Diksha Sundriyal
Netflix’s ‘Midsummer Night,’ also known as ‘Midtsommernatt,’ is a family drama series that takes many twists and turns within the span of one day, which happens to be the longest day of the year. The focus is on a couple, Carina and Johannes, who are preparing for a festive gathering, ready to make an important announcement in front of their family and friends, who are also indulged in complicated relationships of their own. It is a chaotic mess, but within one day, all of their secrets and lies will come out.
Taking place over the course of one day, ‘Midsummer Night’ poses some very pertinent questions in front of the audience, which might feel all too real to the audience due to the way they are presented. In fact, the show’s realistic take on family and relationships is what makes it one of the more compelling watches. But does it bear any similarity with a real family? SPOILERS AHEAD
Midsummer Night is Fictional But Focuses on Real-Life Questions
‘Midsummer Night’ is an entirely fictional show created by Per-Olav Sørensen, who also serves as the co-writer along with Sofie Forsman (known for her work in ‘Young Royals’). Sørensen, who has also directed the series, wanted to create a realistic portrait of a family that isn’t exactly dysfunctional but is going through a complicated time where each of their follies and flaws come to light. What was more important was for the audience to see themselves in those characters and empathize with them rather than judging them for their choices.
Sørensen wanted the audience to be immersed in “all the relationships that a large family can provide, and not the least in all the secrets we can carry, as well as all the parallel lives we are capable of living and hiding to people who are very close to us.” Starting with Carina and Johannes’ three decades-long marriage, the writers focus on how a person can get disillusioned with what might have seemed to be a safety net all those years ago. So, while Carina is happy with Johannes, who is a good and kind person, she feels extremely tied up in her world, realizing that she became so comfortable with everything that she never dared leave the confines of it and try something new and adventurous with her life.
In the same vein, we see Carina and Johannes’ daughter, Hanne, who is a couple of months from being wedded to Darius, sabotaging her relationship because she is scared of the uncertainty that the future brings. More importantly, she deals with a sense of insecurity, which she thinks is unique to her but is also felt by her younger sister, Helena, forcing the sisters to be at a distance from each other despite being quite similar to one another.
The writers throw in several other characters with their own stories, each different from the others but so common that the audience would easily see themselves in one of the characters. Sørensen and team focused on telling the story of a family that would feel all too real to the audience because of the issues they face and how they tackle the differences between them. Knowing how the feast of Midsummer can be a chaotic event in families, it seemed like the perfect setting for a story where “there is room for those large feelings, those big revelations, and those deep conversations when nothing goes as planned.” Considering all this, it is clear that the writers of ‘Midsummer Night’ were keen on making the story as human and realistic as possible, even if it is completely made up.
Read More: Netflix’s Midsummer Night: Where is the Norwegian Show Filmed?
