FA English Script Translation

[snaps]

OK, I've checked all the other threads but not found one to match, so I'll park it here. I'm reviewing all my current internet commitments on other sites and removing quite a lot of old stuff. This is fairly new by me. TBH I haven't the time to follow it through, which I did with this section. Makes me realize what a lot of effort was put in by others who attempted the same. Rather than delete this altogether I'll leave it here for reference. The basic is here, I've re-formatted it for bold and itallics etc. The intention was to split the action up into the ten parts that comprise the youtube videos.

This provides a new translation of the opening filmscript into English. It is intended to be preceded by a subtitled version of the same section of the film. This version builds on previous work by Regan, Kaarin Goodburn, Peter Weisenbacher, Ole Buskerud, ‘Sydney’ Roermond, Thomas Stok, and the assistance of many others. The translation offered here is close to the original Swedish version. At the same time some words and phrases have been placed into more vernacular UK English.

The original script and film are © Copyright to Lukas Moodysson and Memfis Films. This part is for academic and research purposes only. It is highly recommended that you purchase a copy of the film e.g. from Nordic DVD, http://www.oebfa.com/index.php?lang_id=en&page_id=6&item_id=4686 or even better, invest in the Lukas Moodysson boxset of films in which 'Fucking Amal' appears.


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[PROLOG]

[Interior] AGNES ROOM, LATE AT NIGHT, THURSDAY 26th APRIL

AGNES AHLBERG, a young girl types at her computer. One after the other, the letters appear on the screen:

my secret wishlist:

1. that I do not have to have a party
2. that elin will check me out
3. that elin will fall in love with me

I LOVE ELIN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[OPENING CREDITS]


[Int.] KITCHEN: MORNING. FRIDAY 27th APRIL

We are in the kitchen of a fourth floor flat in Åmål's highest building. One of the few buildings with lifts. The apartment block was built in the late 1960s. People living in this area are mostly the least prosperous of the working class. Åmål is a small town of 13,500 people. There is some social segregation in types of housing, but not as marked as in a large city. Also, unlike big cities, there are no great geographical distances between the differing neighbourhoods.

We are at home with ELIN OLSSON and her older sister JESSICA. Elin goes to school at 8.00 a.m. and Jessica for 9.00 a.m. If there were a vote on who is the school's prettiest girl, it is likely that Elin would win. Jessica might come in fifth place. Jessica wears a t-shirt and tights. Elin has only a dressing gown on. She has just come out of the shower. Her hair (blond, but with darker roots) is wet. Around her, she has a letter necklace: E-L-I-N.

Jessica is sitting at the kitchen table and stirs a glass of O'boy (a popular chocolate milk drink). Elin stands by the oven, holding an empty O'boy carton.

ELIN (screaming): What the heck are you doing? I hate you!

She throws the O'boy carton at Jessica.

JESSICA: Just calm down ..
ELIN: You are so bloody stupid!

Elin lunges forward. She snatches Jessica's glass and pours the drink over her Jessica’s head. Jessica hurls herself at Elin. They wrestle on the floor, struggling and screaming, falling over each other.

JESSICA: You bloody idiot, what are you doing? I hate you!
ELIN: Ouch!

Suddenly their mother BIRGITTA comes to the door. She is wearing a t-shirt and panties, having just been disturbed from her bed.

BIRGITTA: In the name of ...... pack it in! What are you doing?

The sisters cease scuffling. Jessica storms to her feet. She is and angry, and dripping wet with milk.

JESSICA: You should ask Elin that!

She runs out of the kitchen, past Birgitta who turns around after her. Elin gets up quietly. Jessica slams the door behind her.

BIRGITTA: I just don’t get it ... I'm so sick and tired of this! I've been working all night.
ELIN: I'm sorry ... I didn’t mean to wake you up.
JESSICA (yelling, outside the picture): And what the hell am I supposed to wear now?
BIRGITTA: So, what was it this time then?
ELIN: She took the last of the O'boy.
BIRGITTA: She took the last of the chocolate drink?
ELIN: Mmm.

