How does it change...

[kant1781]

A new question:
I guess most of us have seen FA quite a lot of times.
Can you still remember certain things you felt when you watched it for the first time and that now have changed or gone away?
E.g., can you still remember how it was to see the toilet scene without knowing if they would get out together? (Sometimes I believe I can, and then again, it’s gone).
Or, to give another example: I really do remember that when I first saw the Saab driver that offers the ride to Karlstad to Agnes and Elin (the guy that Lukas Moodysson once referred to as a Sven-Göran Eriksson lookalike) I had the terrible feeling that now the film would turn evil. I really expected at least a rape attempt or something. (Is there anyone who can understand that or do I just have a bad imagination?) This feeling has gone, too, of course, but when I first watched the video clip of that scene taken in a Swedish cinema, I was really surprised to hear the audience laugh throughout that scene. (But maybe they all had seen it ten times before, too).

[common svensson]

I hope I don't sound too prejudiced but I think the Saab driver looks like the prototype of a child molester... I can't put my finger on it, but he appears creepy right from the start, maybe because his friendlyness doesn't come off as honest, or the expression on his face is weird, I don't know... It's natural for a viewer to sense that the girls might be in danger here.

As for my very first få viewing experience: It was rather late at night, when få was on the tv, and I was really tired, so I just planned to hit the record button, and maybe watch a few minutes. So I saw Agnes typing away on her keyboard, and the next scene I remember was Elin and Jessica fighting over the O'Boy thing. I had trouble keeping my eyes open, and I actually failed to realise that Agnes and Elin were two different persons in these two scenes...! I know, that sounds stupid, they look different and everything, but I just did not pay attention. So when I saw Elin apologise to Jessica at school, I thought: "strange, she also has a sister, and she also poured O'Boy on her...". Well, shortly after that I went to bed. Of course, when I watched the film the next day again, I discovered my mistake...

[Hans]

Moin-Moin Svensson and Kant,

i know this topic is allready a few weeks old, but it is dealing with an interesting question- so i'm gonna aswer to it anyway. i hope you will read it.
My first impression about Fucking Amal:
i remember, i was sitting in my room on a late evening, feeling a little bored, not tired enough to go to bed, not fit anymore to do something serious- something in between, you know? so i took a look at the tv-guide and read: (i don't remember exacty, but something sounding like this:) "Raus aus Amal, swedish teenage comedy aboud two girls, growing up in small boring town somewhere in middle of nowhere (...)"
so i expected a rather simple teenager-comedy-movie (perhaps a bit like "schule" ,i thought) so a good and easy film for that evening.

I switched on the tv a little to late, so i missed the first scene (Agnes typing her secret wish list). that means, i didn't know that Agnes is in love with Elin. the first scenes i saw, was Elin having an argument with Jessica (about chacolate). this scene fits to the image of teen-movie i had from the tv-guide. But i liked the character of Elin, her behavior, her situation (living in Amal). A lot of teenager know the feeling of living in small fucked up village, without rave-parties, without anything exiting. From that point i loved the movie.
well, i can't tell what i felt in every single scene.
anyway, when i saw the end,got this kind of feeling, which is hard to explean; let's call it "the FA-feeling"
at the same evening, i was talking for an hour about it with i friend who saw it too. but then, after the first euphoria i almost forgot about it, untill i watched it again a few weeks ago. (that's why i joined the forum.)
btw. i also though something evil would happen, when these to girls try to hitch a ride on the bridge. i though: "they will never reach stockholm... because of the saab-driver "

now i'd like to talk about something that has only indirectly to do with your question, but it just came to my mind:
as i wrote above, i missed the first scene and didn't know that Agnes loves Elin. today, after having seen several times, i wish i could turm back time. because from my today's point of view it would offer a different perspective of Fucking Amal if you don't know it. imagine: you would wonder why agnes writes elin's name on her school-execise-book. it will be clear when you read her diary again later on ("why do i love elin...she hurts me, but i love her...).
another interesting point: imagine, it would be victoria (the girl with the wheelchair) who tells you that agnes is lesbian...!
it would be a different feeling, a different perspective while watching the first 30 min. of the film.

anyway, these are just some ideas that came to my mind. i can't turn back time.

i wish a nice weekend to all of you
yours Hans

[kant1781]

„Moinmoin“, eh? (You’re sure we’re talking about NRW here?)

