is more interested in gauging Dani’s reaction to Pelle rather than responding to Pelle himself, which he does with wide-eyed, poignant silence. (Also, a perfect way to get an introvert to go away: Attempt to include him.)

Speaking of a potential interrupted Dani/Pelle pre-canon spark, we contend that Dani’s reactions to Pelle in this part of the scene show a lot of fondness for and familiarity with Pelle, especially after Josh removes himself. In general, most of the only times in this film we see an unreserved smile on Dani’s face, it’s when she is reacting to Pelle. The precedent is set here: When he wishes her an early happy birthday, Dani doesn’t merely smile but also giggles, raises her shoulders and wrinkles her nose, her voice cracking on her thanks. Her affect with him resembles behavior around a crush more than it does behavior with an acquaintance who doesn’t even know her field of study, suggesting that she is settling back into a dynamic that was established prior to her tragedy.

Pelle’s expression during this point in the conversation is as zany as we ever see him, all bug-eyed with excitement as he explains the “crazy nine-day festival.” He is still taking it in: Dani is coming! Also, Dani is here, and she is being all giggly with me! 

When they sit together on the couch and Pelle shows Dani photos of last year’s Midsommar, Pelle barely leans toward Dani as he’s showing her the photos on his phone, but she leans way in. This is perhaps a sneaky move on Pelle’s part–he doesn’t extend the phone toward her much at all, kinda making her do that deep lean toward him. Need we even bring up the warm glow and the barely-leashed smile on his face when he identifies last year’s May Queen for her? Like, please, people. If this look doesn’t spell, “Yes, my love, and guess who’s gonna be this year’s May Queen?” then let’s all just pack it up now. 

And, folks, the setting/scenery reinforces Pelle’s destiny-eyes that forecast not only Dani’s ascension to the status of May Queen but his own to Green Man/May King. This is only the first of several scenes in which Dani and Pelle are both “crowned” in the camera’s framing. First, the fern by the bookshelf gives Pelle a crown when he is seated on the couch when seen from Dani’s POV, foreshadowing the fern-and-laurel crown he will later wear. The (upside-down!) poster in the kitchen gives Dani a crown when she is seated on the couch from Pelle’s POV.

Isn’t it interesting how it is from each other’s POV that they are crowned? Further enforcing the Green Man angle, there is a drawing of a man-tree creature on the wall behind the couch stage left by Pelle, and there is also a photo of a woman sitting on a flower-bedecked throne further up and to the left on the wall behind Pelle. Finally, what color is Pelle wearing in this scene? Seafoam green. Many of these details and more are pointed out in this great post by @heylo35​.

Anyway, when Pelle says oh so softly that he’s “very, very happy” she’s coming, Dani graces him with another open-faced smile. Then… whoops, Pelle’s attempt to let her know that he is also (technically) an orphan misfires a bit, as it makes her flee to hide her tears. But nonetheless, the attempt is one which is very significant in this moment: Pelle is choosing now, minutes after he’s found out Dani is coming to Sweden, to try and connect with her over shared loss. The stops have been removed; Dani is coming home, so time to really start that empathetic intercourse (so to speak). As we know, he will later insist on talking with her about this, over her objections, in the “do you feel held” scene. He knows it will bond them. One could read this is a rather calculated move (and hey, Pelle is a calculating character), but to extrapolate from Vilhelm Blomgren’s words about how he played Pelle “with total love”: From Pelle’s perspective, an act which ensures Dani will come home is a loving act.

Big, huge Hårga hugs and thanks again to @daydreamers for expertise and editing on this post!

So. Runes. Specifically, the Elder Futhark runes, as Pelle tells Dani in the Director’s Cut, the “special little language” of the Hårgans. Throughout the film, runes are insinuated into basically every surface of Hårga and its people. So many tattoo opportunities, y’all. And it doesn’t even technically start in Sweden. Ari stuck a board featuring the whole Elder Futhark alphabet in Christian and Mark’s apartment. You can see it on the bookcase to Pelle’s right in the couch scenes. So, the film’s usage of the Elder Futhark is a deep, deep rabbit hole full of all the multivalent subtext we crave from this film, but they’re also absolutely blaring evidence for the Dani/Pelle ship. Throughout the film, like many of the background details we’ve discussed, the runes serve as a repetitive chorus of their fatedness for each other, but better still, the runes footnote the film’s ambiguous resolution as their genuine happy ending. So let’s dig in.

Dani has two main runes associated with her, Raidho and Dagaz, and they are both merkstave versions, that is backwards, lending them a negative reading. Oooooh, scary. Except negative readings aren’t necessarily negative either. All runic readings are subjective and contextual, which is why we decided to talk about these last. Let’s not forget that Dani begins the movie at the bottom of an emotional well.

Raidho, literally ride or wheel, refers to a journey. Yeah, Dani’s on one of those, seems legit. This is the only rune that Ari takes care to point out the meaning of within the film itself, when the elder Arne shows the Rubi Radr to Josh, pointing to Raidho on its side and telling him that that one stands for grief. Grief is a legitimate reading of Raidho merkstave, so let’s just take that interpretation at Arne’s word and combine it with Dagaz, Dani’s second rune. 

Dagaz is the last rune in the Elder Futhark, and it means day, symbolizing accomplishment, fulfillment, and new beginnings. As a symmetrical rune, it’s questionable whether it can be merkstave, but Dani’s Dagaz rune (technically runes, as she also has them on her shoes) does lie in opposition. Its negative reading in that case would be hopelessness, blindness, or cataclysmic change. Not fairytale stuff, right?

But Raidho and Dagaz appear together on Pelle’s drawing and on Dani’s dress. Also note that runic inscriptions are read right to left, and the tapestry of the “little love story” is an in-film clue to that reading order. With that in mind, together Raidho merkstave and Dagaz merkstave tell of a big change, even an ending, yes, but an ending to Dani’s grief, and that is what her journey in this film describes. Here, two “negative” readings equal out to a positive in the sense of Dani’s ultimate growth and transcendence. But wait, there’s more.

You will notice the runes on the Hårgans’ clothing, of course, as though they are their personal cult cutie marks, but the embroidered runes are often surrounded by other symbols, esoteric symbols and more complex runic talismans, which deepen the reading of the central rune, like footnotes. In Dani’s dress example, Raidho and Dagaz are flanked by merkstaved Tiwaz runes, with sun symbols above and below. Tiwaz (literally “the god Tyr,” the god of law and justice) is one of the runes featured on Christian’s robe during the sex ritual, and it describes justice, honor, authority, self-sacrifice. Its merkstave meaning then reads as conflict, imbalance, lack of communication…separation. And so, in the specific context of the dance competition, while Dani’s main runes shown in Pelle’s drawing forecast (or possibly straight-up spellcast, depending on your interpretation) an end to her grief, the more complex version she wears for the dance tells of that happening through a conflict and a break…but the sun will come out tomorrow, tomorrow. It is a new dawn for Dani as the May Queen.

Her shoes, which we only see during the dance, are more complicated. First, the embroidery is done in faded red thread, and we know that red appears very selectively on Hårgan garments. Siv wears a ton of red throughout the festival. Maja and Inga also wear striking red additions to their costumes at the Fire Temple ceremony. Ingemar has a single red button on his waistcoat. So red may convey authority, fertility, sacrifice, or even be a brand of shame, but it always seems to mean something.

