Plot
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.

Release Year: 1998

Rating: 7.8/10 (29,851 voted)

Critic's Score: 73/100

Director: Lukas Moodysson

Stars: Alexandra Dahlström, Rebecka Liljeberg, Erica Carlson

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Åmål is a small insignificant town where nothing ever happens, where the latest trends are out of date when they get there.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 has never done *it*. Another girl in her school, Agnes, is in love with her but is too shy to do anything about it. For different 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 homosexuality.

Cast:
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

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

Release Date: 23 October 1998

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

Box Office Details

Budget: SEK 9,000,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend: $17,110 (USA) (17 October 1999) (5 Screens)

Gross: $168,761 (USA) (22 April 2001)

Runtime: 89 min

Trivia:
The poster for the film featured quotes from the dialogue, including four-letter words. This caused some controversy, and for Stockholm's subway, special posters were printed with the "worst" quotes left out.

Goofs:
Continuity: When Agnes is lying on the bed crying and her father is sitting beside her, the appearence of her hair changes several times between shots.

Quotes:
Elin: Nobody's putting anything in me. Fingers maybe...

The most, pornvild, humoristic, cramping- movie I ever seen.

Rating:

Hollywood always portrays teenagers through clichés and prejudices. No wonder that this fresh look upon teenagers comes from Sweden, a country the movies of which only seldom make it to our screens. Fucking Åmål makes me wish we saw more Swedish movies, since there is definitely something special about them. The director has chosen a very difficult subject for his first movie : the (love)story of two young girls. Agnes, 16 (very cute Rebecka Liljeberg), is in love with Elin, 14 (enthralling Alexandra Dahlström). Agnes is very closed in upon herself, and doesn't seem to have a single friend. Elin is probably the first person she has ever loved. Elin, on the contrary, is a most lively girl who can't stand the boredom of her own life. Getting drunk allows her to forget about the meaninglessness of life in the small town of Åmål. Boredom and idleness are indeed an underlying theme of the movie (especially in its portrayal of youth). Elin dreams about attacking old ladies, setting houses on fire, fleeing to Stockholm, whatever will put some excitement in her life. All the boys are attracted to her, but though she has dated many, she is still a virgin. Through Agnes, she will discover that she is a lesbian herself, and the deep torments that she feels are extremely well shown by Lukas Moodysson, the director, in the most sensitive way possible. It is very hard to express through images the mental tortures of a teenager who can't accept herself, but Fucking Åmål does it perfectly. I don't think it is possible to walk out of this movie and not be in love with Elin and Agnes (no matter if one is a man or a woman). Everyone has suffered from the kind of torment these two girls live through, and Fucking Åmål will make those who often consider adolescence with condescension or even scorn have a whole new look on it. Rarely have I seen actresses that young that talented. Wait, let me rephrase that : rarely have I seen actresses that talented, period. It is hard to get out of this movie, and get back to everyday life, because it feeds on one's own capacity for emotion continuously, even once the lights have been switched on again and the screen has turned white. And the only way to feed that need for sheer emotion is to go see Fucking Åmål again, again, and again.

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