In the course of the AMA, a Redditor requested Aster about Charlie’s loss of life, enquiring how early on within the writing course of the director fleshed out the traumatizing scene and determined which visible points to spotlight. Aster revealed that “Charlie’s head being knocked off” was one of many first photos that got here to him earlier than he wrote “Hereditary:”
“The primary photos that got here to me (earlier than writing) have been Charlie’s head being knocked off by the phone pole and Annie levitating whereas sawing off her personal head (the idea of a mom so destroyed by what occurred to her youngster that she has to do it to herself). I constructed the film round that and the opposite.”
The correlation between the 2 scenes has been explicitly defined by Aster right here, and this foundational sentiment haunts the movie from begin to end. Charlie’s grandmother had all the time meant to deal with Paimon inside her, however because the demon coveted a male host, the tragedies that befell the Grahams have been orchestrated by the cult to gear in the direction of a particular finish. Annie’s grief, and her partial consciousness of her mom’s intentions, drove her to excessive ends — even when she is possessed, her palms can’t cease from sawing her personal head off, in imitation of what occurred to her youngster. This, blended with a repressed disdain for her firstborn (whom she concurrently loves and abhors), lends to a cycle of emotional abuse and dysfunctional dynamics that find yourself working in favor of the cult.
Aster makes use of equally surprising imagery to drive these layered themes residence, such because the unforgettable closing shot of “Peter” staring vacantly forward, his telltale mouth-click affirming that evil is right here to remain, and that the bonds of household weren’t sufficient to banish it.