Ananya Dhote
As you see this movie, you can almost feel a flower blooming inside of you. The bittersweet intricacies of love and attraction, the lonely feeling, little anxieties of youth, variability of people and situations, boredom, self-doubt, and bursts of transitory happiness, all of this curls up inside a bud that blooms into a beautiful flower by the end of the movie. And a pink one at that!
Two girls and Åmål, an isolated Swedish town that one could describe as “fucking” in a very teenage sort of way. Elin is beautiful, popular with guys, bored and hates life. Agnes is shy, has no friends at school and is secretly in love with Elin. Elin is ignorant of Agnes’s existence until we find a situation where Elin’s sister Jessica dares her to kiss Agnes. She does it, leaving behind a hurt Agnes and then, they both go to a party at some friend’s place. While their friends along with Jessica, giggle and tease Agnes about being a lesbian, Elin feels bad and goes back to apologize. Thus begins their short unplanned date in which they have a real kiss, talk, open up and part with a promise to call each other the next day. However, we find that Elin, being unable to understand or talk to people about her feelings for Agnes, finds solace in jumping into a superficial and socially acceptable relationship with a high school lad, Johaan, who is desperately in love with her. Agnes is devastated. And thus gradually we see our protagonists ride over inevitable meanderings of youth and discover themselves and of course, love.
Agnes (Rebecca Liljeberg) and Elin (Alexandra Dahlström) give amazing performances. The movie models fiction in scenes and situations that come straight (or may I say gay!) off the shelf of life. It talks in varied undertones. It is of course, about two teenage girls (who are perhaps lesbian or bisexual) discovering their sexuality; though, there are also spurts of scenes and dialogues that address issues of coming out and the social reaction to it. Agnes’s parents are sensitive and supporting; her mother has a balanced view on homosexuality until she gets a little anxious and upset upon discovering that the school gossip circles call her daughter a lesbian. Elin says that her worst nightmare is getting married, having loads of kids, a house, a car and being stuck in Åmål! She disapproves of her sister’s boyfriend who thinks that girls don’t understand technical gadgets or sports and are only tailor-made for applying make-up and looking good. Thus the movie is as much about independent women carving out their niche as it is about growing up and sexuality.
Fucking Åmål or Show Me Love(its English version) by Swedish director Lukas Moodysson was “out” in 1998, way before the current worldwide surge of LGBT activism and acceptance. Yet, no matter how progressive or liberal the scenario gets, this is a movie that will always appeal to one’s senses because it essentially talks about love, self-discovery and human behavior in the environs of an unconventional setup such as gender identity and sexuality. And it will hold on your memory all the way long because there are no quantum leaps in growing up.
