Show Me Love
by Lukas Moodysson
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DVD details
Actor: Alexandra Dahlström, Erica Carlson, Mathias Rust, Rebecka Liljeberg, Stefan HörbergDirector: Lukas Moodysson
Cinematographer: Ulf Brantås
Writer: Lukas Moodysson
Editor: Bernhard Winkler
Editor: Michal Leszczylowski
Producer: Anna Anthony
Producer: Lars Jönsson
Producer: Peter Aalbæk Jensen
DVD: Region Code 0
Audio: English (Subtitled); Swedish (Original Language), Dolby Digital 2.0 Surround
Format: Color, DVD, Letterboxed, NTSC, Subtitled, Widescreen
Picture Format: 1.85:1
Running Time: 89 minutes
DVD Release Date: 2000-10-31
Audience Rating: Unrated
Studio: Strand Releasing
DVD Reviews of Show Me Love
DVD Review: Not as "uplifting" or "sweet" as everyone seems to think
Summary: 2 Stars
I have to be a voice of dissent from all the reviews on here that gush over this movie as so poignant and wonderful and showing the pangs of first love (with the very small twist that it's a first lesbian love).
Neither girl in this movie is created as someone you (the viewer) likes. Elin is a bratty 14-year-old who apparently has made out with every boy in school. Her dreams of escaping her provincial and suffocating town come not from a desire to realize larger goals or dreams or plans, but to live somewhere where she can be in front of trends like raves and designer drugs before they go out of style. Agnes is quiet and shy and thus painfully antisocial -- perfectly creditable given her secret sexual identity -- but she allows her overwhelming crush on the "popular" girl to swallow her whole. She takes it to such an extreme that she alientates the one girl in school who would have been willing to be her friend, calling her a palsied cripple and gratuitously insulting her wheelchair basketball game as the most boring hour she's ever experienced.
Given that neither of these two girls is terribly likeable, it's difficult to muster any level of sympathy or happiness for them when they go busting down the closet door.
In fact, none of the teen girls in this movie are likeable at all. From the very beginning, we see "Mean Girls" Sweden-style, with the popular chicks terrorizing the ostracized one, going so far as place a dare on kissing Agnes and laughing in her face afterwards. Mocking the unpopular chick's attempt to have a birthday party was just the start.
It's the side plots of this movie -- more worthy of attention than the budding lesbian relationship -- that made this movie more interesting.
Take the case of the girl in the wheelchair (whose name I unfortunately forget). While our lesbian "protagonists" battle with their emerging emotions for each other, it is this handicapped girl whose pathetic attempts to "fit in" are fascinating. At the beginning of the film, she fits in about as much as Agnes, thus leading to their mutual reliance on each other for companionship. However, when Agnes turns viciously on her at the birthday party, she reciprocates the vitriol -- hoping that the common bond of animosity toward Agnes will bring her closer to the "cool" kids (male and female) who seem to make lifelong ambitions of picking on the lesbian girl.
Although underplayed, it is this girl's conflicting feelings, her misguided attempts to fit in, which are the more interesting to watch in terms of character development. Keep in mind that by the time Elin comes to grips with her homosexuality, she pretty much has enough social capital to get away with something daring. She's cool enough that she just might be able to survive the coming out process with minimal bruising. The girl in the wheelchair, however, will likely never fit in, despite her willingness to skewer the lesbian along with the rest of them.
Another interesting character to consider is Johan. This is the poor kid whose relationship with Elin was, unbeknownst to him, a vehicle for her to deny her budding homosexual feelings. A young man who started off just wanting to date the hot chick in the school, we can see his feelings for her developing, all while Elin ponders her feelings for Agnes. He also has to walk the delicate line between impressing Elin and not losing face with his uber-macho friend Markus. It can't be easy suffering the collateral damage from someone else's coming out process.
And, while also underdeveloped, only at the very end do we see a smattering of hope that Jessica might very well realize that she's with the wrong boy -- an abusive, possessive and mean one -- and she may be better off with Johan, who appears to be truly sensitive and empathetic.
To that degree, the movie in fact represents adolescent angst decently. But those are subplots. The main lesbian plot line leaves much to be desired because the girls are just so darn unlikeable.
Description of Show Me Love
Studio: Strand Releasing Release Date: 04/06/2006Bestsellers in DVD
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