As for the symbols on her shoes, again we see the merkstave-ish Dagaz rune, but it is alone in the center, no Raidho. So we’re looking at a big change or an ending again. Instead of suns, we have snowflakes, recalling the Spoiler Tapestry in the beginning, the way it began in frosty dark death skullhead weather and ends in summer dinner and dancing beneath the scariest sun since Teletubbies. To the right, we have a bind of three Tiwaz runes, and to the left, we have an Ingwaz (seed) rune, combined with a merkstave Kenaz. The triple Tiwaz is a victory rune, taken from an Old Norse poem where a Valkyrie was woken from her slumber. Three is a holy number, and that’s definitely something we know the 9-multiple-loving Hårgans pay attention to. This rune means the sleeper Dani is about to be awoken through a victory. Meanwhile the Ingwaz rune refers to coming into harmony and reaching potential. It’s also a fertility rune. Kenaz (torch) is a rune that normally describes transformation, knowledge, and the harnessing of light; merkstave, it speaks to darkness, lack of illumination and a relationship breakdown. Taken together, reading right to left, Dani’s shoes basically say: there will be a great change where she will be awoken from her slumber through a victory, she will have a breakup and/or her illusions will be shattered, but that will bring her ultimately into harmony, and there is the added implication of her fertility, bolstered by the red thread, being part of this. THAT IS ON HER SHOES. 

For what it’s worth, you will also notice Hanna wearing Dagaz in opposition, like Dani, and the elder Sten wears a merkstave Raidho, in yellow no less. You can peep merkstave Raidho and Dagaz elements on the temple doors, too. So even if you eschew our deep dive here, these runes cannot be looked at superficially, as merkstave = bad = Dani doom. If Dani’s doomed, so is Sten and Hanna and the whole damn Hårga, and you may think that, but it’s not terribly likely they’d write it on themselves, is it? Sten doesn’t look doomed to us. Sten looks quite jolly, actually.

OK, time to obsess on Pelle. Pelle has one rune on his Hårgan tunic that he wears for the majority of the film, Fehu, and this seems more straightforward. Fehu means wealth, specifically mobile wealth, specifically cattle. As we mentioned earlier: moo, Dani; moo, sacrifices. And since Pelle’s the one bringing new blood and their new queen, the association of Pelle with prosperity is quite fitting. Add to that the way Fehu and Raidho tend to pop up all over the village, particularly on the maypole. The maypole combination of Raidho (not merkstave) and Fehu speaks to the way the Hårgans believe the dance around the maypole enacts (and reenacts) a ceremony that brings them prosperity, and having Dani and Pelle as Raidho Barbie and Fehu Ken is just kind of perfect in that light.

Pelle’s Fehu is surrounded by four symbols. Let’s have a crack at those, too. First we have what looks like a closed eye up top. At the bottom, we have a cross. The cross is not actually a cross; it’s a combination of four Isa (ice) runes, and we know this because there are four dots arranged around them, telling us, hey, these are four symbols not one. Then to the right, we have another talisman that looks like a crucified diamond with five dots. Again, the dots mean that these are individual runes drawn as one symbol as a kind of shorthand, so this symbol is actually Ingwaz again, quartered by four Isa runes. Finally, to the left, there is another Isa rune crossing a Tiwaz, and the absence of dots here means that they are a bind, or they are meant to be read as one thing (or are a spell for one thing).

The closed eye symbol is a bit of a guess here; it might represent Pelle’s unclouded intuition or maybe, in view of Dani’s suns and the association of Raidho with the summer solstice, it is meant to symbolize Fehu’s complementary association with the winter solstice. We prefer the association with his intuition given the events of the film. But what about the other symbols? Isa is a rune that describes the self or the ego. On the positive side, it is about will and focus, but on the other side, it is everything bad about ice: rigidity, blindness and self-preoccupation, being frozen. Again, symmetrical runes like Isa don’t merkstave, but they can lie in opposition, and so we have two pairs of Isa indicating, at the right, self-fulfillment, with the added implication of fertility, and coming into unity with the family after the will breaks through the metaphorical ice. At the bottom it is the same reading, only without Ingwaz. Will and self-control overcomes lassitude. And then again, one last time, Tiwaz crossed with Isa, read as one thing, not a series like the previous shorthand symbols, invoking justice and male energy to, again, break through the metaphorical ice. Taken together, it’s a formula for Pelle and the family’s triumph. Governed by his unclouded intuition, Pelle’s will overcomes that of his four differently-blind friends, bringing new blood and justice and unity with the family for the betterment of all, and the two breaks in the rightmost configuration carry the added implication of Pelle bringing into the family Christian’s and Dani’s new blood.

Finally, as discussed briefly in posts 10 and 11, Pelle changes his shirt on the morning of the dance competition, swapping Fehu for Wunjo (joy). There do appear to be a couple flanking symbols on this shirt, too, but we never get close enough to see, so we’ll just have to go with Wunjo’s face value. Again, this is the rune that emphasizes harmony, family, and the art of correct wishing, i.e. wanting (and getting) what is good for you. Pelle wearing Wunjo when he kisses Dani is a sign that he, the anti-Christian if you will, is her wish come true. This choice is not only incredibly positive for his relationship with Dani, but illustrative that there is a difference between Dani/Pelle and Dani/Hårga by virtue of the fact that he changes back into the Fehu shirt for the Fire Temple ceremony. Insofar as Dani is part of the family after the ceremony, the prosperity spelled on his Fehu-emblazoned tunic applies to her, too, but the Wunjo shirt is for her and for her victory…and his victory over Christian for her sake. The implication is that their story will not simply end with Dani assimilated into Hårga. They have special, personal significance for each other. While the ending shots of the film are a little ambiguous, the runes promise the May Queen and her consort are going to be just fine, y’all.

Again, would you like to see our fanfics?

Of course, there’s tons more to explore in the film that doesn’t speak specifically to Dani and Pelle’s love story, and even while we compiled this list, we were continually noticing and discovering the significance of new things. There’s no reason to think that will stop just because we’ve posted the Receipts. Still, we hope that you will enjoy the evidence we have compiled here for not only the legitimacy of the Dani/Pelle ship, but its promise of a happy ending for the OTP because, by Ari’s own admission, for better or worse, Midsommar is a wish fulfillment fantasy.

For more, click on The Pelle/Dani Receipts Masterpost

The last lap of the film is the culmination of two separate tracks: one, Dani breaking with Christian, coming to terms with her grief, and sloughing off her old life, and two, Dani being embraced by her new family and, with that final, slightly-mad smile, finding joy with them. Much as in the “Do you feel held by him?” scene, Ari masterfully keeps the final scenes of Midsommar walking that tightrope between validating the Pelle/Dani romance and minimizing it in order to center Dani’s broader character arc and story, and to that end, he doesn’t even wobble. Still, he can’t get out of this without some explicit (though not explicit) mushy stuff for the OTP, and that, of course, is why we’re here.

We already mentioned the dance competition in the context of Pelle and Team Hårga winnowing Christian real good so he can be Maja’s baby daddy, but this is yet another opportunity for Pelle to demonstrate to Dani the contrast between him and Christian. As Dani begins to dance, Pelle is right up front, attentively, patiently, smilingly watching. She has every bit of his attention and support. Meanwhile, Christian stumbles into the audience late, burdened and internally roiling after his meeting with Siv. 

Now, we don’t know how Christian ultimately answered the Matriarch when she asked if he would mate with Maja. Ari, the imp, cuts away. Not to taint our favorite scene with comparison, but very like Dani’s protests in “Do you feel held by him?” Christian’s evasions, more pronounced in the Director’s Cut (“I’m here with somebody,” “We haven’t even talked.”) are frail, toothless things against the truth joined with temptation. He doesn’t love Dani. And he does want Maja. By the time he comes to watch the dance competition, Dani dancing is the furthest thing from Christian’s mind, even though betraying her is the crux of his dilemma.

