Call Me By Your Name (film)

Been wanting to see this for a while. Only heard good things.

I saw this at the LFF and commented on that thread, but I hope no-one minds if I reiterate my views here. I'm obviously an outlier, but I really couldn't get on with it.

I expected to love it; I wanted to love it; but I couldn't warm to either of the principal protagonists. I didn't believe the central relationship as realistic, and the whole "academics at summer play" grated with me. (What is anyone studying? What is anyone's expertise? Is anyone doing any work? - and I speak as the partner of an LSE professor).

The "parental wisdom" speech towards the end of the film really grated with me - I read a review saying that this was a passage that would be recited in gay circles for years, and I just cringed all the way through it. At that age, who wants that conversation with your Dad? (Maybe young people are different these days)

I never warmed to Merchant-Ivory films, and this to me had the same context of fantasy people in fantasy lives. At the end of it, I was happy it was over.

This might be the first time I've been so out of step with the critical consensus, as I've seen no other dissenting voices, so I'm quite happy to accept that the issue is with me and not the film, but before the inevitable waves of praise overwhelm this thread, I just wanted to stick my little hand up and say "not for me", I"m a bit sorry that I didn't get what everyone else gets from this (and part of me wants to see it again to see if I react differently) .

I hope everyone else loves it, but if they don't, be reassured you're not alone...

I LOVE this film. Easily my favourite film of the year, going by US release dates.

The novel must have been difficult to adapt. In reading it, we spend almost the entire time with Elio's inner thoughts, emotions and desires. The fact that through watching this film, those thoughts, emotions and desires are expressed perfectly, without relying on voice over, is a testament to the skill of the film-making and acting on display here.

It also must have been a difficult film to pace and structure, but it is done well. The first half is very much a slow burn as we wait for the characters to admit their feelings to one another. Due to this, we feel the tension and longing for each other that Elio and Oliver feel. Luca Guadagnino's direction refuses to focus on these characters in close-ups when they are together until they have been open with one another. The audience aren't let in, until they let each other in. In contrast, the second half flies by as the way time does when you are happy and ecstatically in love. All of a sudden, Elio and Oliver are torn apart from each other and the audience is left with the same feeling of despair as the characters are. We are with the characters and the way they feel every step of the way and it's all down to the direction, editing, pacing and structure.

The cinematography is gorgeous, without being overdone. We are treated to the natural beauty of Northern Italy and we truly don't need anything else. The costume design is perfectly 80s European, whilst allowing each character to have their own personal style. Oliver's outfits in particular are exactly the way you would imagine after reading the way Elio obsessively describes them in the novel. The classical piano score is surprisingly prominent, but it works. It allows us to sink further into the world of cultured European intellectuals. My favorite use of it is an exquisite scene in which Elio subtly admits his feelings to Oliver whilst they circle a war memorial. The score is contrasted nicely with the tender original songs written for the film by Sufjan Stevens.

James Ivory's screenplay is magnificent. All of the cuts he has made from the book work, as well as all of the additions. Most importantly, he imbues the piece with a strong sense of humour, which is barely present in the novel. Instead of getting bored of watching beautiful people silently long for one another, we are entertained by a bickering Italian couple or the way the family work together to tease Oliver.

Amira Casar is gorgeous as Elio's mother Annella. She is given no big moments to showcase her acting and yet makes such an impression anyway, being the centre of some of the most beautiful scenes in the film. The first of these is a scene in which she talks to her son about Oliver, insinuating that she knows that Oliver cares for Elio more than the other way around, much to Elio's surprise. She ends the scene by patting Elio's Star of David - that he has suddenly started wearing through Oliver's influence - as a silent acknowledgement of the way that Elio feels and a way to show her acceptance of it. There's a lovely small moment that she shares with him, picking him up from the train station after Oliver has left. My favourite though, and perhaps my favourite scene in the entire film, is her translating a German fairytale to him about whether it is better to 'speak or die', stroking his hair, whilst he lies across her and his father's laps. Such a gorgeous moment of parental encouragement and love that is as vital in this story as the romantic love at the centre.

Similarly, Michael Stuhlbarg is a warm and comforting presence throughout. However, unlike Casar, he gets to top his performance off with the most beautiful monologue from the book that has mercifully been left entirely in place by the film-makers. It would be easy to mistake this scene's effectiveness as just being the result of the beautiful words, but it's absolutely also in the way they are delivered by Stuhlbarg. There's no over-the-top emotion, no raising of his voice, no crying. It's delivered calmly, gently and comfortingly and exactly the way you would want to hear these words from your father after experiencing your first heartbreak. I can understand why n1david may find this scene embarrassing to watch, but I disagree. This scene isn't about a father acknowledging his son is having sex. As we see earlier in the film, Elio is already open about this with his father after telling him that he nearly had sex with Marzia. This scene, in my opinion, isn't even about a father acknowledging his son's sexuality. Yes, it's wonderful that through this scene, Elio now knows that his parents are completely accepting of who he is, but I don't think that's the main point here. It's a monologue about embracing your own feelings, even when they're painful, and not closing yourself off out of fear of being hurt again in the future. As someone that did exactly that after experiencing my own first heartbreak, it resonates deeply and I only wish that someone had sat me down when I was 18 and told me that 'to feel nothing so as not to feel anything - what a waste'. I'm getting teary-eyed again just writing this.

