There are a few reviews here that to some extent focus on the film being about young girls and homosexuality. When I saw this as a teenager I never really thought of it as a film about lesbians. I just felt that everything it was Real. I related the characters because they were teenagers, with angst, insecurity, the brutality of being young and feeling lost and lonely.(I felt the same way when I watched "Let the Right One In", the Swedish ORIGINAL, NOT the Hollywood remake "Let Me In". "Let the Right One In" isn't a film about vampires, but a film that happens to have vampires in it. What it comes down to, is that it is a film about children and what it's really like to be a child, feeling misunderstood by a grown up world etc, etc.)SHOW ME LOVE/F***ING ÅMÅL happens to be a film about two girls who are lesbian, and though it bears on the story, this film truly is made for everyone who's ever been a teenager... Or maybe needs to be reminded how it was to be one.This is a love story. Not THE love story, but a love story that I think most people can relate to in one way or another. Gender and sexuality doesn't matter.Some refer to Swedish movies are "low budget" or "TV-films", but what it's really about is that Sweden isn't Hollywood. I'm sure most European movies may feel cheap to some viewers, who are used to a Hollywood format, but the fact is that this is what the film makers have to work that, and they do it really well. I'm not saying we don't need Hollywood, I'm just saying that Hollywood needs more film making like this, especially for teenagers. Teenagers don't need more movies about the Perfect High School Experience, they need something that shows them that their imperfect and confusing world is legitimate, 100% REAL, however heartbreaking and difficult it may be. That is a way to show them love.I'd like to recommend you to watch other movies by director Lukas Moodysson as well.

It's interesting to read international reviews of this movie, since they all seem to talk about how this is a movie about love. The Swedish reception however was mostly praise over it being such a spot on portrayal of teenage life in small towns. Originially it wasn't even supposed to be a love story in the movie, it was suppose to be about two sisters. While I do think that the love story creates a clear plot and more dimension, I still think that this isn't as much of a movie about love as it's a movie about small town life. About feeling trapped and desperately wanting to get away. My parents who grew up in small towns and later moved to the city were the ones who told me to watch this movie, because they thought it was so relatable to their upbringing and that it would be interesting (and important) for me as a city kid to watch. And quite honestly, while it's always nice with movies that breaks stereotypes and norms around love, I do think that the main theme of small town life is what makes this movie so great.I also love Moodysson's film style a lot. Obviously I'm not the only one since pretty much every Swedish teen movie from the 00's are basically cheap copies of this movie. Maybe the most obvious thing that makes it so great is how real it is. Not that that is something rare within Swedish film (at least compared to America), but this really does it in an amazing way that's not only realistic, but also both relatable and artistic. The soundtrack is absolutely perfect as well, especially Broder Daniel was the perfect fit for the movie and really made wonders for the film. All in all it's an amazing movie. It also has a special place in my heart because it was this movie that really made me realize that I should just watch European movies instead of mainstream American movies, which ended up with me actually getting interested in film.

I thought I'd start on my Lukas Moodysson box set. Although I've read many excellent reviews of his films, the only one I've actually seen before is this and I bought the box set simply on the grounds that I loved this film so much.Having now watched the film for the second time I'm not disappointed. This easily takes its place in my top ten films of all time. It's such a sweet film and the acting is just sensational. I never doubted for one moment that this was as close to a portrayal of teenage life as you could get and for that reason alone it deserves its status. I just scanned the comments on IMDb and of 310 comments nearly every one raves about the film, usually giving it 10 stars. Only about a dozen negative comments out of the lot. It seems that if people like this at all they really love it.

I came across this film entirely by chance. So far I have only seen it in fragmentary form on Youtube but I am completely in love with it (my CD is on order). Others here have already described it much more eloquently than I ever could so I won't attempt a synopsis.My adolescent years in a traditional English boys' boarding school in the early 70s could hardly have been more different from small town Sweden yet I identified completely with lonely, beautiful, shy Agnes - so adored and cared for by her understanding parents but so unhappy with her lot, misunderstood and mocked by her petty foul-mouthed schoolmates, yearning for an impossible love.For me Lindsay Anderson's "If...." (1968) has always been the defining movie of my adolescence for its exaggerated, satirical portrait of public school life. That film touches very briefly on the love boys could have for each other but does not explore the territory; love which seemed at the time so perfect and pure, transcending the surrounding cruelty and vulgarity, made all the more poignant by its forbidden nature and the ostracism it entailed. F***ing Amal fills that gap and belongs up there with Anderson's masterpiece.My favourite moments are not the obvious ones of the kissing scene or the dream sequence, but the sight of Agnes' tear stained face as she types her thoughts into her computer and her quiet nod of assent in the cubicle. The ending is uplifting but I was left with doubts. Would Elin really have had the courage to do this? Is it just a passing whim for her? Perhaps that is why the film is made to end so quickly. The perfect moment had been arrived at and bliss like this can never be sustained, or perhaps ever repeated.