And do please remember that Siv proposes this ritual snuggling to Christian as something Dani will not know about, so he really is contemplating betraying her, as opposed to what Pelle suggests to Dani. 

This is the contrast that waits for Dani during a break in the dance. Pelle smiles at her flirtatiously, even proudly, and silently applauds–totally here for you, Dani–while Christian is literally looking the other direction, back towards where Maja–oops, I got myself eliminated, teehee!–has taken her seat. During the dance, Dani is, yes, tripping balls and speaking gibberish, but she is still having the best time ever. So, initially exhilarated, Dani wilts the moment she sees Christian, and if we were going to argue that Dani doesn’t reciprocate Pelle’s feelings, the visible heartbreak on her face here would be Exhibit A. Except people are more complicated than that. Relationships are more complicated than that. Dani is definitely more complicated than that. Letting go still can hurt long after you know it’s over.

All that being said, even the most complicated relationship stuff can get simple real quick with a grand, unambiguously romantic gesture, and as Dani is crowned May Queen, finally, finally, finally, we get one. No evasions, no apophasis. Stunned, still kind of high, Dani’s new family washes her away in a tide of congratulations. Odd welcomes her home again, in Swedish this time, and it’s just a lovebomb lovefest all the way down. The only ones who don’t hug and/or paw at Dani are hallucinations (or are they) of her parents in Hårgan garb, her mom laying one surrendering caress on Dani’s shoulder as she passes by, and, of course, Christian, poor dope, standing by the maypole, looking every bit as alone and lost as Dani probably has felt up to this point. The Fire Temple is a ways off, but he will never again be allowed close to her. They are over.

At the end of the procession, for maximum dramatic effect, Dani’s happy Hårgan sisters tilt her toward OHAI PELLE. As Pelle bends down to her, initially he appears to be in supportive friend mode, (“My God, Dani! May Queen!”), but then he just sweeps Dani up in a kiss that isn’t long enough to stop the ceremony, but just long enough to be undeniably romantic. In the script, the kiss is actually described as a “blunt, passionate kiss.” While so much of the Pelle/Dani ship is not scripted, here it is plain: Pelle, now wearing the Wunjo rune, is Dani’s wish for an understanding, loving partner come true, and for the minute she can be spared from the procession, he is kissing her for all he’s worth. Let’s just watch this on a loop for a while.

This is the moment that has launched several thousand “Did Pelle like Dani?” Google searches, and it looks like a freaking wedding because it kind of is. Look at all the Hårgans bursting with happiness, not just for Dani, but for them. We are all Hårgans because all Hårgans are clearly Pelle/Dani shippers. (Okay, there’s something going on with Inga, but that’s a different analysis post.) Dagny in particular looks like she’s going to cry. My sweet brother birthmate found him a newblood and they are the cutest. Both Pelle and Dani are in full Hårgan dress for this kiss, as though their relationship always had to be consummated with Dani fully planted in the fifth panel of the spoiler tapestry. Also note that the pink flower in Dani’s crown reflects her heartbeat. Notice how it speeds right on up while she’s in Pelle’s arms. At this point, Dani might yet equivocate–not that she’s very equivocal in the moment–but crown flowers don’t lie.

Christian probably doesn’t see this moment. In addition to succumbing to “the tea with special properties,” he’s watching from the maypole, and Dani and Pelle would have been obscured from that vantage by a few dozen white-clad bodies. But if he cared enough about Dani to celebrate her triumph instead of blankly witness it, if he had been able to refuse the tea…but then, if he cared that much, we wouldn’t have had a movie.

Once Pelle surrenders Dani, the happiest and proudest of all possible soft cult boys, she’s urged toward a litter in the shape of the sun and lifted high off the ground. The Hårgans serenade their queen in a procession to the dinner table, Pelle prominent among them, his hands arranged in a cradling gesture previously seen when the Hårgans burned Dan’s body. This is an assumption, but it seems a fair one, that the gesture conveys Pelle bearing Dani’s spirit, even if he’s not one of those physically carrying her litter. In the wide shot, you will notice they are sailing Dani right past an image of Terri hidden in the trees. In this scene, Dani is very literally leaving her birth family and Christian behind. When Dani takes her throne at the head of the mirrored banquet table, Pelle will placidly sketch the moment, and as previously mentioned, we’ll see him reflected in the table surface, indicating how he’s still plotting even in that idyllic moment which would seem to be the culmination of all his hopes and dreams. After all, Christian’s still breathing.

Sadly, this concludes the dramatized Dani/Pelle content. We know. We’re sad, too. In the major scenes around the kiss itself–the serenade, the photograph, the dinner after her crowning–Pelle is near Dani, but not next to Dani. No more close communicating reaction shots. We can see Pelle enthusiastically toast Dani at the dinner table, and she seems to trade a sly, flirty smile with him immediately afterward, but that’s it. We can’t even see Pelle’s reaction when Dani gags on the pickled herring. In the final ceremony, Pelle’s crowned, too, just as the movie has been promising all along, but he and Dani don’t share the stage or even a single shot. Blocking and camerawork, so suggestive of their love story up to the point Pelle lays a good ‘un on her, suddenly becomes a blue-nosed chaperone. But consider what the film would be like, what it would have to become, otherwise. Midsommar isn’t primarily a romance anymore than it’s primarily a horror movie. Nope, it’s not a horror movie either, not really. It’s Dani’s story; it just happens to have smooches and blood eagles in it. So the kiss is a great moment, but it’s going to have to last you. (Hey, would you like to see our fanfics?) 

Green Man/May King or not, it would appear there’s more post-canon wooing for Mr. Pelle to do (though Ari has confirmed more than once that Pelle has an excellent chance with Dani, wink.) The script specifies that Pelle is one of the Hårgans that bears Dani’s throne to scoop her up after she stumbles in her May Queen raiment before the film’s final shot, but like so much Dani/Pelle content in the script, that doesn’t actually end up on film. The last we see of Pelle, he’s on his knees scream/crying as the Fire Temple burns, and the last we see of Dani…well, the last we see of Dani is the final, iconic shot of the film. Insane? Eh, maybe. She’s synced up with her new family and having her unholy affekts burned away. Probably should check back later for that one. Happy? Definitely. Ever after? Sure looks like. And why not? Girl got her wish.

Oh, but there’s one more topic we have not quite explored. The writing on the wall. And the ceilings and the tapestries and the clothes and the footwear and the decorative flourishes and the furniture and the tables and plinths and the…

After the Ättestupa, stuff moves very, very quickly. Team Hårga ASSEMBLE. Dani has been broken down both by witnessing a gruesome senicide and being forced to look into Pelle’s earnest blue eyes and confront that not only does Christian not love her, but maybe, just maaaaaaybe, she might could love somebody else. Christian is being broken down both by contending with Josh for his mcguffin thesis and being seduced by a cute underage redhead (SO GROSS CHRISTIAN YOU HAVEN’T EVEN TALKED). Plus Simon and Connie, by virtue of completely flipping out and demanding to leave after the Ättestupa, have unwittingly nominated themselves to be off(er)ed first. Once newbloods start disappearing, they disappear at a pretty rapid clip.

Simon and Connie’s disappearances, and Christian’s shrugging indifference to both, trigger Dani big time, as she confronts both how self-absorbed Christian is and how little credit he gives Dani’s thoughts. At lunch, after an upset Connie vanishes, Dani is, as usual, seated between Christian and Pelle. As the scene opens, Dani’s back is to Christian and we can’t even see her face because she is looking into Pelle’s smiling eyes. For several seconds. They’re not talking. Just…looking. Like you do. With your buddy what was holding you on your bed and telling you how you deserved better than Christian. And this is the first time we see them since Ari’s impish smash cut from Dani hesitating on the verge of something to Dan’s crushed head.

