The coming of age story Call me by Your Name by Italian director Luca Guadagnino is a film as delicate and breathtaking as the subject matter. A story of love, dedication, vulnerability, sexual awakening, and the strange journey of finding out who you are. Adapted from the book by the same name, this story of first love and first heartbreak will be hailed by later generations as a cinematic masterpiece and a must see for the romance genre. Not like most films, Call me by Your Name has no villains and no troublesome situation that the hero must overcome. The only overcoming is the loss of the person you love most when life takes them away.
Elio Perlman, a 17-year-old Jewish American boy, lives in the country side of Northern Italy with a family who clearly adores him. He is instantly smitten by the American man who comes to stay with them for the summer. Both intelligent and naïve, Elio puts himself through self-inflicted torture as he pines for Oliver while hating him at the same time. Anyone who has experienced the pain and pleasure of wanting someone can relate. Hating him one minute and loving him the next, Elio is unaware of his own feelings until the middle of the film when they two embark on their love affair. It’s easy to feel the love between the two of them.
Some viewers might feel intimidated by the two hour and twelve minute run-time, but time flies from the second the opening scene starts. The world outside the television melts away as the audience travels to 1980’s Italy to share a summer romance that is painful to see end. Teamed with beautiful cinematography of landscapes naked of civilization and a fantastic soundtrack improved by “Mystery of Love,” an original song written by Surfjan Stevens specially for the movie. The song brings tears to the eyes almost as strongly as the film itself does.
Newcomer actor, Timothee Chalament, bears the blunt of the film on his shoulders by playing the charismatic Elio. Portraying Elio with emotional rawness, Chalament showcases every emotion there is through facial expressions and body movements. In one of the most human love scenes in a film, Chalament hangs on Armie Hammer’s Oliver like a ragdoll before changing his mind and climbing him like a tree, not knowing what to do with himself. Since the film is primarily told from Elio’s perspective, supporting actor Armie Hammer has the difficult job of showing the audience what the more experienced and aloof Oliver is feeling during all this. He does it well, from the pain of leaving Elio to the shame he feels at desiring him, it is all shown in shots of his face for split seconds before the camera moves elsewhere.
The end is a six-minute long scene of a heartbroken Elio crying in front of the fireplace upon realizing he will never be with Oliver the way he wants, in a shot that is hard to look away from and breaks your heart. The pain in his face unveils the innocent naivety of Elio who, until that moment, had not realized that the love he experienced was something that sometimes only happens once in a lifetime that is now over forever. It is better to have felt the sorrow that comes from being loved then never having felt it at all is the message Elio’s father tells him when it ends.
That is the beauty of Call me by Your Name. Slow moving and emotional, this is not a film for action lovers or those who want to be frightened. But if you want to see two people fall in love while knowing that their summer romance will ultimately end, have a go.