Armie Hammer has coasted through his career thus far on being a ridiculously good looking 6 foot 5 white man, rather than on any significant level of talent. How refreshing then, to see him take on this role and vitally, to see him pull it off so well. There are a few moments where he comes across slightly stiff, but it would be difficult not to in the presence of such natural talents as Casar, Stuhlbarg and Chalamet. For the most part though, he embodies Oliver. His best acting moments are those in which he silently reacts to Elio. For instance, around 10 different expressions fly across his face as he observes Elio sleeping on their last night together. My favourite moment of his though is the morning after they first have sex, in which his face silently transforms itself from one of great happiness to one of great concern after recognising the fact that Elio is acting distant. Oliver is portrayed as much more tender and affectionate in the film than he is in the book and Hammer portrays this side of the character perfectly. The chemistry he and Chalamet have is some of the finest ever portrayed in a romance film and is simultaenously brotherly, lustful and loving. We root for them to be together as much as the characters themselves do.

As for Timothée Chalamet, I don't even know where to start, except for saying it's the best performance I've seen in a film in years. I mean, what a little star. It would have been so easy for him to portray Elio as moody, withdrawn, shy. He doesn't have much dialogue to work with and spends a lot of time in his own thoughts. Instead though, Chalamet gives Elio this incredible sense of physicality. He bounds up the stairs, he dances around the house, he touches the back of his own neck just before he kisses Oliver for the first time, he goes limp like a ragdoll when feeling intense desire. It's a wonderfully lived-in and natural performance in which you feel like you're not even watching someone acting, you're just watching someone living. The most infamous scene from the novel involves Elio masturbating with a peach. This could so easily have come across unnecessary and unwelcome when seeing it happen on film, but Chalamet so effortlessly falls into the resulting emotional breakdown that by the time the scene is done, you can barely remember that there was ever a peach involved. There's a portion of the film in which Elio is waiting until midnight to have sex with Oliver for the first time and invites his female love interest Marzia around to keep him company until then. Whilst with Marzia, Chalamet plays Elio as confident, cocky even. This is kept up throughout the night when family friends come to visit. However, as soon as midnight arrives and he meets with Oliver, he becomes instantly vulnerable and visibly nervous, a contrast to the fake-confidence he exhibits in all of his scenes with Oliver prior to this. The confidence, fake-confidence, cockiness and vulnerability are all equally believable in Chalamet's hands. In this film he plays two instruments, speaks three languages and the final three minutes of the film are just a close-up of him working through his own emotions. And he doesn't fake it once. Even if the rest of the film was a pile of rubbish, it would be worth watching just to see him.

I can understand why people may find this story too idyllic, too much of a fantasy. Perhaps I'm just overly optimistic that somewhere out there people do live lives like these with wonderful, accepting parents and friends and gorgeous Armie Hammers walking into their beautiful Italian villas. But if it is just a fantasy, how refreshing it is to have this fantasy be one about a young, bisexual man in the 1980s. How refreshing to see no homophobia, no AIDS, no hatred. It feels necessary that we have a film like this.

The film is one of the most beautiful, warm and loving pieces of art I have ever seen. It is an examination of love in all of its forms: between lovers, between friends, between parents and their children. It lives upto the wonderful novel and perhaps even improves upon it. Please see it.

5*

I read the book about a year ago and thought that excellent so I'm really looking forward to the film. (Oh, and I also loved God's own Country.)

I thought the film was beyond sensational. Every single second of it was just utterly glorious.

If any film should sweep the boards at the Oscars next year it should be this one.

And he had such lovely hair too.

This is an exquisite film, utterly beguiling from beginning to end. I absolutely loved it. It captures the feelings of total intoxication of falling in love for the first time like no other film I can readily think of. The final image, with that beautiful music, is haunting.

I too am putting off reading @snutte ’s review until I have seen it next week. But I’m looking forward to having a read!

Re the tagging. I have been newly introduced to this skill by Miss Tibidabo , so I’m something of Trainee Tagging Tutor! Simply type @ immediately before the poster’s user name. (NB this be be different from their poster name. When using an iPad I go into their details to check.) I hope this helps, Rory !

Can I too add my congratulations to snutte for his excellent appraisal of this film.

Further more, can I add my congratulations to all the people involved in making this film. It is gorgeous to look at, amazing to experience  and thought provoking afterward.

Two unresolved questions for me are:
1. Why was Oliver so reluctant to engage "fully" with Elio earlier? Was it because of deference to being employed by Elio's father or was he still coming to terms with the attraction?
2. In Mr Pearlman's final speech was he indicating to his son he also had homosexual feelings earlier in life?

I get the impression that Oliver had had experiences with men before but ultimately tried not to, due to the homophobia of the time. As he says to Elio when he calls at the end, 'you're so lucky, my father would have carted me off to a correctional facility'. So that is probably a part of it, alongside it being somewhat inappropriate and unprofessional to start a relationship with his employer's son.

I think your second question is down to interpretation and I'm not quite sure where I stand on it. 

I have to add my voice to the chorus of near unanimous praise for this film. It's fantasy of course it is, but I happily luxuriously soaked in it like Joan Collins in a bath full of champers.

I haven't read the novel yet, but looking forward to doing so.

In light of recent allegations about public figures, does anyone find the ages of the characters, 17 & 24 uncomfortable? It seems this is one area in which the film isnt always being seen in a positive light.

www.slate.com/blogs/outward/2017/11/08/the_ethics_of_call_me_by_your_name_s_age_gap_sexual_relationship_explored.html

yeah, as it would be in most western countries i guess. but these conversations seem to have gone beyond legality to explore an inate morality or lack of in such relationships. for the record i dont see an issue, its certainly not abusive as portrayed in the film.

I think we'd all love an Armie Hammer Oliver in our lives.

No. I was right the first time. 

Well I'm still thinking about it days later. The last film that had the same effect on me was Control with Sam Reilly & Samantha Morton.