Dani does eventually ask after Connie, prompting Jarl to give her the super believable official story that she was driven to the train station. Sure, Jarl. And Dani is still having a hard time buying that Simon would just leave without Connie. Especially in the Director’s Cut, we see how Dani notices how devoted they are to each other. But Christian is dismissive, and Dani goes cold. “I could see you possibly doing that,” she says. YASSSS QUEEN. She’s looking straight ahead, jaw set and eyes flinty, as Christian asks her, “What that’s supposed to mean?” She doesn’t answer and Christian should be grateful because the energy is very FIGHT FIGHT FIGHT FIGHT. As it is, we just see Pelle notice and quickly look away, hiding a spreading smile that is practically another hit of the sunshine motif. Meanwhile, Mark is lured away by Inga, a different kind of fool for love.

Simon, Connie, and Mark down; who’s next? Josh! Thesis Goggles strapped on tight, Josh sneaks into the temple to take pictures of the Rubi Radr and is summarily dispatched by an unknown Hårgan male. (2000 quatloos on Ingemar.) We do get a little gratuitous Pelle shirt changing the next morning (which Dani notices and quickly looks away from), and that’s important, but not as a hint that Pelle killed Josh. To begin with, there’s a bunch of reasons Pelle is unlikely to have killed Josh, not least of which our theory about why he isn’t sacrificed at the end: a) We see Pelle in bed when Josh sneaks out, b) even assuming there’s a secret door, Pelle really would have had to book it to get in there behind Josh and we see Josh make it to the temple without any indication of being followed, and c) assuming Pelle was involved in murdering or butchering Josh, we think he probably would have brought a spare shirt. Come on. He did the cake thing.

Pelle changing his shirt is not just eye candy/misdirection though. It’s actually a clever direction from Ari. If you notice, from this point until the Fire Temple ceremony, Pelle is wearing a different shirt with a different rune, Wunjo in black thread, NOT Fehu in blue. We will get more into this in Post Twelve, but Wunjo (”joy”) is an incredibly positive rune that represents everything we know Dani craves: joy, perfection, harmony, overcoming alienation, kinship and family. It literally describes positive, healthy wishes coming true. Pelle wearing this rune on the day Dani wins the dance competition and he kisses her is incredibly significant and indicates not just his intentions, but it shades the meanings of Dani’s runes as well. He is practically wearing a nametag that says, Hi, my name is Dani’s True Love.

At breakfast, Christian is icy about Josh, butthurt that Josh isn’t letting him steal his thesis with good humor, and Elder Sten announces the Rubi Radr is missing. Pelle, as usual, sneaks a look at Dani, presumably to see whether she’s buying it. The real Pelle/Dani content comes afterward, when Sten and Arne question them about Josh and Mark’s whereabouts and make insinuations about the missing Rubi Radr. (Everyone just step back and consider for a second this is all really for Dani’s benefit. While Christian’s [sort of] consent clearly is important, they could have drugged him and gotten what they wanted from him at any point here. Dani is the one they want for keeps, and all these elaborate ruses only further isolate Dani from Christian and cushion her absorption into the family.) Everybody just…sort of assumes Mark is snuggling Inga still, I guess, but Christian cannot sell out Josh fast enough, and Dani and Pelle both look at him with undisguised revulsion. Meanwhile, Pelle does take responsibility for his missing friends and the missing holy text, and thus Odd magically appears (Pelle might be fidgeting his fingers or he might be affekting a secret message to Arne during this scene, too) and he’s given leave to go…look for them. [shifty eyes] 

It’s much like the birthday plot. Pelle gives Christian an opportunity to basically be himself, which makes Pelle doing the right thing, even something as simple and baseline human as not immediately forsaking your friend, a total repudiation.

Speaking of Christian being himself, while we don’t believe Pelle killed anyone, he’s laser focused on helping Christian get himself sacrificed. He takes every chance to stoke Christian’s most selfish impulses from his very first line, and more than that, he really seems to enjoy Christian’s fall. Again, Ari Aster doesn’t make many things in this film simple and plain, but Pelle’s delight in Christian’s corruption is one of those things. We already talked about the smirking in the Director’s Cut version of the car scene and the birthday setup, but once the plots start spinning, we get so much more. 

First, Pelle encourages Christian to think of Maja sexually by teasing him about her “taking a liking” to him and informing him she is of the age of consent. His affect is so permissive and tempting, as though Dani doesn’t exist and Pelle is only being his wingman, and when Christian replies “Good for her” a little too grumpily, we know Pelle’s aim was true. Pelle visibly savors Christian’s predicament. And he’s aware of every bit of the spellcasting on Maja’s end. When Christian eats and drinks the pie and beverage with (ahem) a little love story added by Maja, Pelle restrains a smile and a laugh. (This is the same lunch scene where Dani snipes at Christian, so he must have been high-fiving Ingemar behind the chicken coop afterward.) Later, Pelle smirks and watches from the corner of his eye as Ulla tempts Christian with special tea during the dance competition. This scene is particularly loaded in the Director’s Cut, where Siv has made it explicit to Christian that Pelle showed Maja his picture prior to their arrival in Hårga. Yet when Christian takes a seat next to Pelle, he says nothing, knowing everything, and neither does Pelle. The masks are all but off. Christian knows what he’s going to do, and he’s ashamed; Pelle knows what Christian is going to do, and he’s triumphant.

And most sexily damningly, when Christian succumbs to a nice puff of paralysis powder courtesy of Father Odd, we see (and Christian sees) Pelle peep in through the chicken coop door. In the script, Pelle is described as looking away in shame, but that’s definitely not the Pelle we have on film. Film Pelle is HERE FOR IT. Film Pelle is gloating. And we think he really wants Christian to know it was him in the end, not out in front, but behind the scenes. While one could look at all of this as a refutation of Vilhelm Blomgren’s emphasis in interviews that Pelle is full of love or proof positive that Pelle is actually a (gasp) villain, consider that, flashes of annoyance at Mark aside, he doesn’t show that kind of animosity toward the others. Mark is willfully ignorant and gross; Josh is disrespectful in the sense that he wants to mine Hårga for his own gratification and ambition. But Christian is the only one he clearly delights in destroying, and that destruction is consonant with his love. Because of Dani. Soft, love-filled Hårgan boy loves Dani enough to hate someone for her sake, and that is a fucked-up wish fulfillment fantasy, make no mistake, but…it is still a very valid and common and powerful wish-fulfillment fantasy. That chicken coop smirk is, at its core, just as much an act of love as the birthday sketch. Dani is one of his family. He will lure his friends to their deaths for all of them, but he will scheme Christian to death just for her.

What? Just because it’s unhealthy doesn’t make it less true.

[tents fingers]

Now, Pelle finally has Dani all to himself. Yessssss. And he wastes exactly NO TIME passing to her an unfolded piece of paper he’s been keeping tucked away, with a nose scrunch (I’m sorry, it’s adorable) and a soft, surprise “Hey. Happy birthday.” Yes, Dani, someone remembered. Actually, someone spent a good deal of time carefully drawing a beautifully realized pencil portrait of you, complete with a flower crown and runes. Someone has been thinking about you kind of a lot, girlfriend of someone’s friend. How do you think he drew that? From memory? Do you think he has pictures of you? Anyway, Dani is thrilled and surprised and just so happy, which is also kind of telling. Real talk: he has effectively cornered her and privately given her a fairly personal gift, which he will encourage her to keep secret (more on that in a second). If she weren’t receptive, it could be creepy or at least awkward. If she weren’t into it, can you imagine how weird the rest of the festival could be? And this is the first day. But you are into it, aren’t you, Dani?

