Luca Guadagnino's onscreen adaptation of André Aciman's Call Me by Your Name is a lovely coming-of-age romance between a young adolescent and a summer guest over the course of 6 weeks.
Elio the protagonist is at a tender age and we follow him in this phase of discovering sexuality, desires and essential self. Played sublimely by Timothée Chalamet, he brought across multitudes of inner conflicts and thoughts just by his reactions. Upon the arrival of Oliver (Armie Hammer), you could clearly see Elio's attracted to this new entity. He's constantly eyeing and silently admiring Oliver's actions, activities, style, physicality, attires and vast knowledge. And by doing so, he's drawn to him inch by inch, day by day.
Elio couldn't figure out the biological changes he's going through. He was struggling, disturbed and unsettled. He knew for sure he's crushing hard on Oliver. He couldn't speak about the subject of his feelings towards the man. He purposely teased and pulled Oliver's leg whenever he could, be it with the altered musical piece or telling his dad he almost had sex with a women the night before with the latter's presence. He's afraid he'll go along with Oliver, but wanted to rebel, stay macho and make him notice at the same time. James Ivory, through his contradictions between text and subtext of a scene, visually translated Elio's inner emotions and conflicts to us!
Oliver subjected to the request initially to please Elio, as he didn't want to do anything further that he would regret wouldn’t be part of his identity. But, something told us he had a liking for the boy too, as confirmed by a confession later on by the character himself. As they passionately submitted themselves to each other for the first time after a long wait for midnight, we could only wish for this to last forever.
6 weeks travelled on a lightning, thus Elio and Oliver had to separate and sank our hearts. Michael Stuhlbarg has probably one of the best dad roles ever put to film. As Mr. Perlman sat down on the couch to converse with heartbroken Elio, he granted approval to Elio's romance, saying we only live once, therefore feeling and experiencing as much as we could is a necessity. How heartwarming and sweet! We'd already figured out the parents had knowledge about this way earlier, also through their expressions, exchanges of glance, reactions and performances.
If you didn't already know, yes, this is a performance and reactions driven motion picture. The director and writer have given their best in engendering an artful tableau that's subtle, subtle and subtle! There were instances during the germinal stages of runtime, however, Elio's expressions weren't visual enough to transliterate his thoughts or emotions. Chen Li's typography too screamed splashing creativity with blatant simplicity! While Battle of Piave's roundabout scene was greatly staged, the inclusion of Marzia (Esther Garrel) could have been utilized stronger for conflicts.
Usage of universe in Call Me by Your Name was extremely meaningful! The entire movie was a relaxing vacation trip. The venue. The beach. The pale colors. The musical bits. The evenings. The apricot teas. Everything was calm, serene, peaceful and soothing. It's fantasy, which was why the place wasn't even named. It's somewhere near northern Italy. And just like all vacations, it must end at one point. That’s the same fantastical case with the romance that ensued between the leads. When winter came, it was glazing, cold and hard. Reality has woken up, and their phone call tore us apart like none other scenes prior. As Elio stared down crying at the bonfire reminiscing their times, he ended it with a smile realizing no one could ever take it away from him.