User reviews

The "Inspired by" terminology is not the most inspiring. It's a biopic of Swedish children's book author Astrid Lindgren who would create classics such as Pippi Longstocking. It starts in her teen years in the 1920's rural conservative Sweden. She has an affair with her married boss and gets pregnant.

This is a story of Astrid and Lasse. The first half is a bit slow. There is a lot of story to get through but it is the story of Astrid and Lasse which is the most emotional. It is the heart and soul of the movie. I wish they get there sooner and I also wish for more with the Lindgrens story. That is the extent of any flaw in the movie. It needs to focus more on the second half. Alba August is simply great and she brings a full emotional performance. It's heartbreaking and uplifting. I can forgive the "Inspired" start.

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.

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!

Powerful deliberately paced drama with strong acting and wonderful cinematography.

Alba August is excellent in her lead role as Astrid Lindgren (nee Ericsson) who pays a heavy price in moralistic 1920's Sweden, for getting involved with her much older married boss and becoming pregnant. The partial biopic only covers Lindgren's life essentially from her mid-teen into her 20's.

Thus, we get only hints, such as her ability to make up fascinating stories to her siblings and her creative writing, as to how she would go on to create the extremely popular children's book series "Pippi Longstocking" among other works. Lindgren would become the 4th most prolific children's author to be translated globally.

Overall, a solid intense drama but I would have liked to have seen more of how Lindgren transformed into one of the most acclaimed children's authors of all time.

Disclaimer: I'm not the first person who would watch this movie. I got dragged along with my friend to see it but I do know Lingren and know Pippi Longstocking.

The movie starts out at a wonderful pace. We are introduced to a ton of interesting characters. The pace is high and the music fits perfectly. We get to know Astrid, her family, where she lives and the jobs she does. This all changes as she takes on a job as an intern.

Some drastic things happen (I won't spoil what) and the focus shifts. This results in us seeing more of Astrid and less of the rest of the cast. The people she talks to don't get enough screen time to grow attached to. And the movie starts dragging. And dragging. It got so bad I literally had trouble keeping my eyes open.

And here's where to me the major flaw in this movies lies. The script. It's as if the writers focused so much on one aspect they forget that a movie should always be entertaining. With the pace being so low this very uneventful part of the story feels even worse. They got all these characters but you rarely get to see them. You don't know what how their relationship develops over the years. No one is singled out except for Astrid. But to make a movie work you have to have interaction.

There are however, still a couple of highlights. The ending is nice, the pace picks up again and we are finally reunited with characters we met at the beginning.

So all in all it's definitely worth watching for Lindgren fans, but I can't really recommend it for other moviegoers.

This is not a bad film, and quite interesting in its own right. But I would recommend to see the original rather than this remake

But if you want a dramatised version and do not want to hear Astrid Lindgren's own pleasant voice, well then this dramatization is interesting, and add knowledge to what most people know about her - despite a few factual errors.

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.

From what I've read elsewhere the movie fairly accurately presents the early life of Astrid Lindgren author of children's books such as Pippi Longstocking. Well acted & written. A small criticism is the left untold later part of her life where she marries and has a second child as well as the process of her becoming a writer. Also, the sacrifices she made to visit her first child under foster care in Copenhagen.

I'm from the US, with my own cultural pre-sets for entertainment and narratives (can't help it!). This Swedish movie was nonetheless easy for me to identify with and get deeply engrossed by. Yes, it tracked Astrid and the characters in her life a little differently from I'm used to - but that only added to its charm and intrigue. Young star Alba August incredibly portrayed Astrid at various ages - and not as a stunt of fancy make-up, but as a real and vivid character growing and evolving. I can totally see the Astrid in this movie creating Pippi Longstocking my own kids, and the world, loved.

Back to the "other culture" Swedish thing - I found I could not predict each new development at all - but I also resonated with each new phase, and understood and identified with each aspect, some rather poignant, of Astrid's life. Lastly, while some foreign movies can be depressingly heavy and dull, Becoming Astrid was bright, loving, and intensely enjoyable.

Becoming Ingrid is certainly a good way to spend two hours. The plot moves along nicely, and the characters are appealing (well, except for the publisher, whose part is either undewrwritten or underperformed). But there's nothing special about the plot, variations of which have been told many times before. So the performance of Alba August in the absolutely central role of Astrid, highly praised by most, is key to the film. I had problems with it. She seemed to be the kind of tough-minded woman who could, say, shut down a factory and put 2,000 people out of work without qualms if that was her job. On the other hand, she's this sensitive -- at times weepy -- woman whose early travails made her the teller of time-honored children's stories. For me, August's Astrid doesn't mesh these two strand well. Ultimately the film -- whose basic plot is woven at points with admiring letters from schoolchildren to the now-elderly Astrid -- is unreavling of just how she became the woman whose stories are so loved across the world (not least by the Gilmore Girls, if you remember the Pippi episode).

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.

The hard and long acceptance of the creator of "Pippi Calzaslargas" as a single mother.

Having met Astrid Lindgren when I was a child in Zurich, which she visited at the time, I was very much moved by watching this film in the cinema not far away from where I met her in Zurich in the late 80s. I also grew up reading her stories are seeing the films that she created of the stories. This movie is very dramatic and very nice as well, however it moves you to tears to see the story and the pain that she went through in her younger years.

I can highly recommend this movie and I think anyone who has read her books and seen the films should see this film as well.

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.

Beautifully structured, moving and raw. The movie was done without unnecessary overdramatisation that you see in most biography movies. My view on Astrid changed drastically after. Now I really appreciate her books that were part of my childhood. All those times I had no idea what kind of work was behind those words.

Beautiful, moving film about the creator of Pippi Longstocking. I highly recommend this movie. Fascinating background into the Swedish culture, especially the influence of strict religiosity ... and its sometimes dark consequences.

I totally enjoyed this film. I was a child in Germany when I read Astrid's books, and watching the movie I could see so many similarities between her growing up at the that in Sweden and Germany. The actress portraying Astrid is superb. I just wonder how they got a little boy playing the part of her son. I don't often cry in movies, but, being a mother, I couldn't help but being choked by tears, especially when she had to leave her newborn with a substitute mother.

Not since I was a child have I thought of the name Pippi Longstocking. I don't remember the books, nor did I ever know the name of the author, but as a writer myself I was interested in seeing this movie. I found it very engrossing and educational, both about Astrid Ericsson Lindgren and about Swedish culture in the early twentieth century. (I was so impressed with the scene in which Astrid's father had a completely civil conversation with the man who had impregnated his adolescent daughter.) Though I know nothing about Astrid besides her being the author of Pippi Longstocking, I thought Alba August did an excellent job of playing her. As a veritable child with a baby she couldn't keep, or at least thought she couldn't, she portrayed understandable ambivalence and indecisiveness. She also played her seeming cluelessness about being a mother very well. I also came away with a strong sense of why she became a writer of children's books. It was a worthwhile way of spending a couple of hours.

I absolutely loved this movie. From start to finish. I so related to parts of it. Thank you for this beautiful inspiring story. Tesa