“It’s just something I do for birthdays,” Pelle smiles, and then he hesitates, as though the thought has just occurred to him. “Maybe it’s not appropriate?” Okay, Pelle, sweetie, forgiving the fact that were you actually concerned about whether it was appropriate to give her this, you probably would have mentioned it to Christian and/or not taken scrupulous care to give it to her on the downlow, why wouldn’t it be appropriate to give this gift? Because it could be construed as romantic, of course. Because it is pretty darn romantic. This is how I see you, Dani. But in asking Dani whether it’s appropriate, master manipulator Pelle is using the rhetorical device of apophasis, suggesting something by not suggesting it, basically, “Here’s a romantic thing, Dani. Do you mind? It’s not romantic.” SURE, PELLE. And then he suggests that they keep it “just between us.” Okay, Pelle, so if it’s an appropriate gift, offered purely in the spirit of friendship, no big, you’d do it for Ingemar or Josh, why keep it secret? His rhetorical moves here swing from denial to affirmation, throwing out mixed signals like a motherfucker to both assure Dani of his feelings and continue to provide plausible deniability. 

But then, Dani gamely accepts his terms, agreeing to keep the portrait between them…like that’s no big deal. Consider for a moment what is implicit there. Christian can’t know. Why can’t Christian know? Is it because Christian is unusually jealous? There’s no evidence of that; he just left his girl alone with Pelle. It’s because this is the first (that we know of) exchange in an emotional affair, and while Pelle has given her plenty of plausible deniability, Dani isn’t even tentative about it. Yes, this is our secret. Remember how happy she was talking to Pelle on the couch in New York.

Then Dani, smiling as genuinely as she only does for Pelle, confides in him that Christian forgot anyway. So, not only does she alleviate Pelle of any suggestion of inappropriateness–which is less accepting that it isn’t a romantic gift and more that she tacitly accepts the gift with all its implications–she directly compares Pelle remembering her birthday to Christian forgetting it. This moment gets glossed over in favor of Pelle’s much more overt seduction of Dani, but please notice: Dani is comfortable with admitting something that personal about her relationship with Christian to Pelle. If he were just an acquaintance, if he were closer to Christian than Dani, why would she tell him that? It would be embarrassing to her and awkward for him as Christian’s buddy. Exact words: “Christian forgot anyway so this [portrait] is amazing.” Christian forgot, you remembered, 1 point to Team Hårga. Not to mention telegraphing your relationship woes to a man who just gave you a romantic gift is a considerably less subtle signal than Pelle’s apophasis. We’re not suggesting that Dani is unambiguously, consciously, deliberately lighting her signal fire for Pelle here…but witness. The signal fire done got lit. 

One more important bit about this scene. As we will point out over and over, Dani mirrors Pelle and the other Hårgans a lot, but also notice that when Dani shares that Christian forgot, Pelle perfectly mirrors Dani’s stunned/upset “oh” when he failed to condole her on the couch in New York. Like her “oh,” Pelle’s clunks loudly to the floor between them, interrupting their whole ambiguously flirty groove, but, for Dani/Christian severance purposes, it’s important he does this. Constitutionally empathetic as he is, Pelle could easily buffer the awkwardness of the moment, but he doesn’t. He doesn’t do anything to help Dani rationalize Christian forgetting. He simply reflects back to her discomfort and shock that Christian could be so callous of her feelings, leaving Dani to inadequately flail for excuses. In the end, she can’t excuse him, and so she re-ups her appreciation for Pelle’s gift once again, but she will leave that scene not only knowing Pelle cares, but having been forced to acknowledge, if only to herself, that Christian apparently doesn’t. Nice work, Mr. Pelle.

But Pelle is not done. Not our soft sweet cultboy. Skipping ahead to Pelle showing everyone the Youth House, he takes Christian aside at his first opportunity. We aren’t privy to a lot of his conversation, as the camera follows Dani to the wall of portraits of the May Queens, but we do catch the very end, up close and out of focus, as Dani also seems to key in on their talking covertly. Christian is aghast, as Pelle is telling him that he has forgotten Dani’s birthday. He asks Pelle if Dani said anything. And this is when Pelle tells one of his very few direct lies in all of Midsommar, assuring Christian that Dani didn’t mention it. This is important. Ari Aster blurs a lot of what Pelle knows when, but he wants us to know something unambiguously here, a rarity for this film: this isn’t a kindness gone awry. Pelle is setting Christian up. [grabs megaphone] PELLE IS SETTING CHRISTIAN UP. When Dani interrupts them with a question, Pelle nods and gestures significantly toward the bed before joining her, showing Christian something we can’t see.

As Pelle explains the May Queen dance competition, Christian gathers himself and then he asks Dani if she can join him outside, hiding something behind his back. Cue off-key happy birthday serenade and Christian trying to light a candle with a bad lighter. The cake, candle, and lighter could only have been provided by Pelle. That is presumably what he’s pointing out to Christian on the bed before he moves over to Dani by the May Queen photographs. It’s orchestrated to be obvious to Dani that Pelle is the real person behind the gesture, because Christian would have had no opportunity to arrange it. And of course, she saw them talking right before. After Pelle’s thoughtfulness, it will be obvious to her, and Pelle’s cover-story of arranging this to save Christian’s forgetful hide just makes it all the more apparent that he forgot. So Pelle might look like he tried to be a good friend to Christian, but he’s clearly presenting himself as a much better friend, maybe more, to Dani. 

We also headcanon that Pelle made the lighter intentionally bad by emptying most of the fluid, thus making Christian’s insincere gesture all the shittier. The fact that he has to flounder with the bad lighter just underlines that he hasn’t prepared at all. Meanwhile, in the background, several Hårgan women sway and soothe a baby, foreshadowing the way Dani will be comforted when Christian betrays her in the Maja impregnating ritual.

Dani and the others emerge from the big yellow yonic sun gate and are greeted by several Hårgan youth who relieve them of their bags (and I’m TOTALLY SURE don’t rifle through them) while Pelle runs off camera. He returns shortly thereafter to introduce his sister Dagny, “born the exact same day as me.” 

There are a couple interesting things about this introduction. Number one, the way Pelle emphasizes her birthday underlines how “sister” does not necessarily mean a blood sibling to Pelle. If Dagny were his blood sister and born the exact same day as Pelle, she would be his twin. This is the first time that loose familial usage is really obvious since, well, Ingemar could have easily passed for Pelle’s blood brother. Number two, it calls attention again to birthdays (and it is Dani’s birthday at this point, forgotten as far as she knows) and how astrology (or runeology) is important to the Hårgans. Number three, their shared birthday clearly makes Dagny special to Pelle, and so his choice to introduce his American friends to Dagny first takes additional significance. Not to mention Dagny and Dani are oddly similar names, as discussed in this post. And as Pelle does his introduction spiel, Dagny takes the opportunity to sneak a direct look at Dani, appearing to recognize her.

Dani endears herself to Dagny immediately, as she does to the broader Hårgan community throughout the film. When Dagny welcomes them to Hårga in Swedish, Dani replies with the Swedish word for thank you, tack. Pelle scrunched-nose GLOWS, nods encouragingly/proudly at Dani, and exchanges a look with Dagny that says nothing so much as “Isn’t she the best?” “Yep, you got a keeper, brother.” And then Dagny abruptly bids them farewell without engaging with the others or saying anything else, as if the entire point was just for her to get a good look at Dani.

