Florence Pugh Pens Tribute to the ‘Midsommar’ Sisterhood that Emerged After Breakdown Scene
Zack Sharf
“On this film, in this scene, I found a true sisterhood,” Florence Pugh writes in an emotional tribute to Ari Aster’s “Midsommar” posted on social media. The post finds the Oscar-nominated actress reflecting on the horror movie’s climactic breakdown scene, which became a career-defining acting moment for Pugh considering how terrifying it was to endure. Pugh posted a behind-the-scenes photo of herself and her co-stars still reeling from the grueling film shoot, writing, “I remember the first take being so long, much longer than is displayed in the film that you all watched. When Ari said cut, we all clung on to each other’s arms and dug our nails into each other’s palms and wept. Sobbed. Heaved. I remember it being really hard to stop.”
The scene in question takes place after Pugh’s Dani discovers her boyfriend Christian (Jack Reynor) cheating on her by participating in a ritualistic orgy. Dani is taken back to her sleeping cabin by some of the village’s young women and they collectively endure a breakdown together, crying and screaming in unison.
“Truly, these women made this scene possible,” Pugh writes. “It was TERRIFYING. As terrifying as it was to watch, it was to read and know we had to do it. I love these girls so much. I’m not a big crier, so going through that with them was true safely and love and respect. It only happened because I had them.”
Pugh continues, “We all looked at each other before we started rolling and knew it would be hard. And awkward. And strange. And unnatural. We knew it wouldn’t be pleasurable. But by the end we would roll in each other’s laps and cry and allow our bodies to keep heaving.”
The actress said she had waited “too long” to share this behind-the-scenes moment with her social media followers. As Pugh explains, “I documented this moment because I knew I probably wouldn’t see all these women like this again. Even more worryingly, I may never work like this or see these women again…I may find these talented women on another film set, but as much as I wish that, that only rarely happens. But I knew I would never be so open and so raw and so exhausted like I was that day ever again. We got up from our knees after two hours of screaming and wailing and grieving. We held each other. We looked at each other. We nervously giggled, and cried some more. Then we went home.”
Pugh concludes, “Scenes that make you hurt, or cringe, or turn away from the screen when watching are scenes designed to make you feel, for ten seconds at least, the most human. But for us, it was hours. Beautiful, hard, proud hours.”
“Midsommar” is now streaming on Amazon Prime Video. Pugh recently wrapped production on Olivia Wilde’s “Don’t Worry Darling.”
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