You may have heard that Show Me Love's original Swedish title was F***ing Amal, and to explain the movie, let's put that title in context. In a wonderful scene, Agnes (Rebecka Liljeberg) and Elin (Alexandra Dahlstrom), the two main characters, sit in the back of a stranger's car before suddenly, excitingly kissing each other. Elin, says to Agnes, who we've seen in pits of loneliness and isolation, that she is only lonely as a lesbian, "Because you live in f***ing Amal; if you lived in Stockholm, you'd have a million girlfriends." Maybe that would be true, maybe it wouldn't, but that title and that line tap into that true sense of teens - and maybe all of us - that just want to be alive and free and living as they see fit. Show Me Love goes is a marvel in that it shows teens as they truly are - competitive, self-centered, confused, immature, but capable of great love and friendship and sympathy and wisdom. We get to see Elin's aggressive, loving relationship with her sister Jessica (Erica Carlson), and their relationships with their equally confused young boyfriends Johan and Marcus (Mathias Rust and Stefan Horberg), and as each additional person shows up, another person and relationship we recognize as true seems to materialize. Johan spends time in the mirror adjusting his hat so it looks cool enough, Jessica and Elin get in shouting matches about chocolate milk, and Agnes, in a fit of anger, humiliates her only friend only to cry to her father minutes later that "No one will ever like me!" In other words, they act like we did, and Show Me Love observes them with utter acceptance and humanity. Lukas Moodyson's next two movies, Together and Lilya 4-Ever, are full of the same wide-eyed understanding, but in a way Show Me Love is his purest movie, and his easiest to empathize with. The ending is pat for the honesty we've seen throughout, but it's also so pleasing and silly and great, it barely matters - by the time we get there, nothing could disrupt the love we've built for these characters.
September 14, 2008 |  | A Sad Tale From Rural Sweden Anno 1998 |  |
I remember seeing this film several times when it hit Scandinavia with a storm in the 90's, it blew me away then, just as it did as I saw it again today. Apart from one disgusting unnecessary scene, I think it is a really beautiful film that manages to capture the feeling of what it meant to grow up in rural Scandinavia in the 90's. The film has several main characters, although Agnes, played by Sami actress Liljeberg is probably the main one. She is 14 years old and according to the plotline the loneliest person in the whole world. She is madly in love with Elin, played by Alexandra Dahlstrøm, the prettiest and most popular girl in their high-school. Elin's 16 year old sister; Jessica, is the girlfriend of the shallow Markus, whose best friend, Johan, is madly in love with Elin. Quite a labyrinth of love, so to speak.
The whole lesbian-thing is not something that should put you off from the film; they are just confused kids and would probably grow out of it in the real world. For me the real story is the story of Johan Hult, the somewhat introspective precocious youth caught in the mindless plebeian attitude of his peers. I recognize so much of myself while younger in Johan that it is painful for me to watch this film. I was caught in a very similar situation (without the lesbian-thing, of course) for years while their age. The film captures perfectly the both wonderful and horrible feeling of being young and new to love, while at the same time they are in many ways young adults. So if you want to know what it was like growing up in rural Europe in the 90's, or anyplace for that matter, look no further. Beware that it is a painful film to watch at times, though. There are so many great actors in the film; Johan, Agnes' father, Agnes, Elin and several others. Agnes' father has some very important words to say to those that stand out among teeming masses of plebeians in this descending world.
Highly recommended for both previous teenagers and current ones, with the added bonus of a more or less all-European cast. 5 stars.