My story is similar to yours, Hans, just there were not some weeks but nearly five years between my first time and the moment when it knocked me off my feet. Watched it first very early in 2000, when it played in Geman theaters, went home on cloud nine (the FA feeling...) and went to see it again the week after. Unusual, but after that, it was okay. Hoped for it to appear on TV some time which it never did, and then didn’t think about it any more. Until some day last autumn it popped into my head from I don’t know where, made me order the DVD straight away and watch it again (and again and again) and lose my mind...

It’s interesting how many people seem to have missed the first scenes when they first watched the film. I don’t know why but I think I’ve read this a lot of times! It’s a good question you ask. I think I read an interview with Lukas Moodysson (or no, I think it’s in his director’s comment on the Swedish DVD) where he said that the first scene was a relatively late addition to the script, so originally the film was meant to be seen just the way you saw it! It’s hard to imagine... don’t the clues add up? It’d be Jessica who first says that Agnes is lesbian, and basically Agnes admits that she is on the bridge. And wouldn’t you guess that she loves Elin from the way she looks at her and her scribbling... hey, I mean, for what reasons did you write people’s names on your classbooks?!

[common svensson]

Some other things I recall... I also remember the music feeling very intense during the first times I watched få. The creeping opening theme, the drowning chords of Broder Daniel's Whirlwind, that funny sounding swedish Gyllene Tider song (when Johann gets ready for the party), the mind-numbing dance/pop tracks, the noise when Agnes smashes her room, and finally the perfect lyrics for a perfect final: "we look so good together [...] we don't care what you say about us [...]". I noticed that Broder Daniel's voice didn't sound like the typical "youth rock band frontman" in my opinion, it sounded somewhat stranger... maybe because they're from Sweden, I don't know. Also Gyllene Tider's song felt very strange, but also in a good way. I think this "strangeness" made it easier for me to connect the music whith that certain "fucking åmål feeling" - as well as the whole movie, it was something new.

The music Lukas chooses may be the in-your-face-type, but it simply works. For me, the music added so much to the emotional impact. The first weeks I thought about the movie, also these tunes were constantly on my mind. Unfortunately, this awareness is gone now. I know, the music is there, but I'm not really aware of it. The new feeling just isn't there anymore. I guess that's just normal. But also a little sad. I envy everyone who can watch the movie for the first time.

[darkleon]

oh yeah it changed :-(
i first saw it on 21.11.04 , 23:30
and it was awesome!!!
i have a tvcard...and made it to be fullscreen for the whole time....no single film did that before...and i was really excited..."urg what happens next??"
i'm a cineast and i watch a lot movies and so normaly i can predict what will happen next or yet image some things that could happen
but in FA i couldn't even imagine a single possibility what will happen next
it was so great because i couldn't predict anything!
i was really thrilled and i loved everything about the movie!
and i orded it on amazon just after the movie ends
but i watched it too often... :-(
i even watched it 2 times direct one after the other on the first day i got it
and for several weeks i watched it every day
but it slowed down and i got use to it :-(
and this times i have to wait a long time to be able to enjoy it while i'm watching it
it sux so much :-(
and yeaaah i envy everyone too who watches it for the first time!!!
i need some kind of great memory loss
oh yeah thats it!!!
can somebody hit my head very brutal with something very hard? please :-)

[styvisor]

Darkleon,

it was so great because i couldn't predict anything!
i was really thrilled and i loved everything about the movie!
and i orded it on amazon just after the movie ends
but i watched it too often...
i even watched it 2 times direct one after the other on the first day i got it
and for several weeks i watched it every day
but it slowed down and i got use to it
and this times i have to wait a long time to be able to enjoy it while i'm watching it
it sux so much
and yeaaah i envy everyone too who watches it for the first time!!!
i need some kind of great memory loss
oh yeah thats it!!!
can somebody hit my head very brutal with something very hard? please

Exactly how i feel, and I can remember when she cut her wrist going "NOOOO, you cant do that....."

[nicolas]

but i watched it too often...
i even watched it 2 times direct one after the other on the first day i got it
and for several weeks i watched it every day
but it slowed down and i got use to it
and this times i have to wait a long time to be able to enjoy it while i'm watching it
it sux so much

This is exactly what I'm always scared off, when I love a movie. It happende with "She's all that", it even happened with movies as stupid as "Shrek" or "Ice Age": After watching them twice or even three times in only a few days, you're getting really weary of them.
This is why I handled FA with great precaution, and I had to hold myself back, not to watch it twice in the same week. But I have the feeling that this still makes the movie as enjoyable as the first time.
Since I thought the story was quite predictable it doesn't make a big change to know it when watching the film.
By the way, I think the feeling about the Saab driver is quite common. What a silly idea to hitchhike to Stockholm too
I would also love to see it for the first time again. Nevertheless, the FA-feeling (this is one good expression ) stays.