Next, Pelle runs ahead of the others to greet Father Odd. This is a particularly fervent, sustained embrace between the two men, even more emotional than Pelle’s reunion with Ingemar, with Odd’s face revealing every bit of a parent’s fierce relief at the safe return of a beloved child. As Pelle remembers himself and pulls free, Odd gets a full view of the Americans approaching before/while Pelle is introducing them. He ZEROES IN immediately on Dani, clearly recognizing her before Pelle identifies her, and after his bulging eyes fit back into his skull, Odd says softly to himself, “Wow.” This might apply to the entire group or maybe seeing Josh, one of three persons of color in the whole of Hårga, but it also might just be Odd processing seeing Dani in real life. Odd warmly greets each of the Americans with handshakes and individual welcomes, but for Dani alone, he reserves a hug and “welcome home.” (Note that after Dani is crowned May Queen, Odd will tell her “welcome home” again, but this time in Swedish.) He follows this with “we are so happy to have you,” directed specifically at her, until Odd lamely tries to cover by awkwardly piling on more effusive welcomes and excusing himself.

During the entire scene with Odd talking to the Americans, Pelle’s face is frequently blocked in the camera shot by Dani; they are, again, overlapping. But we can see him from the eyebrows up, making it clear that he’s looking pretty directly and unashamedly at Dani much of the time. Once they arrive in Hårga, Pelle puts little effort into concealing his many stolen glances at her.

Our next scene is only included in the Director’s Cut version of the film, but it’s a good one for general Hårga mood/wholesomeness and Pelle/Dani substance. Everyone settles down in the shadow of the maypole for a little thanksgiving, uncanny vocal harmonizing, and a picnic, seated on the ground in the configuration of the rune Raidho. Again, we will get into the runes in more detail later, but it’s worth noting here that Raidho, meaning “wheel” or journey, is one of Dani’s runes, albeit merkstaved or reversed. Raidho is also one of two runes featured on the maypole itself, along with Fehu, which Pelle just happens to wear. (Sten, the Hårgan Elder who leads with the thanksgiving song during this scene, is also wearing a merkstaved Raidho stitched in yellow, but don’t get AnonLady started on her absurd Dani/Pelle are the new Siv/Sten headcanon no one wants.)

Dani is, as usual, seated between Pelle and Christian on mats that have been laid out in lieu of a table. From the aerial shot, we see that not only is Dani next to Pelle, but she and Pelle are actually sitting on the same mat, and that mat is yellow. (To be fair, Josh, who is also always next to his primary source Pelle, is half on that mat, too. Of course, of all the other newbloods, Josh is the one who comes closest after Dani to respecting Hårga, so we could torture some meaning out of that, too.) Pelle points out the fire pit to Dani, a prime example of Pelle’s tendency to explain Hårgan ways toward Dani. “It’s all our jobs to keep it burning,” he tells her, leaning in, and when Josh–the one whose thesis was supposedly the impetus for the trip–asks him to repeat himself, Pelle brushes him off. “I’ll tell you later.” Note this particular line, not unlike Pelle’s later explanation of life being like the seasons, has morbid subtext, because we will eventually see how Dan and Ylva’s bodies are cremated in the fire pit. One day, it will be Dani and Pelle’s turn to keep it burning that way, too.

After the picnic, Pelle’s group sits on the lawn and hangs out with Ingemar and his guests, watching everyone folk dancing while Hårgan kids romp in a game Ingemar tells them is called Skin the Fool. [rictus smile] 

We first see everyone from Maja’s perspective, as she exits the Youth House, all set for her Christian mission, as it were, and the blocking is significant. At this point, Simon is off-camera, so not only is Christian centered in Maja’s POV, but we have Connie and Ingemar grouped on one end, with Pelle and Dani on the other. The first thing you might notice, other than Maja’s Christian-splayed focal point, is the way Dani is seated on the far end, next to Pelle, not Christian, and how she and Pelle (and Ingemar all the way on the other side) have eerily similar posture: cross-legged, straight-backed, arms resting on legs. All the other newbloods are slouching, leaning, whatever, like you do. Not Dani, and this only becomes more noticeable throughout the movie. In her movements and instincts, Dani almost can’t not be Hårgan.

So not only does Dani unconsciously mirror Pelle and Ingemar as she sits watching, not only is she moving subtly to the music, as if unable to resist dancing even when she’s too self-conscious to join, not only is she sitting closer to Pelle than her boyfriend (look at that picture and tell us who you think is Dani’s boyfriend of 4 years, we’ll wait), but she and Pelle are visually contrasted with the thwarted Hårgan/newblood couple of Ingemar and Connie. And in case that last part isn’t obvious enough, check out the wistful longing radiating from Ingemar once Simon returns, which is even more emphasized in the Director’s Cut, as we’re shown Dani noticing Ingemar pine for Connie, too.

Pelle gently suggests all of the others join the dance, but it doesn’t go anywhere (“I’m too scared,” Dani tells Pelle) until a well-timed flirty kick from Maja pulls Christian into the festivities. When Christian goes, Josh and Mark, who were totally uninterested two minutes earlier, instantly peel off to join, too. I guess they didn’t want to be left making conversation with Dani and Pelle? Anyhoo, this conveniently leaves our OTP alone for one of the High Pelle/Dani Moments, a scene and a scheme that deserves its very own post.

… are so telling. Neither of them share in the joke (which, unbeknownst to them, is not really a joke). It’s a moment solely between Pelle and Dani, where only the two of them are emotionally on the same page (or, well, Dani is naive of the true layers behind the joke, but still, they’re the only ones sharing in the humor). Like, not even a flicker of a smile from Josh or Christian!

And also, Pelle is the only one actually including Dani in the discussion underway. After Dani asks her question, Josh barely glances at her and just keeps taking notes like a good little student, focused on getting the information, which tickles me. Like, at this point he doesn’t know about the Ättestupa, so what is he writing, lol?? “Ask about what really happens after 72 later”??

And Christian. His reaction is the really noteworthy one, because he fully looks from Pelle to Dani and then back to Pelle, fully takes in the joke, remains totally unsmiling, and then rapidly moves the conversation along without Dani, as though she’d never spoken. Josh at least is distracted by note-taking, but Christian has nothing to prevent him from joining in the humor. He just… doesn’t connect to the emotion of the moment, in an even more egregious way than Josh.

The more I rewatch this film, the clearer it gets that Dani’s assimilation was a massively pre-planned and tightly-orchestrated endeavor–like, to an absurd degree. A careful viewing of the scene where the characters first arrive in Hårga, I think, is very revealing. Wanna deep-dive with me yet again? Some of this, once more, is possibly over-analysis. But the movie invites it, really–how am I to blame?

Assumed: Pelle has been plotting to bring Dani into the Hårga family since before the film’s events began. She is the babe that he, Viking-like, has intentionally dragged over to Sweden to get Hårga-married. If you disagree with this premise, I will gladly go full obsessive receipts on you.

Screencaps and gifs by the wonderful @amy-amell​, of course.

Let’s do this.

After the lovely pan of the tranquil and majestic Hårga, Pelle pointedly brings Dagny to introduce to his guests.

But why Dagny? She barely has any lines in the whole film–she has one here, in this scene, and two others after Dani is crowned May Queen. Several other young female Hårgans are more important–Ulla, Karin, and Hanna all have more lines and bigger roles in the plot, but they are never named in the film. Only Siv and Maja are named, and their significance is obvious. So why does Dagny get named and pointedly introduced?

