Music Box Films
Pippi Longstocking was an odd book, but I did enjoy reading it as a kid. There were only three books, but I did read them, long, long ago. Those were the only books I ever read by Swedish author Astrid Lindgren, and I do vaguely recall at the time thinking that there was something slightly off about them. In retrospect, I know now it was the publication date and translation from another language.
Becoming Astrid comes from director Pernille Fischer Christensen, and only really focuses on a very specific set of years in Astrid’s life, essentially before she became a success. The movie has a mild wraparound of glimpses of an elderly Astrid as we hear the voices of schoolchildren in their letters to her, and these are used contextually to tell bits of her story as the movie progresses, but it’s a soft touch.
Young Alba August plays Astrid in the early 20th century, when World War II was still a decade and a half away. Astrid was raised in a religiously conservative household in the town of Vimmerby, but even as a youngster, she didn’t quite fit in with the rest of the hullabaloo. We see bits and pieces of her home life, as her parents look on disapprovingly, but only a bit.
Soon after graduating from school at sixteen, Astrid gets a great opportunity, to be a proofreader and editor for the local paper under the direction of editor-in-chief Reinhold Blomberg (Henrik Rafaelsen). Reinhold notes her unusual skill, especially for her age, and sparks fly. Of course, he’s many years her elder, with an estranged wife he’s attempting to divorce and many children, one of whom is Astrid’s age and a local sort of friend.
After a few years of their affair, Astrid becomes pregnant, a terrible scandal and one she must hide from the rest of the world (although her parents naturally know and are horrified). Despite Reinhold’s best wishes, it becomes clear that he and Astrid cannot raise the child together, and young Lars gets sent off to a foster home in Copenhagen where the rules on ‘bastard’ children are not so strict.
The movie shows then the way Astrid starts to shine in her professional world with her natural talent, while struggling to be the ‘real’ mother of Lars, who is connected primarily to his foster mother. This is a heartbreaking sort of thing, but it helps that Alba August is quite good playing various ranges of teen to young adult, allowing deep sadness and deep smugness in turn where appropriate.
It’s the sort of biopic that might pique your interest about this author of children’s books that are so beloved in Sweden, yet are only slightly known elsewhere like in the US. I really knew nothing about her complicated upbringing, but the movie isn’t one of those hard, depressing Swedish movies. It actually goes places that are ultimately fairly uplifting and I appreciate that in biopics, especially ones where you know the person has passed away in the current time.
The film is all with subtitles, so it’s only the sort of thing that will appeal to specific indie/foreign fan, or perhaps fans of Pippi Longstocking. It’s a nice change of pace from the grind of horror shows and heavy dramas we often get this time of year.
Becoming Astrid has a run time of 2 hours 3 minutes and is not rated.
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