[kant1781]

I also remember the music feeling very intense during the first times I watched få. The creeping opening theme, the drowning chords of Broder Daniel's Whirlwind, that funny sounding swedish Gyllene Tider song

Yesyesyes! Absolutely! Especially the title track with that hypnotizing lead guitar!
Even the Robyn track is well-chosen, even if it’s basically just a common piece of charts dance pop, the song has something that makes it stick in your head.
But let me add the most obvious case: I Wanna Know What Love Is! If you were musically socialized in the mid- or late-eighties then you know that Foreigner is no-go area, it’s never-never music, it is scum, it is forbidden, period. I clearly remember that when I first watched FA I was already on the brink of my seat out of excitement when it came to the car scene, and then the two girls alone, and then their whispering, and then the kiss... and then THAT HIDEOUS THING faded in and blared out of the speakers and I went just MAD . Inside I was cursing Lukas Moodysson and screaming „He spoiled it, he totally spoiled it, he completely screwed it up! How can he do such a thing!“
When I saw it the second time, I already knew what was going to happen, but I still hated it.
And today... At some point I realized that I was taking it too hard and that Lukas’s choice was deeply ironic (I think after I read which other songs he had considered – they were even worse) and as such very appropriate. But what is more, FA has made the impossible come true: Instead of the song ruining the film, the film has made me like the song! Well... sort of. I still wouldn’t want to get caught with a Foreigner album on my hands. But some weeks ago the song was played in my local supermarket (quite appropriate) while I was doing my shopping, and it made me smile and hum it the whole day. Felt as if I received a secret code, you know? (Why should any station play such old crap if it wasn’t a hidden message to all FA lovers!)

Since I thought the story was quite predictable it doesn't make a big change to know it when watching the film.

In a way I agree... except for one thing, the end. It blew me away me the first time because I had not expected it, and it doesn’t do that anymore, of course. I was so sure that they’d miss each other. That still is all the power and glory to me: That it is all so realistic, harsh, truthful and unglossed and still manages to lead the story to that happy ending and makes it feel completely natural, and completely right. It still feels right, but the surprise is gone.

[nicolas]

But let me add the most obvious case: I Wanna Know What Love Is! If you were musically socialized in the mid- or late-eighties then you know that Foreigner is no-go area, it’s never-never music, it is scum, it is forbidden, period. I clearly remember that when I first watched FA I was already on the brink of my seat out of excitement when it came to the car scene, and then the two girls alone, and then their whispering, and then the kiss... and then THAT HIDEOUS THING faded in and blared out of the speakers and I went just MAD . Inside I was cursing Lukas Moodysson and screaming „He spoiled it, he totally spoiled it, he completely screwed it up! How can he do such a thing!“

I thought that totally fit in an FA-way. Reality is not always ideal . And "I wanna know what love is" is a song which is quite often plaid on the radio. To me it just makes the film real.
Besides you hardly notice it at all, I only heard the radio playing something, could have been anything. And then they kissed, and the song faded out of the radio and into the soundtrack. I found this part so deeply affecting, it almost had me in tears!
In fact it really sucked that they were disturbed!

Instead of the song ruining the film, the film has made me like the song! Well... sort of.

You're so right about this!

That still is all the power and glory to me: That it is all so realistic, harsh, truthful and unglossed and still manages to lead the story to that happy ending and makes it feel completely natural, and completely right. It still feels right, but the surprise is gone.

To me it's important that reality also takes a good turn once in a while, and why not let it happen at the end of the film. Making a realistic movie is not only about showing how bad reality is.

[PackDude]

Was it a Saab or a Volvo? I didn't think Saab drivers were rapists...

Oh, I just re-watched that scene -- it is a Saab, uh oh. Dude, I used to drive a Saab in high school.

[snaps]

Was it a Saab or a Volvo?

Try your hand at the Fucking Amal Trivia Quiz on here. fish is waaay ahead on points but if you are so currently absorbed in the movie you maybe get a good score too.

[fish]

...fish is waaay ahead on points ....

Baaaah t, I get a lot of help.