Could it be the name of Pelle’s birthday-twin, “born on the exact same day as me,” is remarkably close, phonetically, to “Dani”? I don’t think it would have escaped Pelle’s notice that the name of his birthday-twin and the name of his intended mate are so similar–there’s a kind of destined feeling to the phonetic Dagny/Dani resonance, isn’t there? Dagny is Pelle’s birth-mate, and Dani is Pelle’s soulmate.

In any case, we can see from this introduction that Pelle has told Dagny all about his intended other-half. First off, just like Ingemar in the meadow, she mostly only looks at Dani, sparing only a few glances for the others. Even during their approach, Dagny goes from only looking at Pelle…

… to sneaking a quick glance at Dani.

Here it is in-motion, in a close-up:

Then Pelle introduces the guests, beginning with Dani even though she isn’t yet engaged in the conversation while Christian, Mark, and Josh all are.

Dagny welcomes them in Swedish, and Dani responds with “tack,” a thoughtful gesture that denotes her cultural sensitivity and willingness to assimilate to her environment. And Pelle and Dagny both respond with an approving nod and then a very long and meaningful look…

Pelle’s nod extends into his look to Dagny, like, “Yep, you see? One of us…” Dagny returns it warmly, like, “Good choice.” Notice, also, how once again–as in the meadow scene with Ingemar’s introduction and the deleted car scene–Dani is shot overlapping Pelle, both here and in the next part of the scene. This time, she is also overlapping Christian in both angles–she’s literally between them.

Also, just fucking look at Christian here, with his strawberry-stick hanging out of his mouth… What a great first impression you’re making, ya goober.

Then we turn to Father Odd, who is struck by his first look at Dani…

He turns from Pelle, blinks like “oh!” when he catches sight of Dani, and then very pointedly drops his chin and keeps eye contact for a significant beat before turning to Josh in reaction to Pelle’s introduction. The best part is that Odd recognizes Dani before Pelle introduces her. As you can see, Pelle introduces Christian first, but even before he says Christian’s name, Odd is honed in on Dani. So Pelle has definitely shown her picture to Odd as well as expressed his intention to bring her into the family, and Odd is the least-subtle in being like, “Oooooooh, here she is!!!”

(Also, interesting to note the sleeping cow/bull featured prominently in the background. In an early version of the script, Pelle identifies his zodiac sign as Taurus, which is extremely compatible with Dani’s sign, Cancer. In that version of the script, Pelle delivers his, “I’m very, very glad you’re coming” line after Dani identifies herself as a Cancer.)

Need it even be mentioned that Dani is the only one whom Odd embraces, and while he greets everyone, he only says “welcome home” to Dani? It’s a phrase he will repeat, in Swedish, after Dani is crowned May Queen.

And then he directs his line, “We are so happy to have you here” right at Dani.

After Odd says that Pelle has an immaculate sense for people, first Odd himself glances pointedly at Dani…

…then Pelle does, with a supremely dorky smile.

Also, in general, as soon as they enter Hårga, Pelle seems to drop any effort to avoid just… looking at Dani. He does it during the introduction to Dagny, and he does it here too.

After Josh’s awkward attempt to show off his knowledge about the Sakhis saints, Odd once again directs his welcoming dialogue about accommodating all of their needs primarily to Dani, and Pelle basically just gazes at her until Odd walks off.

Check out where everyone else’s eyes are by comparison (I mean, just rewatch this scene and notice how little anyone else looks at Dani, compared to how Dani-focused Pelle’s and the other Hårgans’ eyes are).

Pelle still gazing at Dani.

Still gazing. Also, check out the cool background work being done with the two prayer circles. Also, that lady’s striped shorts are killer.

A little overlap of Pelle’s and Odd’s Dani-stares…

… before Pelle manages to tear his eyes away, but Odd can’t seem to as he stammers his “welcome, enjoy” goodbye. He got tongue-tied around a future queen???

In conclusion: EVERYBODY knew who Dani was before she got there. Odd recognized her by sight. Pelle is basically showing Dani to everybody who’s important to him like, “Here’s my future wife,” and everybody’s like, “NICE.”

The real star if this scene, though, is Dani’s baggy pants. They look comfy AF.

Okay, here’s that super-fanatical scene analysis I’ve been threatening you with, because I’ve been rewatching the arrival-in-the-meadow scene, and it might actually now be one of my favorites just because of how much is going on in it, on such a subtle, subtle level.

All of what I’m about to say is predicated on my interpretation of the Dani/Pelle dynamic as utterly pre-planned; Pelle is into Dani, and bringing her to Sweden to join the family was his intention all along. Providing evidence for that is a whole other post (though I’m happy to explain my reasoning in the notes), but I’m just taking that for granted here.

It is LONG, so be aware before you reblog. Forgive me, Father, for I have almost certainly read too much into some of this to indulge my Dani/Pelle mania, but it’s all part of the fun. Now, if you’d like to go with me on this crazy train…

(Screenshots and gifs [except for the car scene screenshots] were provided by the lovely amy-amell!)

In my opinion, the interesting stuff starts with the Pelle/Ingemar reunion…

Pelle is clearly genuinely happy to see Ingemar, but he’s pretty performative here–this little bow and his “just one second,” is basically a cue, like “watch this, look at this loving bond I have with this guy.”

Dani is the first American to come into the frame as we turn toward Ingemar and Pelle. She’s the “babe” that Viking Pelle has “dragged over” to Sweden, and Connie is Ingemar’s, each of them positioned behind the Hårga man who brought her. But Dani is alone, whereas Connie is intertwined with Simon; Dani is looking at Pelle and Ingemar, but Connie only has eyes for Simon. You’ve already lost her, Ingemar.

Then Christian appears in the frame, but with a huge gap of space between him and Dani. Quite a contrast with the other couple, Connie and Simon. And what else is in that gap? Pelle and Ingemar embracing–the family. The actually happy/healthy relationship (Connie and Simon) plus Pelle and Ingemar (the family) come between Dani and Christian literally here in a way they figuratively do later–Connie and Simon’s engagement provides a galling comparison with the unhappy Dani and Christian, while the love among the members of Pelle’s family also shows Dani the flaws in her bond with Christian. Christian spends a good amount of time half cut-off by the edge of the frame before moving fully into it. He’s half-removed. (And will literally be cut in half later–or so it’s implied–to be fitted inside the bear carcass. This might be one of those over-reads, though…)

Pelle and Ingemar exchange a number of SIGNIFICANT LOOKS in this scene, which we know is a way that the Hårga folk communicate. This one is just cute, “best friends since we were babies.” I also notice that, during this cluster of scenes before they reach the village, Dani and Pelle are often shot as overlapping each other, as though touching or phasing into each other. It happens most obviously in the deleted scene in the car, originally just before this scene:

Now, the next part of the meadow scene is one of the most salient ones, to me…

Ingemar repeats the names of all the people Pelle has just introduced, going in order of his left to his right, only he skips Dani for seemingly no reason, saving her name for last and coyly saying, as though unsure, “…Dani?” Y’all. Ingemar knows exactly who Dani is, of course. Pelle’s best friend has very much been filled in about Pelle’s dragged-over babe, as has the entire family. This is a tease for Pelle’s benefit, and Pelle finds it pretty amusing, as his reaction is basically to turn to Ingemar like, “Aw, you scamp.” If you watch carefully, you will also see Pelle and Ingemar making very swift eye contact in another SIGNIFICANT LOOK. Like, “Yep, this is her all right. My Viking spoils.”

Now let’s BREAK THIS DOWN EVEN FURTHER, IN FOR A PENNY, IN FOR A POUND:

Ingemar’s eyes turn to Dani before he’s even finished saying Mark’s name or pointing to him. (Lol at his mischievous expression, also.)

