Fucking Åmål / Show Me Love

Lukas Moodysson: Fucking Åmål / Show Me Love (SE 1998) with Alexandra Dahlström (Elin), Rebecca Liljeberg (Agnes).

Fucking Åmål. 

    SE © 1998 Memfis Film. D+SC: Lukas Moodysson. DP: Ulf Brantås - Super 16 mm - blow-up to 35 mm. Music selections include: "När vi två blir en" (Per Gessle) pres. Gyllene Tider. "Adagio" (Albinoni). "I Want To Know What Love Is" pres. Foreigner. "Show Me Love" pres. Robyn. ED: Michal Leszczylowski. CAST: Alexandra Dahlström (Elin), Rebecca Liljeberg (Agnes), Mathias Rust (Johan), Erica Carlson (Jessica), Stefan Hörberg (Markus). 89 min. Finnish subtitles: Arto Paljakka. A vintage release print, a good print, viewed at Cinema Orion, 7 April 2009.

The 16 mm cinematography brings a filmic texture, the colour is full and saturated in a pleasant way in the all-photochemically processed print.

Lukas Moodysson's masterpiece stands the test of time. Now, after the serial school massacres that got a higher profile since Columbine 1999, the theme of school bullying seems interesting and alarming in a new way. The film is psychologically subtle and honest. It is an extremely serious film about identity, sexual identity in this case. It is about love that has to be hidden. The conclusion is moving. "Do you really mean what you said before?" The victory of pride.

See my later blog entry on Fucking Åmål on 12 April 2014.