August Strindberg and His Turbulent Life

Swedish author and playwright August Strindberg – a brilliant and yet highly controversial personage – died a hundred years ago this year. He is considered by many to be the best author who ever wrote in the Swedish language. But Strindberg is known not only for his extensive body of work, but also for his complicated personality, which combined a deep-rooted misogyny with an attraction to strong women (to name only one of his many contradictions). Consequently Strindberg has become known, and hotly debated, not only for what he wrote, but also for how he lived.

Author and filmmaker Lena Einhorn examines Strindberg’s turbulent life, focusing on his tumultuous first marriage to Siri von Essen, the Swedish-speaking Finnish noblewoman and actress.