But
Agnes is busy fightingdemons
of her own, and unlike Elin, she doesn't have a sister or
friends with whom to commiserate. She's a loner, pouring
her heart out to her computer while fending off questions
from her well-meaning parents. Agnes does hang out with
a wheelchair-bound girl Viktoria occasionally, but their
relationship quickly disintegrates when Agnes takes out
her frustrations on Viktoria after a disappointing birthday
party:
AGNES
(to Viktoria): You can go home and take your perfume with you.
We are friends only because no one else wants to be our friend.
We are friends only because we feel sorry for each other.
That
the film dares to show such cruelty in Agnes is unusual since the
audience is supposed to sympathize with Agnes, and the cruelty she
displays towards Viktoria is not exactly endearing.
This
is thegenius of ShowMe
Love: it lays bare the worst of human behavior and leaves you
feeling that there's still hope for the human race anyway. It accomplishes
this by refusing to make cardboard cutouts of its characters, instead
showing that everyone is capable of good and evil under the right
circumstances.
For
example, Elin tells everyone at a party that kissing Agnes was "horrible"
to keep anyone from thinking she liked it, and then cruelly breaks
up with Johann, a boy who is desperately in love with her, for showing
weakness in standing up to his friend. Agnes is vicious to Victoria
at her birthday party, but forgiving of Elin when she apologizes
later for the dare. Viktoria is initially supportive of Agnes' love
for Elin, then tells everyone at school about it after Agnes verbally
attacks her. Agnes' mother is very positive about lesbianism until
she finds out her daughter is one, at which point she becomes worried
and upset and violates her own ethics by reading Agnes' journal.
These
are just some of the ways in which Show Me Love demonstrates
the power of context, timing, and luck in determining our behavior.
Unlike
so many other films,which gloss over or
sugarcoat the effects of teenage cruelty, Show Me Love
is unflinchingly honest in showing the serious and long-term
scars that it can create. From suicide to drug and alcohol
abuse to dreams deferred, the film is artful in its ability
to demonstrate the damage cruelty can inflict, without ever
veering into preachiness.
Another
film about teenage lesbian love, All
Over Me, addresses the same subject, but set in
a big city (New York). There are some clear parallels between
these two films, as both are gritty, honest portrayals of
teenage life, both require the particular location in which
they're set to tell their story, and both are excellent
films. All Over Me is less concerned with showing
the co-existence of good and evil in its characters, however,
focusing more on the impact of an individual's actions,
while Show Me Love revolves more around the power
of group behavior.
Show
Me Love is not without its flaws - it is full of loose
ends, maintains an erratic pace, and transitions abruptly
in some places. But somehow, these things seem to work for
the movie, instead of against it. The lack of a polished,
Hollywood-style feeling only makes the story seem that much
more realistic, but at the same time the film never comes
across as amateur or low-budget.
Show
Me Loveis at its most powerful in demonstrating
that finding a kindred soul is instrumental to getting you through
the ugliness, even helping you rise above it. This is the meta-message
the movie finally delivers: cruelty and ugliness exist, but so
do love and beauty. For Agnes and Elin, who finally find this
beauty and love in each other, their relationship becomes not
just a luxury, but a necessity.
For
this and many other reasons, Show Me Love is likely to
stay with you long after Titanic is only a distant memory.
