*Spoilers Ahead*
This film’s opening sequence features photos of classical busts, sculptures and pottery displaying male figures. It begs for attention. You will soon comply.
Every scene is drenched in sensuality, arousing the full spectrum of human emotion. This is what makes the film so powerful—its ability to solicit empathy and relate it back to your own personal reality. The film is careful not to waste any frames or forget any details. It also pushes the boundaries of conventional film, holding single shots too long and allowing the cinematography to provoke and engage with the storyline in interesting and captivating ways. The screenplay, written by James Ivory teams perfectly with Guadagnino’s directing. This is the movie you wish to see for the power of good creators, facilitators, and performers. Combined, they create an organic and striking picture unlike anything else.
Luca Guadagnino’s Call Me By Your Name follows Elio Pearlman through the trials of first love set in an Italian summer during the 1980s. Elio, played by Timothée Chalamet in his breakout (Oscar nominated) role, is a precocious 17 year old who spends his summer days reading novels and transcribing music. His well-to-do family annually invites graduate students to study in their Italian home with Elio’s father, a professor and scholar of classical studies. This summer brings an American student named Oliver into their home, commencing a quest of self-discovery and sexual awakening for young Elio.
Oliver, who is portrayed by The Social Network’s Armie Hammer, is initially insufferable to Elio; although Elio is quickly submerged into a pool of admiration and lust by Oliver’s intrigue. Viewers spend some time wondering if Oliver is experiencing the same obsession as Elio, but eventually we see that he is as torn apart and as enamoured by Elio as Elio is with him. The story is not an unfamiliar one; it is adapted from André Aicman’s critically acclaimed novel of the same name. After having read the novel, however, the film is still its own story and more importantly, a new experience.
“Is it better to speak or to die?” is the question which propels Elio into action. A scene or two later, the tension holding this question breaks as Elio tells Oliver that he knows nothing of the things that matter. He says this standing opposite Oliver, a World War I memorial between them, distancing them from one another. There is a church steeple hanging above them. Elio sets free what has been within him all summer, perhaps his whole life—but Oliver resists. “We can’t talk about those things.” We get the sense that God, and all the people who have gone before them and failed, are keeping them apart.
Eventually, they venture into uncharted waters. They fall in love with one another. It is a messy, but beautiful process. At one point, the camera follows a hiking trail around a bend as Sufjan Steven’s “Mystery of Love,” begins to play. Not a person in focus, but it radiates emotion. More of this film’s magic. Every piece of scenery is a reminder that where Elio and Oliver go, their love will never vacate; they say that first-loves become a part of you, almost never ending. The title says it all.
But summers must end. And the movie must end. This is what audience members wish most to avoid.
Michael Stuhlbarg, who plays Elio’s father, delivers a heart-wrenching, heart-warming, monologue that will stay with you as you leave the theater, and go home to everyday living. His performance is as remarkable as the message he is delivering; one of pain, acceptance, encouragement, and hope.
“How do you end a movie this triumphant and fruitful?” is a question these filmmakers knew how to answer, diverging slightly from the novel, as Timothée Chalamet’s final onscreen moments pierce through the audience, the weight of the whole film coming down on every viewer.
The acclaim is all correct, and the movie is surreal. No film deserves the “must see” title quite like this one, because the movie is not only mesmerizing and skillfully done; it is transformative. It tells a story that needs to be heard.