Birgitta utters a long sigh and goes back to her bedroom as the door closes behind her. Elin tears off a piece of paper towel, places it on the floor and begins to mop up the milk, circling the paper towel with her foot. Not very effectively.


[Int.] AGNES ROOM: MORNING

It is early in the morning. Agnes lies in bed asleep, or pretends to sleep. Her room is the opposite of the clichéd view of how a girl’s room looks. Nothing is pink. No pictures of Leonardo di Caprio. Instead, she has children's drawings, Morrissey posters and photographs that she herself has taken, on the walls. Her room is located on the second floor. Suddenly, there is a faint voice outside the room.

FAMILY: (singing) Yes, may she live long ....... yes, may she live long!

The door to the room opens and her family marches in. KARIN her Mum, OLOF her Dad, and her little brother OSKAR. The mother is smart looking and stylish. The father looks well-groomed. Upper middle class, "good stock". Olof is an architect, and Karin a textile artist. They carry presents and a cake with sixteen small candles. It is Agnes’ sixteenth birthday.

OLOF: Cheers for Agnes on her sixteenth birthday! Here’s to her:
FAMILY: Hoorah, hoorah, hoorah, hoorah!

Agnes smiles and rubs the sleep out of her eyes.

OLOF: I'll just pull up the blind.
KARIN: Are you going to blow out the candles, sweetie ?

Agnes blows out all the candles on the cake.

KARIN: Good!
OLOF: Birthday Hugs!

Olof hugs Agnes and then it's mum's turn.

KARIN: Congratulations to you. Just to think - that you are a sixteen-year-old now. Not a kid anymore.


[Exterior] OUTSIDE ELIN’S APARTMENT BLOCK: MORNING

Outside the building, JOHAN HULT squats by his moped. Johan is a well-meaning but shy seventeen-year-old. He fiddles with something on the moped, but this seems to be just for show. He looks furtively all the while at the front door. After a while, Elin comes out of the door. She wears a short skirt and an unbuttoned jacket. Under the jacket she has a tight fitting top. The weather is not warm. Elin is known for dressing quite provocatively. A bit brash and cheap. Garish colors, high heels, fashionable but no expensive brands, mostly H&M outfits.

JOHAN: Hiya.
ELIN: Hi. Do you live here?

Johan gets up.

JOHAN: No, I’m just passing through. You want a lift to school?
ELIN: No.
JOHAN: But you can borrow my helmet, I don’t need it ...
ELIN: Nooo, I’m off.

Elin walks away. Johan stands left holding his crash helmet.

JOHAN: Are you going to Christian’s party tonight?
ELIN (without turning around): Maybe.
JOHAN: Okay, I might catch you there then? All right. Goodbye.

Elin says nothing, she just goes. Johan gazes after her.


[Int.] AGNES ROOM: MORNING

On the desktop in Agnes’ room are opened gifts, including a ''Bob Hund'' album (the Martin Kann album). There is also the half-eaten cake and a box of ‘Aladdin’ brand-name chocolates. Agnes sits on the bed and packs her school bag. In one of those beauty pageants that Elin probably would win, Agnes would not rate a single vote. Not that she's ugly, but because she does not fit in well. She is dressed in combat pants and a shirt that she probably bought cheap off a market. She packs her school books in her bag. Olof sits by the desk. He picks up the CD.

OLOF: Was it the right disc?
AGNES: Yes. Thanks, very much.
OLOF: I listened to it when I was in the shop. I thought it was ... It was actually, rather good.

Agnes smiles. She thinks her father is being diplomatically polite.

OLOF: (gently): Have you handed some out?

His attention falls on a small pile of printed birthday invitations, sitting on the desktop.