June 16, 2008This movie is such a painfully naturalistic portrayal of adolescence you would think the whole thing was improvised. Every moment is pitch-perfect. Elin's partying sister and friends are so jaw-droppingly shallow (her sister's boyfriend talks at length about his cell phone), that it really feels like you're the sober one at a sloppy high school kegger. Which you kind of are. Juxtapose this with the brittle, awkwardly well-meaning and clausterphobic hush of Agnes' home and parents, and in a few brief moments you have painted before you a complete picture of how different these girls' worlds are, despite the fact that they go to the same school. The side characters are well-drawn--something you don't typically see in teen coming-of-age movies. The sibling squabblings between Elin and her sister are so real you'll hear strange little things from your own childhood. At the same time, their love for each other is real--they're best friends. The character of Elin's boyfriend is perfect, too, in his quiet jockishness. He's a boy who's not yet a man, with an innocence of the world, women, opinions. He's a glimmer of the decent man he'll become, thankfully, instead of a cardboard cutout. You feel genuinely bad for him that he gets caught up in Elin's sexual confusion. And the two leads are terrific. Elin has a rough vitality that's sad and endearing. And Agnes's alienation is palpable, so much of it conveyed through her lovely, dark eyes. My only complaint is that the chemistry between them isn't developed enough to be fully believable. There's no question about the ardor Agnes has for Elin--it's that distant no-hope type of crush. But what is it that Elin really connects with in Agnes? Is it that she's smart and destined for a solid, good future beyond Amal--something that Elin wants for herself? Is it that Elin really is attracted to women and Agnes is, well, convenient? In the end, perhaps even this detail is pitch perfect to small-town life. When you're gay and a teenager and there's no one else like you for miles and miles you, one person can feel like an emotional oasis.
March 30, 2008 | | "We walk out, of course." | |
Coming from the same director as Lilya 4-Ever [Region 2], Show Me Love hails from a different side of the emotional spectrum. This is a simple movie delving into what, for people in this situation, must feel like anything but simple times. A "teen movie" I guess one could say, it's a teen movie in more like the ways Ghost World is a teen movie. That is to say, the characters actually have inner lives, unlike in so many American teen movies where it's all about watching some producer's idea of a hot little blond chick walking into a door *cue audience laughter... AGAIN!*.
Are Anges and Elin always likeable? No not always. They're human. I doubt most of us would have been considered "always likeable" had an outsider been able to peek into our worlds at ages 14 -16. Everyone had their bratty moments. A previous reviewer mentions Johan and the paralyzed friend as being the real stories here. Not so for me. Johan is your average drunken musclehead trying to get... we all know what he's trying to get. Just because he also does like Elin doesn't make him more compelling. The girl in the wheelchair is in the movie for a total of maybe 4 minutes, and not consecutively. Why anyone would be pulled into their stories more than those of Elin and Agnes... Agnes in particular, I do not know.
Agnes, Rebecka Liljeberg, is the reason to see this movie. She is a fantastic actress. The day after watching this, I was online searching for more of her movies. I was shocked to find she's only been in a couple, total, and none of them are available in the USA. She is a quietly smoldering little powerhouse of emotion and instrospection. Much of this movie is about the feelings in her eyes, again making it a teen movie in the sense that Ghost World is a teen movie, where Thora's eyes dominate. Either Claire Danes and Thora Birch are the Rebecka Liljebergs of the USA or Rebecka is the Claire or Thora of Sweden. It's not often you find people of such young ages (Show Me Love being 10 years old now) who are so tapped into the feeling of what a movie is really trying to convey. One could see this movie as a cinematic slice out of one of the poems in Bend, Don't Shatter: Poets on the Beginning of Desire.
This was every bit worth the rental and several hours spent watching it twice. It was even better the 2nd time around when I could pull away from the subtitles to give more attention to the actors.
February 16, 2008| | | My Favorite Movie of All Time | |
Show Me Love is, simply put, one of the finest films to ever hit the screen. A well-written and natural film, it feels less like a movie and more like a documentary. There are so many instances where you feel as though the characters feel. Dahlstrom and Liljeberg are perfect and have an amazing chemistry. The supporting actors hold their own, especially Ralph Carlsson's performance as Agnes' father. Simply put, you may never find a better film about teenagers, or a better film, period.
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October 28, 2007More reviews at Amazon.com ...
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