And then some serious mirroring between Pelle and Ingemar while Ingemar coyly names Dani: both heads cocked, both leaning toward her. It is also very cute and I love it.

Here’s the SIGNIFICANT LOOK between Pelle and Ingemar after Dani’s name. It actually looks a lot more significant in motion, as Ingemar’s eyes dart very pointedly toward Pelle and then away again.

And then when Ingemar introduces Connie, we get ANOTHER SIGNIFICANT LOOK between Ingemar and Pelle. “Yep, now here’s my dragged-back babe.”

Now here’s another very salient moment:

Ingemar brings out the mushrooms, and he addresses himself almost exclusively to Dani. The first several words are spoken directly to her as he moves towards her. He looks away a few times but then keeps coming back to her. Pelle sneaks an impish glance at Dani as this is happening, hiding it with a scratch to his head.

I read this as a pretty strong overture of inclusion directed toward Dani, which Ingemar will repeat a few times later in this scene and the next. Not only do they want her to get high so she’s in a more impressionable state, but they want her to feel special, wanted, attended to. And Ingemar’s laying it on pretty thick. (So is Pelle, with his cute “ooh” in the background.) The others are secondary. (Ingemar doesn’t look at Christian at all.) Dani’s the important one, the one the entire family is seducing. And it’s already working: Dani steps toward Ingemar a little before changing her mind and hanging back again.

Mark’s like gimme.

Here’s the same thing, tighter in on Pelle and Ingemar:

YOU THINK YOU’RE SLICK, PELLE, HIDING THAT MISCHIEVOUS GLANCE BEHIND A HEAD-SCRATCH AND THEN A DORKY SMILE.

Very interesting that this whole part of the scene is shot from behind Dani. Puts the viewer almost-but-not-quite in Dani’s shoes. We’re getting the full brunt of these overtures just like she is.

So then the camera angle shifts as Dani initially says she wants to wait to do the mushrooms…

Pelle gives Dani another sideways glance, longer this time, his smile dimming a little as a cannier look briefly appears. Ingemar, too, is watching Dani, his attention much less screened (because he can just be a nice new acquaintance whose niceness won’t be misinterpreted as romantic interest).

As Dani and Christian begin quibbling about the mushrooms, Connie and Simon excuse themselves and wander off, and Ingemar watches them for a super long time.

His body is angled so that he could be looking at something else, but other than the person in white (and why would he be staring at a random family member?) there’s nothing else for him to look at other than the happy couple. Creepy, sad, Ingemar. [ETA: After more viewings, I am actually not so sure that Ingemar isn’t staring at the person in white and doing long-distance nonverbal communication with that person. Bit of both maybe? Josh clearly makes not of how still that distant person-in-white is being, as you can see in the following screenshots…]

And as Dani and Christian say they’re gonna wait to take the shrooms, Ingemar and Pelle exchange ANOTHER SIGNIFICANT LOOK.

Aaaaaand Ingemar’s back to staring creepily after Simon and Connie as Mark objects.

As Dani looks around in the awkward silence, Pelle shoots her a little smile before dropping his gaze to the ground.

And as Dani capitulates to taking the mushrooms now, Pelle smiles at her, and so does Ingemar, his attention back to the matter at hand–gettin’ Dani high.

And as Mark is being a dick, Ingemar steps in to continue his solicitousness directly toward Dani…

Ingemar comes in real close, attention pointedly honed to Dani, to offer her some mushroom tea, which tastes better–an offer not extended to anyone else, let alone to Christian, who’s right there. Christian, meanwhile, makes a stark contrast to Ingemar, turning away with an impatient frown while Ingemar hovers over Dani with a smile. This near-stranger is more concerned for Dani’s comfort than her boyfriend is. And she’s so sweet, mirroring his body language by leaning in toward Ingemar, looking up into his face, making an effort to pronounce his name correctly. What a sweet baby angel. 😭 

Later, Ingemar will repeat this friendly hover when Dani’s trip turns bad, making a total of three times in this setting where he approaches her with the object of welcoming or comforting her.

In conclusion, THESE SWEDISH BOYS ARE SCHEMING. THEY WILL DRAG YOUR BABES BACK TO SWEDEN WITH THEIR PRE-PLANNED ATTENTIVENESS AND THEIR WORDLESS, EMPATHETIC COMMUNICATION.

… and I haven’t seen anyone else point this out, so forgive me if this has already been brought up elsewhere by others.

It’s pretty easy to notice how Pelle’s costuming signals his transition out of the outside world and back into the bosom of his culty family. He arrives wearing everyday clothes, jeans and a t-shirt…

Then, at some point during the day, he puts a traditional shirt on over his t-shirt, but retains his jeans–the cult’s cultural identity overrides the clothing of the outside world, covering it. Interesting to note, however, that Ingemar has changed clothes entirely despite arriving at the same time as Pelle. Pelle perhaps retains some of the accoutrements of the outside world, the better to lull his victims guests into a sense of security, that he is like them?

By the next day, Pelle has changed entirely into Hårga apparel, down to the shoes. We never see him in “outsider” clothing again. So far, so (fairly) obvious.

What I didn’t really notice until now, though, is how Dani’s costuming mirrors Pelle’s along these same lines. She begins, of course, wearing her own, normal clothing. But then we see her don a Hårgan apron, one item of culty clothing symbolically covering up her old clothes, just like Pelle’s shirt did on day one. It’s transitional–she has one foot in this world and one still out of it.

But, of course, the next costume change puts Dani in full-on cult regalia, now totally assimilated.

Idk, it’s just neat. :D

Florence Pugh gives an amazing performance as Dani in Midsommar, as everyone knows, but can we talk about the amazingly appropriate and refreshing styling choices that were made for her hair, makeup, and costuming?

One thing I really, really appreciate is that Dani looks comfortable as fuck in all of her clothes. Like, she almost always wears loose, soft clothing that seem eminently appropriate for her situation and character and don’t try to doll her up for the male gaze.

I feel like this is especially refreshing for a depiction of a woman in film, who are so often sexualized in the most inappropriate situations (especially by male directors), made to wear tight and/or revealing clothing even when male characters’ costumes are functional and nondescript. When I first saw the film, I was just so bowled over by how normal Dani looked, how it didn’t look like she was being put on display to be consumed by an audience.

Dani’s hair is also almost always in a messy bun, and she appears to never wear any makeup whatsoever.

Of course, Florence Pugh was probably wearing some makeup to offset lighting and for other cinematographic reasons, but she certainly looks like she isn’t wearing any, at all, ever.

The only scene I think she could look like she’s wearing some makeup is the party scene early in the movie, where maybe she’s wearing some mascara?? In order to look like she’s “making an effort”?? It’s so dark, though, it’s hard to tell.

It would be tempting (and, I think, reductive) to read Dani’s styling as a reflection of her ongoing mourning and depression, but though we only briefly see her prior to her family’s deaths, she seems to be styled pretty much exactly the same.

So other than being someone who apparently is not terribly concerned with much besides comfort when it comes to clothes (I mean, look at how old this peachy-pink shirt looks! The holes on the collar!)…

I would argue that the styling ties her visually to the Hårga folk. Like them, she is “natural,” makeup-free (no women seem to wear makeup except for ceremonial purposes, as Maja does in the climax).

Connie, by contrast, also seems pretty much makeup-free, but her outfits seem more studiously hipster, signaling how she doesn’t fit in with the Hårga folk. (Like, ankle boots with dark-wash overalls? That’s some serious hipster shit lol.)

And Dani’s hair is worn up, like the Hårga women (though messy and modern in contrast to their neat, traditional styles), foreshadowing when she will be styled exactly like them…