The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo

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This movie is about a young woman with Asperger's helping a disgraced news reporter solve a series of murders linked to the bible. The way the actress played the title role hit home a lot. I think she did a really good job showing the weirdness, loneliness and single-minded purpose of AS. Throughout the film she is misreading the reporter, for whom she develops a strong affection, while he can be seen not to. It finally hits home at the end.

Anyone else seen it and, if so, what did you think?

The woman doesn't have Asperger's. I think that's fairly clear - I think what she had was described more as sociopathy rather than Asperger's.

I read all three of the books in this series last year and subsequently watched the Swedish versions of all three films and LOVED THEM!! !

I was recently physically attacked by a stranger (not the first time this has happened and likely not the last) and my reaction to the attack caused my closest friend to say "Wow, you really are Lisbeth Salander!"

I was super flattered by that comment because despite Lisbeth's myriad difficulties in life, she never gave up. Period. Faced with overwhelming adversity, she simply dug in, educated herself, waited, observed, and acted only when completely prepared to see her plan through until the end.

We Aspergirls are truly and odd bunch to be sure, but our greatest weapon against those that wish us harm is the fact that we are consistently underestimated by predators. This fact has saved my life many times during the past three decades.

Thanks for starting this thread!

If you walked through this world in a tiny female body, you might not think so. You might...but you might not.

I think her having Aspergers is only mentioned in the books, and she is a bit of a sociopath as she is not a normal case, she has suffered an extreme amount of child abuse or something.

There are web articles online that discount the idea of her having Asperger's. I haven't seen the film but I've read of the plot.

The author intended for her to have Aspergers and says so several times throughout the book series. This may not have fully translated to the screen but it is there in the books. It is clear from the monologue in her head that she is not sociopathic and cares very intensely for a few key people in her life.

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I liked Salander. The original Swedish films portray her as slightly less cool and able than the American version , but in the original she comes over more unintentionally but genuinely cool and has an air of innocence even though she has faced up to and and had to deal with terrible things. In the book, she is described as repaying every kindness shown to her in full. She genuinely cares for her first probation officer after he has a stroke ,and she visits her mom in a hospital . Much of the story centres around her weighing up Blomkvist and the friendship and trust that evolves.

Stig Larsson , the author, was an interesting man. He was in the Swedish army and served in Eritrea training women fighters to use rocket propelled grenades. I think his respect for women is evident in the books he wrote. They are not meant to be high literature, but crackingly good stories in which the characters are either evil men ( and women) or compassionate and strong. There are many ways to watch the films or read the books , one is to see the baddies as sociopaths (the original title was Men Who Hate Women) Vs the good guys , and it is seen and made sense of primarily through Salander who was intended by Larsson to have some strong Asperger's characteristics and traits.

Her half brother is a total murderous sociopath ( has nerve damage and feels no pain) and when I saw the second film I wondered if Larsson was alluding to Hans Aspergrer's diagnostic separation of us from the sociopaths back in the early 1940's.

I also think if the trilogy is about anything , it's justice .

So, yes, she's an Aspie. I've watched the first 2 Swedish films - very good subtitles - and it comes across more than it did in the US film. Particularly good is it showing the other aspects of her character, demonstrating that AS doesn't define anyone; it's only a part of someone.

I haven't seen it, but I heard it was pretty good based on it being a Thriller.

I thought the remake was better than the Swedish films, but I know a bit between the remake and the series.

Comparison between SWE and US versions is a write-up with which I agree. Just shows that sex sells, at least in the States.

Completely ironic considering how morally uptight people are in this country.

I just tonight watched the first movie of the trilogy, the swedish version. I am also on book 2. No doubt that book one of the trilogy is not only much better than the film, but much more obvious this girls is autistic. Great, great, great book!

I saw both the Swedish and American versions, and loved them both.
And yes, I like to think she had Asperger's. We Aspies need as many strong role models - fictional or otherwise - that we can get.

-Bill, otherwise known as Kraichgauer

I'll drink to that . I haven't seen the American version yet, but loved the Swedish ones. After reading that article, I'm wondering if Lisbeth has lost some of her edge.