History Film / Midsommar

* SnowMeansDeath: It's snowing when [[spoiler:Dani learns of her family's deaths.]]

* ThousandYardStare:
** Dani the day after learning about [[spoiler:her family's deaths]].
** Also Dani in the final sequence, when she has to [[spoiler:choose whether to condemn Christian to die, then watches the sacrifice take place.]]

** After accidentally defiling a sacred artifact, Mark makes no attempt at apologizing to an irate villager who views it as an ExcrementStatement. Instead, he says, "So what?" and makes the transgression worse. Even after noticing that the villager continues to shoot a DeathGlare at him for the rest of the day, he ignores the red flags of another villager luring him away from the rest of the group and follows her.
** Josh is given an extremely stern warning about not photographing a sacred book. He decides to sneak out alone, during the (still-bright) night, to photograph it secretly. [[spoiler:Even if he didn't expect to be killed, he should have expected a severe reaction to breaking such a strict rule that certainly would have ended his thesis opportunity if he got caught]].
** This might well be a JustifiedTrope: it's plausible that a lack of common sense, bordering on stupidity, is a major qualification for being invited to the festival in the first place. Supporting this possibility is the fact that Dani, the only attendee Pelle didn't mean to invite, [[spoiler:is the only one not to have done something foolish enough to get herself killed by the end.]]
** {{Inverted|Trope}} with the old man who jumped off the cliff for the sacrificial suicide. For whatever reason, he decided to pencil-drop off the cliff when his wife had flopped down face first and was killed instantly. All this does is snap his legs like toothpicks but leave him alive in excruciating pain until another cultist bashes his face in with a sledgehammer.
* TrailersAlwaysSpoil: The trailer doesn't even try to cover up [[spoiler:Josh's death]] and contains shots from [[spoiler:the final sacrifice.]]

** Christian and Josh's reactions (or lack thereof) to the ättestupa. Especially when contrasted with the reactions of Simon, Connie and Dani who all freak out at the sight of [[spoiler:two people committing ritual suicide in a gruesome fashion.]]

* BrokenSmile: [[spoiler:Dani gives one at the very end of the film as the fire temple burns to the ground.]] [[AllThereInTheManual Aster's script]] makes it clear that, while the image is meant to convey multiple emotions, the trope was definitely intended.

** The parallels between this film and ''Film/TheWickerMan1973'' are undeniable. Both films take place in the compound of a deceptively cheerful and open Nordic cult, both take place during seasonal solstices, both deeply delve into Pagan pageantry and tradition through an almost anthropological lens, both heavily thematise sacrifice for the greater good of a community, both feature maidens, bears and fools as Leitmotifs, and both end with [[spoiler:a reluctant outsider being triumphantly burned alive in a wooden effigy]].

** The parallels between this film and ''Film/TheWickerMan1973'' are undeniable. Both films take place in the compound of a deceptively cheerful and open Nordic cult, both take place during seasonal solstices, both deeply delve into Pagan pageantry and tradition through an almost anthropological lens, both heavily thematise sacrifice for the greater good of a community, both feature maidens, bears and fools as Leitmotifs, and both end with ''[[spoiler:a reluctant outsider being burned alive in a wooden effigy]]''.