AGNES: No, but I'll ...
OLOF: You know, you don’t have to. I printed them just in case you ...
AGNES: You got them for me because mum said so.
OLOF: True, I did. But it’s up to you, it's your party.
AGNES: It's mum's party.
OLOF: No, it isn’t. It's YOUR birthday, it's your party. If you don’t ... I mean, if you don’t want to invite so many, ... No.
AGNES: Yes, but I will ...

She gets up and retrieves a textbook.

OLOF: It’s not unusual, when you are new to a place, that it’s not so easy to find friends at first.
AGNES: At first?
OLOF: Yes.
AGNES: But Dad, we've lived here for two years now.
OLOF: Nooo ... We moved here in June – so that’s one and a half years.
AGNES: I’ll do it, I’ll do it, I will give them out!

She gets up quickly. She takes grabs the invites, and leaves quickly.

OLOF: No, but you don’t need to if ... Agnes. Agnes.


[Int.] SCHOOL: DAY

A typical Swedish secondary school. We are in a large central corridor with lots of lockers, three minutes before the first class begins. It is bustling with people. Standing by one of the lockers is Agnes. She retrieves her school books, closes and locks it and moves a few feet away to a girl in a wheelchair - VIKTORIA - who is taking books from her locker.

AGNES: Here.

She hands over an invitation to Viktoria, with no enthusiasm, as if she had to.

VICTORIA (very happily, and perhaps surprised): Thank you!
AGNES: It looks like I’m having some kind of celebration.

CAMILLA: Are you having a party?

Agnes turns around and sees CAMILLA, one of the school's bitchiest girls.

AGNES: No.
CAMILLA: Let me see then.

Camilla snatches an invitation.

AGNES (embarrassed): Stop it.
CAMILLA (sarcastically): Wow! Then I just have to be there!
VIKTORIA: Back off, you always ..... Give me my card!
CAMILLA: But please, can’t I come then?
VIKTORIA: Stop it!
CAMILLA: But please!

Agnes has stopped caring. She looks the other way, namely: Elin runs into the hallway and throws her arms round Jessica’s neck.

ELIN: Jessica! I’m sorry!

VIKTORIA: That's my invite!

ELIN: I promise I’ll never pour O'boy on you again! I'm so very stupid!
JESSICA (off-screen): Yes, that's you alright.

Agnes has a hard time taking her eyes off Elin.


[Int.] CLASSROOM: DAY

Agnes sits and daydreams in a mathematics lesson. In a square ruled Maths exercise book, she writes along a row of squares: ELIN ELIN ELIN. Agnes sits next to Viktoria. She glances at what Agnes writes. Then she looks away, faintly embarassed. Agnes comes round and places her hand over her doodling. Viktoria affects being deeply absorbed in the lesson. Agnes draws a line through the letters, then she crosses through them with a pencil.


[Int.] CLASSROOM: DAY

In another classroom across the corridor, Elin is hunched over her desk, her eyes closed. Seemingly, in the dim distance in the same classroom, there is a lesson in progress, but Elin is not engaged.

TEACHER (outside the image): Look up page 48. Then you will complete an example, and then we shall read from chapter six through to chapter eight. Elin? Are you dozing?

Elin sighs, sits up, disgruntled.

TEACHER (outside of the picture): This lesson, I can only say that ...


[Int.] DINING HALL: DAY

The school dining hall is full of students. Agnes and Viktoria sit side by side. No-one else sits at their table. Agnes eats a vegetarian dish. In front of her on the table are the birthday invitations. They are reciting French words ready for the afternoon test. Viktoria pronounces incorrectly and Agnes corrects her mistake.

AGNES: Escape, disappearance.
VICTORIA (pronounces incorrectly): "Fug".
AGNES (corrects her): No. "Fuge". Buss.
VIKTORIA: Kiss?
AGNES: Buss.
VIKTORIA (enunciates wrongly): Ah yes, "buss".
AGNES: "Bus".

