
Becoming Astrid
When Astrid becomes pregnant at 18, Blomberg can’t immediately marry her. He’s already the father of seven, and in the middle of a messy divorce from wife number two. Unwilling to bring shame on her parents, whose land and living comes partially from the church, Astrid relies on Blomberg’s assistance to enroll in a Stockholm secretarial school and plans to deliver her child at a hospital in the capital.
The script provides fascinating detail about the complications of bearing a child outside of wedlock in Sweden in the 1920s, and further proves how brave and radical Astrid was to defy the conventions of the time. Babies born in Sweden, even to unwed mothers, were required to have a father registered on the birth certificate. Since Blomberg’s wife is campaigning to have him jailed as an adulterer, Astrid decides to give birth in Denmark, where he won’t have to be named as the father. She travels on her own to Copenhagen, to the suburban home of nurturing earth mother Marie (Trine Dyrholm, in her sixth collaboration with director Christensen) and leaves her infant son Lasse to be fostered there. As Marie tells her, she’s by no means the first Swedish girl to have done so.
Views: 812
Genre: Drama
Director: Pernille Fischer Christensen
Actors: Alba August, Björn Gustafsson, Henrik Rafaelsen, Magnus Krepper, Maria Alm Norell, Maria Bonnevie, Trine Dyrholm




