Author Astrid Lindgren inspired children around the world with her flame-haired, rambunctious, and uncouth—but perpetually sunny and good-hearted—creation known as Pippi Longstocking. In Pernille Fischer Christensen’s coming-of-age biopic, Alba August portrays the writer with the same spirited, stubborn streak that endeared her character to generations of girls.
At 16, Astrid is bored to tears in her small Swedish village. So when charismatic local newspaper editor Reinhold Blomberg offers her an internship after reading one of her stories, she jumps at the chance. Her exposure to fashion magazines in the newsroom prompts a visit to the barber, where (in a brief but utterly charming scene) August’s face contorts with bravado, anxiety, contrariness, and childlike excitement as her long braids are lopped off into a stylish bob. Now a modern woman, she enters into an affair with the married Blomberg—but when she becomes pregnant, she must decide how to make her way in the world and provide for her son in 1920s Scandinavia.
Producer: Maria Dahlin, Anna Anthony, Lars G. Lindström | Editor: Kasper Leick, Tess Lindberg, Åsa Mossberg | Cinematographer: Erik Molberg Hansen | Screenwriter: Pernille Fischer Christensen, Kim Fupz Aakeson
Cast: Alba August, Trine Dyrholm, Björn Gustafsson, Maria Bonnevie, Magnus Krepper
Additional Countries: Denmark
