Movie – Show Me Love (aka Fucking Amal) (1998)

Show Me Love is a Swedish coming of age film.  It is the story of two very different teenage girls.  It’s also a really sweet story of first love.  The film ended up being the most popular Swedish film of that year.  It was also critically acclaimed, winning four Guldbagge Awards (the “Swedish Oscars”) for Best Film, Best Director, Best Screenplay, and Best Actress jointly shared by the two leads.  It won awards from several other countries, too, although it did not receive an Academy Award nomination, perhaps because of controversy over its title.

The actual name of the film is Fucking Amal.  This doesn’t refer to sex, though.  Amal is a small town in Sweden, and the title is how one of the teenage girls refers to it.  Like many teens stuck in small towns, she can’t wait until she can leave it.  The film played at the Cannes Film Festival under the original title, but when Sweden nominated it as their entry for the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language film, the magazine Variety (among others) refused to run ads for it.  Eventually the film was renamed after the pop song by Swedish singer Robyn that plays over the end credits.  That song is Show Me Love.

In the film, Agnes (Rebecca Liljeberg) is a girl in her mid teens whose family moved to Amal a year or so earlier.  She is a loner and her parents worry that she hasn’t made many friends yet.  In a misguided attempt to help her they decide to throw a 16^th birthday party for Agnes and invite all her schoolmates.  Agnes is mortified because she figures no one will show up.  She’s pretty much right.  Only one, a classmate in a wheelchair, arrives.  In her embarrassment Agnes lashes out at her, saying that the two of them are only friends because no one else will talk with them.  (Agnes later apologizes).

Meanwhile, Elin (Alexandra Dahlstrom) is the opposite of Agnes.  She’s popular and outgoing.  So popular, in fact, that she’s kind of sick of going to parties.  She’s bored with her life and wishes she was old enough to leave for the big city.  She and her sister duck out on a party to avoid a guy, and she goes to Agnes’ party as an excuse.  While there, Elin’s sister dares her to see if the rumors about Agnes being a lesbian are true.  After being goaded enough, Elin finally does kiss Agnes then runs away laughing.  What Elin doesn’t know is that Agnes has had a crush on her for a long time but has been too shy to tell her.  Agnes is devastated.

Elin and her sister end up going back to the other party.  Her conscience gets the better of her, though, and she goes back to Agnes’ to apologize.  She catches Agnes about to hurt herself.  Elin stops Agnes, apologizes to her, and even convinces her to go for a walk with her.  The two talk about many things, especially what they want to really be doing.  Elin impulsively convinces Agnes to run away to Stockholm with her.  They try hitchhiking and get picked up.  Before the car pulls away the owner steps out for a moment.  In the backseat Agnes and Elin catch each other’s eyes, and then kiss for real, all while the radio is playing Foreigner’s song I Want to Know What Love Is.  The driver catches them and kicks them out of his car.

Elin is thrown by what has happened.  She avoids Agnes afterwards because she is afraid that her feelings for her might be real.  How many boy meets girl films show the popular girl being attracted to the geeky or unpopular guy and being mortified if her friends ever found out?  Well take that situation and add in a same sex attraction and Elin’s situation is really hard for her to deal with.  Elin’s sister can tell something is up and won’t leave her alone until she finds out.  Elin finally lies and says she is in love with the guy from the party, which leads to something Elin didn’t plan on.  In the meantime, Agnes just wants to talk with Elin to see if she can fix whatever is wrong, but even being seen together could start rumors Elin doesn’t want.

Both actresses do good jobs in what were their first big roles.  Liljeberg is seriously cute.  In the film when her character’s heart is first broken by Elin, yours breaks with it.  I’d like to see what she looks like now that she’s an adult.  She ended up quitting acting in the early 2000s to go to Med School.  Dahlstrom has continued to act steadily, but she hasn’t had international success again like she did with this film.  She plays the bored, confused teenage girl to a T.

I rarely notice fashion in a film, but this movie brings together two big trends of the 90s.  In order to emphasize the difference between the two, Elin dresses like a Spice Girl with short skirt and platform sneakers, while Agnes dresses in flannel like a grunge rocker.

As I said above, this is a cute movie about first love.  It’s a drama, so there are no silly, slapstick scenes.  It’s not a romantic comedy.  It’s an honest look at how awkward and confusing it is to be a teenager, but at the same time it doesn’t become annoying.  Unless the subject matter offends you, I highly recommend this film.

Chip’s Rating: 4 out of 5 stars

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