Call Me By Your Name

The third film in director Luca Guadagnino’s Desire Trilogy, Call Me By Your Name (adapted from the Andre Aciman novel of the same name) explores the relationship between Elio Perlman (Timothée Chalamet), the precocious son of an anthropology professor living in Northern Italy, and Oliver (Armie Hammer) a graduate student spending the summer with the Perlmans. The film is already a front-runner in multiple categories in this years Oscar race, including best lead actor for Chalamet and best director for Guadagnino, with good reason. By keeping the plot sparse and allowing the relationship between Elio and Oliver to develop over the duration of the film, Call Me By Your Name is a serene wave of sight and sound, calmly washing over the audience in one of the most beautifully crafted films of 2017.

When Oliver arrives at the Perlman’s home in the Italian countryside, seventeen year-old Elio is wary of the twenty-four year-old grad student’s laid-back demeanour and seemingly unanimous popularity. This caution quickly turns into curiosity as Elio begins to develop feelings of attraction towards Oliver which, after a few longing gazes and awkward encounters, are reciprocated, and a love affair blossoms between the two. Guadagnino’s unconventional decision to shoot Call Me By Your Name chronologically pays off in how natural the evolution of the relationship between Elio and Oliver feels as the film breezily ebbs and flows, drawing the audience into the director’s pastel-tinged world. There’s no ‘eureka’ moment where the characters discover their sexuality, rather, the audience is presented with the story and left to make their own minds up about what it means for each character.

The chemistry between Chalamet and Hammer is at the forefront of Call Me By Your Name, and both actors do a tremendous job of inhabiting their roles; Chalamet as the sexually frustrated, book smart know-it-all Elio and Hammer as the handsome and effortlessly cool Oliver. Michael Stuhlbarg also gives an award-worthy turn as Elio’s father and Oliver’s mentor, delivering a poignant monologue about embracing the heartache that inevitably follows love that lingers in the audience’s mind long after the credits roll. Stuhlbarg’s character along with Amira Casar as Mrs Perlman are not written to be antagonists as parents in coming-of-age dramas so often are, particularly those dealing with the subject matter of homosexuality. Instead, Elio battles with his own confused emotions, with Guadagnino and writer James Ivory handling sexuality as a spectrum rather than in strictly black-and-white terms.

Guadagnino and cinematographer Sayombhu Mukdeeprom tell the story of Call Me By Your Name through long, single-shot takes that allow the actors to fully explore the scene. In particular, one scene involves Elio playing Oliver a song on piano, constantly making minor changes to the way he plays to impress the object of his affection with his knowledge of classical composers. Guadagnino shoots this scene in one take, with Hammer in the background, barely in focus and Chalamet front and centre playing piano. As Oliver begins to walk away, Elio plays the song the way Oliver wanted and he returns to frame. This subtle story-telling through staging shows how important Oliver’s opinion is to Elio, which is later said in as many words. The dedication of both actor and director to pull-off such extended takes only makes Call Me By Your Name that much more authentic.

It is perhaps the way time is presented throughout Call Me By Your Name that is the film’s one weakness. The story takes place over a whole summer, presumably up to three months, and while there are subtle changes in the costume design as the film progresses, it is left ambiguous how much time passes between each section of the story. This looser structure is definitely necessary to create the sense of calm and warmth Guadagnino is so clearly striving towards, evident in the colour palette, subtle performances and Sufjan Stevens’ dreamy soundtrack. Initially, Guadagnino wanted Stevens to provide narration as an older Elio, reflecting on his summer of love, but Stevens declined. Without this narration, it is sometimes unclear which elements of the story are taking place in ‘real time’ and which parts have larger gaps between them.

Call Me By Your Name is a film that shirks Hollywood tradition in almost every regard; from the free-form structure to the subject matter at the film’s core, and it is all the better for it. Luca Guadagnino has undoubtably crafted one of the years most stunning and naturalistic films; the breezy soundtrack blends seamlessly with the lush cinematography and location choices, while the performances are honest and emotionally raw across the board. Call Me By Your Name is a rare example of an award-worthy picture unconcerned with making an overt statement about the time in which it is released, the characters are firmly rooted in 1983, but the coming-of-age story at the film’s core is timeless in its execution.