Unga Astrid

This is a beautiful piece of Scandinavian film making that held me spellbound from the first minute. The story of Astrid Ericsson's (later Lindgren) early life unfolds lyrically, with sensitive handling of the many controversies that shaped the children's author. While the cinematography is beautiful, and all performances are great, Alba August carries the film with a magical performance as Astrid. Every moment is perfectly told through August's acting, and caught by the director.

I would say that this film isn't quite as subtle as some Scandinavian films, but it's always difficult to fit life stories into a single film. This film made me want to see a series of films about Lindgren's entire life.

Set mostly in the 1920's in Sweden, this partial biopic of Astrid Lindgren (nee Ericsson) focuses on her life from her mid-teens through her twenties. Showing potential as a writer and possessing a natural ability to spin stories to her siblings, Astrid's life is soon consumed though when she begins a relationship with her much older boss, has a teen pregnancy eventually giving birth to a son, and thus has to face the harsh realities of what that means in moralistic rural Sweden at that time.

Perhaps we'll get another film some day illustrating how Astrid went on to become one of the most acclaimed children's story writers in the 20th century, but although offering us up some hints with her undying love for her young son this isn't the film. I was reading that a 2017 survey found Lindgren's books, highlighted by her "The Adventures of Pippi Longstocking" series, would culminate in her selling 165 million books, translated into 95 languages, thus making her the 4th most translated author of children's books in history.

Overall, the pacing of the movie is most deliberate and some scenes can certainly pull on one's heartstrings, as we watch Astrid struggle but persevere in her determination to be with her son and overcome, as mentioned, the harsh realities of life and society of that time. But with August's superb acting supported by an effective and seasoned supporting cast, I thought the movie was certainly worth a watch for its powerful drama.

This film is very comparable with COLETTE. Both are biopics of major women authors who came along just before the great 20th Century advances in the status of women. In both, the repression and intolerance that still prevailed not so long ago are stunning. Both make up for their inability to incorporate very much of the literary contributions of their subjects with excellent production value and period look. Where COLETTE succeeds readily as a star vehicle, this film surprises by transporting the viewer so thoroughly into 1920s provincial Sweden. The lead actress, Alba August, is in nearly every shot and never disappoints. She reminds me of Lena Stolze or Julia Jentsch. If I had it to do over, I would read up a bit on each subject before seeing the respective movie.

A biographical film about one of Sweden's most famous authors seems like a really interesting idea - and in some ways it does succeed, whilst in other ways not so much.

On a technical level, the movie looks good. The cinematography, cutting and editing is good and the acting is mostly pretty good.

The potential is somewhat lost though with very little focus on Astrid Lindgren's authorship, and Alba August, an otherwise incredible actor, conveys a little too much of a childlike character. All of this might be somewhat deliberate though, which somewhat justifies it. Many of these films want to focus on things besides what made them famous; a portrait of the actual human.

Overall, it's not really a very bad film, it's somewhat flawed but has some good going for it.

Although I do not really know neither Astrid Lindgren nor her characters Pippi Longstocking, Karlsson-on-the-Roof, ... I loved the film which is based on the exceptional performance of the lead actress Alba August as well as an extremely neat photography. We might think that this film is jointly sponsored by the tourist offices and the ministries of culture of both Sweden and Denmark.

This biopic traces the life of Astrid during a small decade, in the 20s. We discover first of all a talented, mischievous and dreamy teen, then a young, fighting and resilient woman. Although the intended public of the books is very young, that of the film excludes, in my humble opinion, the children. Instructive and moving!