Fucking Åmål (Show Me Love)
Sweden/Denmark | 1998 | Directed by Lukas Moodysson
Logline: Two teenagers – an unhappy girl with a secret crush on the cute popular girl – find themselves the centre of attention, much of it very awkward.
Writer and director Lukas Moodysson had been writing serious poetry for years before finally turning his hand to telling stories for the screen, but his deft hand at inspired irony, lyrical imagery, wry nuances, and delicate juxtapositions of desire, both metaphorical and literal, have been transferred superbly to the language of cinema in many of his features.
Fucking Åmål, or Show Me Love, as it was renamed for most of the rest of the world (and not surprisingly either, considering the number of awards it earned, it was inevitable major international distributors would insist the title be changed to something more marketable). Although entirely uninspired as a title, Show Me Love, is actually taken from the infectious r&b track sung in English by Swedish artist Robyn, which plays over the end credits.
The movie’s arc is nothing new under the romantic, coming of age sun. It deals with uninversal teenage themes of angst and awkwardness, the embarrassment of one’s parents, peer pressure and the cruelty of adolescence. But Moodysson plays a brilliant, yet subtle hand, lets the actors do the talking and molds his beautifully crafted story from the most simple of elements: raw honesty and unflinching naturalism. These are factors which feature in all of Moodysson’s movies, most notably the dark Lilja 4-ever and the extreme A Hole in My Heart.
The lead roles of Rebecka Liljeberg as Anges, the wallflower with a pure heart, and Alexandra Dahlstrom as Elin, the bombshell blonde with the mixed messages, drive the movie with wonderful dynamism and verve. Liljeberg and Dahlstrom shared a Guldbagge award for their performances (Sweden’s Oscar equivalent). Curiously, Dahlstrom, who has very striking looks, has a very unattractive gate with bowlegs and unusually short arms which borders on the grotesque. Moodysson reveals this a few times when Elin is seen walking in long shot.
Also memorable are the performances of Mathais Rust as Johan, the boy who must bear most of the frustration, as he tries in vain to win the heart of Elin, and of Josefin Nyberg as Viktoria, Elin’s friend who accompanies her to Agnes’s birthday party (a hilarious scene).
The movie’s original title refers in with a moody humourous tone to the township where the story takes place, Åmål, considered a real cul-de-sac of arts and culture, thus “fucking Åmål” is precisely where the girls are stuck fast and would do anything for a touch of excitement. A few of the other titles the movie was given outside of Sweden was Who Do You Like? (French-Canadian), Out from Åmål (Germany), and Friends of College (Brazil). None, of course, capture the sly wordplay of Moodysson’s original, but he was always going to have trouble selling a movie with a strong expletive in its title.
Moodysson shot the movie on 16mm (35mm blow-up) and the grainy look adds an almost documentary feel to the movie, which is enhanced by the naturalistic performances and unpretentious camerawork. It’s a love story with an unconventional angle, rather than boy-meets-girl, it’s girl-meets-girl, and also, rather than an adult relationships of that kind, it’s young teenagers. It’s refreshing, funny, coy, tender, yet still manages to deliver hard truths and deals with the unfortunate compromises of pre-adulthood. But it comes out grinning.
TRAILER (U.S.):
Show Me Love DVD is courtesy of Madman Entertainment, many thanks!
DVD cover art is © 1998 AB Memfis Film & Television All Rights Reserved
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