My Review of Call Me By Your Name (2017)

 

Written by James Ivory

Directed by Luca Guadagnino 

Oliver (to Elio): "Call me by your name and I'll call you by mine."

When this movie came out seven years ago, it put three people on the map. Two of them have flourished since then and one of them will unlikely get close to the heights they had in their career.

I've only seen this film once a few years ago but with the imminent arrival of Queer, I found myself wanting a refresher. It's a romance that in a new lens would definitely be seen as rather problematic for good reason. It's also a very well done movie and it's easy to see why it opened doors for certain people.

Set in Italy in 1983, you've got Jewish-American grad student Oliver (Armie Hammer) staying with well off Jewish-French-Italian couple the Perlmans. Both parents (Michael Stuhlbarg and Amira Casar) are taken with Oliver but their somewhat sullen son Elio (Timothee Chalamet) doesnt warm to Oliver. In fact, Elio can't stand the sight of Oliver and then something changed.

Between getting romantically involved with local girl Marzia (Esther Garrell) and being forced to spend more time with Oliver, Elio's feelings towards the latter shifted a bit. In fact, Elio went from hating Oliver to falling madly in love with him.

That's where this gets complicated as a movie because of Elio's age and the unequal dynamic between his lack of experience and Oliver being the older and more experienced of the two. It's not a relationship based on equals and the more the movie unfolded, it was also a relationship that was doomed to begin with. 

You've got undeniably brilliant chemistry between Armie Hammer and Timothee Chalamet but it's a very problematic pairing, in spite of one moment where Elio's father gave their beautiful speech about their relationship. In the end and in spite of various intimate scenes between Elio and Oliver, it's a pairing that doesn't come with a happy ending.

- Yes, it's based on the book of the same name by André Aciman. It's also the last installment in Guadagnino's Desire trilogy, which includes I Am Love and A Bigger Splash.

- That infamous peach scene nearly didn't happen with even Luca Guadagnino having some initial reservations on the idea.

- Standout music: The Psychedelic Furs Love My Way and Sufjan Stevens Mystery Of Love.

- Chronology: 1983 Italy. At one point in the movie, Hanukkah was celebrated.

Call Me By Your Name definitely put Luca Guadagnino on the map as a director and it's not hard to see why. It's an utterly captivating movie with stellar performances from both Timothee Chalamet and Armie Hammer respectively. 

Rating: 9 out of 10