Script Analysis: “Midsommar” — Part 3: Characters

Read and analyze the script for the horror mystery which features a breakthrough performance by actress Florence Pugh.

Monday: Scene-By-Scene Breakdown
Tuesday: Plot
Wednesday: Characters
Thursday: Themes
Friday: Dialogue
Saturday: Takeaways

Today: Characters.

Characters are the players in our stories. They participate in scenes, move the plot forward through action and dialogue, influence each other, evolve and change. Each has their own distinct backstory, personality, world view, and voice. When a writer does their best, digging deep into their characters, tapping into their souls, the players in our stories magically lift up off the printed page and come to life in a reader’s imagination.

But there’s this: In a screenplay, characters exist for a reason. Hence my principle: Character = Function. Writers can shade and shape a story’s character in limitless ways. But if you dig down deep enough, you can find each character’s narrative function, and that can become a lens through which you develop the players in your stories.

Same thing with script and movie analysis: Look at each character and think about why they exist and what their function is.

Today we discuss the characters in the script for Midsommar. You can download the script here. Here is a list of the script’s key characters.

Dani

Christian

Mark

Josh

Pelle

Ingemar

Connie

ODD

Ruben

Yvla

Ulla

Siv

Ulf

Irma

Maja

Written by Ari Aster.

Plot Summary: A couple travels to Sweden to visit a rural hometown’s fabled mid-summer festival. What begins as an idyllic retreat quickly devolves into an increasingly violent and bizarre competition at the hands of a pagan cult.

Major kudos to David Young for doing this week’s scene-by-scene breakdown.

To download a PDF of the breakdown for Midsommar, click here.

For Part 1, to read the Scene-By-Scene Breakdown discussion, go here.

For Part 2, to read the Plot discussion, go here.

I hope to see you in the RESPONSE section about this week’s script: Midsommar.