Show Me Love (1998)

Two teenage girls in small-town Sweden. Elin is beautiful, popular, and bored with life. Agnes is friendless, sad, and secretly in love with Elin.

Director:

Lukas Moodysson

Writer:

Lukas Moodysson

Stars:

Alexandra Dahlström, Rebecka Liljeberg, Erica Carlson

19 wins & 8 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Alexandra Dahlström	...	Elin Olsson
Rebecka Liljeberg	...	Agnes Ahlberg (as Rebecca Liljeberg)
Erica Carlson	...	Jessica Olsson
Mathias Rust	...	Johan Hulth
Stefan Hörberg	...	Markus
Josefine Nyberg	...	Viktoria (as Josefin Nyberg)
Ralph Carlsson	...	Agnes' Father Olof
Maria Hedborg	...	Agnes' Mother Karin
Axel Widegren	...	Agnes' Little Brother Oskar
Jill Ung	...	Elin's Mother Birgitta
Lisa Skagerstam	...	Camilla
Lina Svantesson	...	Malin
Johanna Larsson	...	Sara
Elinor Johansson	...	Jenny
Jessica Melkersson	...	Sabina

Storyline

Åmål is a small insignificant town where nothing ever happens, where the latest trends are out of date when they get there. Young Elin has a bit of a bad reputation when it comes to guys, but the fact is that she is inexperienced in that matter. Another girl in her school, Agnes, is in love with her but is too shy to do anything about it. For a number of reasons, Elin ends up at Agnes' birthday party as the only guest. They have a girl's night out together but after that Elin desperately avoids Agnes, refusing to even consider her own feelings toward Agnes.

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Plot Keywords:

lesbian | sweden | school | birthday party | small town | 

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Taglines:

Jag ska aldrig mer bli ihop med nån. Jag ska bli celibat.

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Genres:

Comedy | Drama | Romance

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Certificate:

Not Rated

Details

Country:

Sweden Denmark

Language:

Swedish

Release Date:

23 October 1998 (Sweden)

Also Known As:

Show Me Love

Filming Locations:

Film i Väst, Nohab Industrial Estate, Trollhättan, Västra Götalands län, Sweden

Box Office

Budget:

SEK 9,000,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend USA:

$17,110, 17 October 1999, Limited Release

Gross USA:

$168,761, 22 April 2001

Company Credits

Production Co:

Memfis Film, Det Danske Filminstitut, Film i Väst

Technical Specs

Runtime:

89 min

Sound Mix:

Dolby SR

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Lukas Moodysson wrote nine drafts of the script.

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Goofs

Supposedly takes place in Åmål, but large parts are obviously filmed in Trollhättan.

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Quotes

[Agnes and Elin are trying to hitch to Stockholm]
Elin: What the hell are we doing? We must be out of our damned minds!
Agnes: Yes, I know.
Elin: But we are so fucking cool.

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Crazy Credits

Under "TACK TILL ALLA STATISTER", Sofia Wennberg is credited twice.

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Connections

Referenced in Kourastika na skotono tous agapitikous sou (2002)

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Soundtracks

I WANT TO KNOW WHAT LOVE IS
Composed by Mick Jones
Performed by Foreigner
Med tillstånd av Warner / Chappell Scand. AB / Warner Music Sweden

User Reviews

One of the best love stories seen on film

I watched this with my girlfriend, who said it was one of the best love stories she had ever seen - I tend to agree. I am not usually a fan of love stories, preferring a good zombie flick, but this one transcended the genre by showing emotion and motivation of the characters in such an interesting way that you couldn't help but sympathize with them.

I confess that my motivations for watching it were rather base; I heard that it was about teenage Swedish lesbians, and thought that was a subject I would certainly like to explore in more depth. On the one hand, there are none of the explicit scenes I was hoping for; on the other hand, I got into the movie so much I didn't miss them.

Fans of love stories, teenage angst, girl power and anything related will definitely like this movie. Other people will like it too, you'll just have to talk them into watching it. It would certainly make a good date movie, or just one to provoke discussion and romance.