"Astrid Lindgren grew up with her siblings on a farm in Vimmersby. Her parents sent her for an advanced education. She became a trainee at the local newspaper and learned to write. The publisher, Reinhold Blomberg, fell in love with her. When Astrid became pregnant, she proved that her courage and yearning for independence were greater than her fear of social ostracization. Astrid did not marry Blomberg; instead she decided to bring up her son Lasse on her own. In Pernille Fischer Christensen’s beautifully lighted biopic, we see the world-famous children’s writer as a young woman – freedom loving, radical, and headstrong (played by the fantastically gifted Alba August). Her attitude was reflected in her writing. This complex portrait depicts, not least of all, how life and literature are conjoined."