The unlikely influence of Powell and Pressburger on Ari Aster
The horror genre has always dipped in and out of golden periods, and after the 2000s allowed genres like torture porn and supernatural franchises to prosper, the 2010s welcomed a new trend which many labelled ‘elevated horror’. It’s a questionable term, assuming that other horror movies don’t contain the same amount of depth and metaphorical imagery, but one that is frequently used nonetheless.
Titles like Get Out, The Witch and Hereditary are often grouped into this genre, with the latter emerging in 2018 as Ari Aster’s debut. It was instantly acclaimed, helping to continue this theme of horror movies actually being taken more seriously by critics and wider audiences, not just niche scary movie lovers. Hereditary remains incredibly popular, but since then, Aster has released two more films: Midsommar and Beau Is Afraid.
While the latter received mixed reviews, Midsommar was celebrated for its folk horror setting, brutal images, and compelling performances. Set during a pagan festival in Sweden, Florence Pugh’s character, Dani, is invited to attend by a friend, and she subsequently arrives with several friends and her boyfriend. They are instantly out of their depth, with the cult members slowly revealing their unusual practices, such as cliff-jumping death rituals.
It’s a harrowing tale, with Dani soon finding solace in the women of the cult, who encourage her to abandon her boyfriend and crown her the May Queen. Midsommar further established Aster’s status as an accomplished director, not just an impressive horror creator.
Some of the influences behind Midsommar are clear, like The Wicker Man and probably even The Blood on Satan’s Claw. These ‘70s British folk horror movies were bold in their depictions of cult-like thinking, religion, and sexuality, and this is apparent in Midsommar.
Yet, Aster also looked to some more unexpected movies, many of which were not horror films. From Larisa Shepitko’s The Ascent to Ingmar Bergman’s Scenes From A Marriage, the filmmaker wanted to explore the movie’s themes, such as conflict and relationship breakdowns, with precise attention to detail. Then there were the films he looked at for more visual references, leading him to the world of Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger.
The directing duo were responsible for making many iconic British films during the ‘40s and ‘50s, such as Black Narcissus, The Red Shoes, The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp, and A Matter of Life and Death. In many of their films, the use of colour is bright and striking, such as in The Red Shoes, which uses Technicolour, illuminating everything with a dreamlike quality.
Talking to Film Comment, Aster revealed that he “was thinking of the films of Powell and Pressburger when I was talking about colour with my production designer and my D.P.” While much of Midsommar’s colour palette is made up of white from the characters’ clothing and green from the field, everything is presented incredibly vividly.
When Pugh’s character wears a flower crown, each colour is bursting with intensity, highlighting the power of the natural world. The saturation of colours helps to immerse us in the film’s terrifying yet intriguing world, where nothing is as it seems.
