Unfortunately, the moment is so potent it just about sinks the rest of the movie. What follows has to do with Agnes and Elin dealing with that kiss, and the tentative overtures and sudden, hurtful rebuffs that follow. Nothing in this section of "Show Me Love" feels inauthentic. For Agnes and Elin to admit that they're in love means coming out to their friends and family (there's no way to hide being in love when you're a teenager). Gay teenagers watching this movie might feel everything that keeps them from declaring who they are is right up there on the screen. The trouble is that these scenes deprive the movie of its greatest asset: the natural chemistry between Agnes and Elin. I longed to see more of them together, more of the amazement they showed in that previous scene as they realized all the ways in which they connected.

It might not be so big a problem if there were something more to occupy our attention while waiting for Agnes and Elin to get together. But Moodysson never makes full use of his talented supporting cast, including Erica Carlson as Elin's older sister and Mathias Rust as Johan, the boy with whom she has a brief dalliance. Some of what the director does is fine. I particularly liked the way he treats Elin's sleeping with Johan as no great thrill and no great tragedy, refusing to accord it any more importance than she does. And I liked the way Ralph Carlsson, as Agnes' dad, works awkwardly but genuinely to keep the lines of communication with his daughter open. On the other hand, it doesn't make us care any more for Agnes that she's so unresponsive. And Moodysson doesn't show all the sympathy he might toward Rust's Johan, who's trying to open himself up to Elin but is carrying around too much protective-adolescent-guy baggage.

The director makes a horrible mistake with the character of Agnes' wheelchair-bound friend. Miserable for herself at her birthday party, Agnes berates the girl mercilessly, telling her she never wanted to be friends with her in the first place. We see just how much this hurts the girl. But Moodysson seems to be inflicting his own cruelties on her when her character turns out to be sour and petty, spreading rumors about Agnes' lesbianism.

What keeps us watching are Liljeberg and Dahlstrvm, both beautifully natural, and the hope that we'll get to see them together. The payoff, which combines adolescent bravado and tentativeness, is -- in tone if not in staging -- just about perfect. There's humor and sweetness in the way the movie leaves the girls teetering between the shelter of girlhood and the bigger, scarier, more thrilling world of sex. That they don't seem willing to give up either only makes them even more appealing. Like all adolescents, they want it all, a chocolate milk and a nice afternoon fuck.

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