Ari Aster Is A Big Fan Of Lars Von Trier & Says He “Inadvertently Tried To Make My ‘Dogville” With ‘Midsommar’

As a film fan, you probably wouldn’t immediately lump filmmakers Ari Aster and Lars von Trier together. While we don’t have the huge filmography to judge Aster on yet (his second film, “Midsommar,” will be released in a couple of weeks), von Trier is a director that has polarized cinephiles and seemingly created his own genre in the process. Needless to say, there aren’t many apt comparisons to be made between von Trier and other filmmakers working today.

That being said, at a recent screening of “Midsommar” (via IndieWire), Aster talked about his love of Lars von Trier and specifically the film, “Dogville.”

The mention of von Trier came as Aster was asked what he thinks of the Danish filmmaker’s treatment of women in his films. For those not familiar with von Trier’s work, you only have to watch bits and pieces of his films to know that the director puts his female characters through a lot of questionable situations.

READ MORE: “Holy Sh*t”: Jordan Peele Says Ari Aster’s ‘Midsommar’ Features “The Most Atrociously Disturbing Imagery” He’s Ever Seen On Film

“I really love Lars von Trier’s work, especially ‘Dogville.’ … Yeah, I said it,” replied Aster.

He added, “‘Dogville’ is a very important film to me. I didn’t really see the connection between [‘Midsommar’] and that film until recently. Film Comment asked me to write a very short piece on the film that affected me most, and I had to write about ‘Dogville.’ And as I was writing it I was like, ‘oh, shit, I must have at least inadvertently tried to make my “Dogville.”‘”

“Dogville” is the 2003 film from von Trier that stars Nicole Kidman as a woman on the run from modsters and finds refuge in the small community of Dogville, Colorado. For comparison, “Midsommar” is a film about a group of friends (primarily focusing on the female lead, played by Florence Pugh), who find themselves welcomed into a small community for a festival in the Swedish countryside. So, at least peripherally, there’s definitely some similarities.

Obviously, film fans will get the chance to see if what Aster said is true when “Midsommar” arrives in theaters on July 3.