Biopic explores secret scandal behind 'Pippi Longstocking'

A dark secret long held by Swedish author Astrid Lindgren led her to create one of the most beloved heroines of children's literature, Pippi Longstocking, according to a new biopic at the Berlin film festival.

"Becoming Astrid" by Danish filmmaker Pernille Fischer Christensen exposes the little-known backstory behind one of the world's most enduring girl characters, with her gravity-defying red plaits, abundant freckles and superhuman strength.

While still a teenager in conservative Sweden in the 1920s, the then Astrid Ericsson had an affair with her boss, the married editor-in-chief of the local newspaper, and fell pregnant.

The film examines the wrenching choices she was forced to make as a result, and the life lessons she drew.

"What happened here in this story made Astrid a really, really strong person," Fischer Christensen said. "One of the things she might have learned from this is you have to think for yourself.

"(Enlightenment philosopher Immanuel) Kant also said this but Astrid Lindgren says these things in a very, very simple way that just enters you when you are a child."

Fischer Christensen, 48, who called Lindgren "one of the most innovative and influential artists of our time", said Lindgren and her characters set an example for generations of people.

"I would not be the same person if I had not had Pippi," she said.

- Cast out -

The movie, which drew enthusiastic applause and a lot of tears at a press preview, introduces Astrid as a teenager living on her family's farm in a close-knit but judgemental tiny community.

Taken with her writing talent and independent streak, the editor, Blomberg, offers her a job but quickly falls in love with her and they begin a discreet affair.