Agnes glances over at another table. Elin and her friends: Camilla, SARA, MALIN and other members of the ‘cool crew’ are seated there.

ELIN: ... I just don’t want to.
CAMILLA: Have you got the rag on or something?
ELIN: What do you mean, my period?
CAMILLA: But you are so bloody whiney, you whinge and whine!
ELIN: I never whine!
CAMILLA: Oh, yes.
ELIN: I just don’t want to go to Christian's party. Can’t we do something else instead?
MALIN: Like what?
ELIN: I dunno.

At Agnes table they continue studying.

AGNES: ''It is mild weather''.
VIKTORIA: Hmm ...

ELIN: I want to go to a rave.
GIRLS: Go to a rave!
SARA (ironically): Where, then, at you grandmother’s place?
ELIN: Or we could mug a pensioner or something.
CAMILLA: You're sick in the head.

Elin’s eyes roll.

ELIN: Aaarghh! You are soooo boring!
CAMILLA: You could go to Agnes party instead, if you think it'll be more fun.
ELIN: Who’s Agnes?
CAMILLA (shouts to Agnes): Agnes! You’re having a party tonight?

Agnes glances hatefully towards Camilla.

VIKTORIA: Ignore her!
AGNES: I hate her.

ELIN: Everything is so boring!

Elin pushes away her tray and collapses over the table, throwing her arms over her head.

ELIN: Everything is sooooo boring ...

VIKTORIA: Ignore her.

Agnes gets up abruptly, takes her tray and heads for the counter. On the tray are the invitations.

ELIN: I hate my life!
CAMILLA: Agnes!
ELIN: I’m going to stop breathing.

Elin draws in a deep breath deeply and holds on.

CAMILLA: But Agnes, WE will come to your party!

Agnes exasperated, tips the entire contents of her tray, with plate, cutlery, invitations and everything into the bin, which is intended only for leftovers. She turns around to Elin's table and gives them the finger. They cheer and applaud, all but Elin who is still hunched over the table holding her breath. Eventually she lets the air out, while her friends babble about Agnes being wimpy.


[Int.] BOY'S ROOM: DAY

Johan Hult looks and roots round in a room that appears to belong to a young teenage boy. National Hockey League posters on the walls. In a drawer he finds what he is after: the School Yearbook. He grabs it and closes the drawer. He hears footsteps and voices outside the door and stops abruptly, stuffing the yearbook inside his sweater. At the same moment the door opens.

LITTLE BROTHER: What are you doing in my room?

Johan turns around and heads for the door. His thirteen-year-old brother and his friend stand there.

JOHAN: I was just checking if my skates were here.
LITTLE BROTHER: Why would your skates be in my room?

Johan doesn’t answer. He shoves his brother out of the way and leaves the room.


[Int.] JOHAN’S ROOM: DAY

Johan sits on his bed and looks inside the school yearbook. He spots Elin in a class photograph. With scissors, he cuts this small picture from the yearbook and slips into a perspex pouch in his wallet.


[Int.] AGNES ROOM: DAY

In another room is a different person on the bed and looking at Elin's picture in the school yearbook. It is Agnes.


[Fade]

[Juule]

Looks great. Great to have it here, too.

[fish]

I suppose this means I'll have to buy a fifth copy of Fucking Åmål now, just to house all the new subs.

Nicely done Snaps.
Makes me want to watch it again.

[Ian]

Nice work, snapsie.

[DMt.]

Lots of good work there.

Any plans to, umm, y'know...continue?

[snaps]

Lots of good work there.

Any plans to, umm, y'know...continue?

I did this for a Wordpress account which I no longer maintain. The idea was to redo the script then illustrate it throughout with screencaps. A combination of my stupid puter and the problems with using Wordpress meant that the whole thing would take forever, I didn't have the time for it.

[DMt.]

'S OK, I blagged "Fran"'s version from your link in another post.