Call Me By Your Name (2017) Coming of Age Heartbreaker from Luca Guadagnino
“People who read are hiders. They hide who they are”
In the family study we find “Mr Perlman” (Michael Stuhlbarg) reading through a large sheaf of papers as his teenage son “Elio Perlman” (Timothée Chalamet) enters and is immediately framed in the reflection of a large wall mirror. With a huge beaming smile for his son and a “missed you at dinner”, Mr Perlman dismissively throws his pile of papers onto a nearby table and with a continuing smile, lights a cigarette. Elio, still only seen in the reflection of the mirror, looks downcast and shabby in his appearance compared to the fashionable and well dressed young man seen throughout the entirety of the film and now walking slowly towards his father, disappears from the mirrored reflection and now fully into shot as he slumps on the sofa beside his father before staring aimlessly out of the window to his right. Mr Perlman has nothing but open hearted and warm smiles for his son who briefly looks at him before staring at the floor and, after a beat, both father and son break into smiles at the memories conjured by their summer house guest Oliver as Mr Perlman observes with an obvious pride “you two had a nice friendship”.
With his son constantly staring out of the nearby window, Mr Perlman continues, both with open hearted smiles and a somewhat narration of the summer and “You’re too smart not to know how rare, how special what you two had was”. They both laugh and smile once more as Elio responds that “Oliver was Oliver!” before his father responds cryptically, in French and through yet more smiles for his son “Because it was him. Because it was me”. As the father and son discuss their summer guest’s obvious supreme intelligence, Mr Perlman interjects and “What you two had, had everything and nothing to do with intelligence” before he continues “He was good. You were both lucky to have found each other, because, you too, are good”. Elio is clearly slightly embarrassed by this continuing praise and unsure how to continue with the conversation as he self-deprecatingly expresses that Oliver was far better than him and perhaps more deserving of the intellectual praise being heaped upon him. As he laments “I think he’s better than me” he slumps disconsolately nearer his father on the sofa, his head almost into his lap. Smiling, Mr Perlman strokes his son’s head and hair as he announces with a profound certainty “I’m sure he’d say the same about you. It flatters you both”.
Throughout this conversation the camera angle has remained in a static position framing father and son together on the sofa. Although the camera angle will soon change, what immediately changes and becomes apparent as Elio raises himself back to a sitting position opposite his father is that Mr Perlman has some loving words of wisdom for his son and he also now has his undivided attention: “And when you least expect it, nature has a cunning way of finding our weakest spot. Just remember, I am here”. Taking off his glasses, he continues “Right now, you may not want to feel anything, maybe you never want to feel anything, and maybe it’s not to me you’d want to speak about these things, but feel something you obviously did”.
The scene’s first camera change is now established over Elio’s shoulder as he continues to look his father dead in the eyes as Mr Perlman continues: “Look, you had a beautiful friendship. Maybe more than a friendship. And I envy you”. Through constant smiles, he continues: “In my place, most parents would hope the whole thing goes away. Pray their son lands on their feet, but I am not such a parent”. Another camera change now and a reverse, now over Mr Perlman’s shoulder as Elio continues to look at his father as he continues once more: “We rip out so much of ourselves to be cured of things faster that we go bankrupt by the age of 30”. Camera angle reverts back over Elio’s shoulder at his father as he continues “And we have less to offer, each time we start with someone new. But to make yourself feel nothing, so as not to feel anything. What a waste”. A quick change of angle back to over Mr Perlman’s shoulder and “Have I spoken out of turn?” and back over Elio’s shoulder “And I’ll say one more thing, it’ll clear the air. I may have come close, but I never had what you two had. Something always held me back, or stood in the way. How you live your life is your business. Just remember, our hearts and our bodies are given to us only once, and before you know it, your heart’s worn out. And as for your body, there comes a point when no-one looks at it, much less wants to come near it. Right now, there’s sorrow and pain. Don’t kill it”. The camera angle now reverts back over Mr Perlman’s shoulder as Elio is close to tears as he continues “And with it, the joy you felt”.
A final camera angle change and back over Elio’s shoulder as he whispers “Does Mom know?”.
“I don’t think she does” Mr Perlman whispers in response, and through an open hearted smile.
Thus is Call Me By Your Name from Luca Guadagnino and a 4–5 minute scene of pure beauty and elegance, empathy and understanding, acceptance and the smiles of humanity from a father to a distraught son that tells you a little something but nowhere near everything of this wonderful fifth film in the career of the Italian born filmmaker. Nominated for four Oscars at the 90th Academy Awards in 2018, James Ivory was the film’s sole winner in the Best Adapted Screenplay category for his adaptation of the source material of the same name written by André Aciman in 2007 and in a bittersweet nutshell we have a precocious and somewhat singular and shy 17 year old budding musician becoming infatuated with the gregarious, out going and more mature seeming figure of their 24 year old house guest for the summer. That summer is 1983. The destination is an opulent mansion house surrounded by orchards, rivers and lakes, and the Jewish American visitor for the summer is “Oliver” and as far back as 2017, Armie Hammer on career high form. Opposite him, and in more ways than one, is an Oscar nominated portrayal of yearning, infatuation and childish intemperance from Timothée Chalamet that brilliantly catches the tone of the film as described briefly above. Desire is a huge through line of the film and here as “Elio” he has the world at his feet and for his hands to grasp. Yet he overlooks the value he has in his own self for the desire to be as wanted and appreciated as the older and seemingly self-assured Oliver. Director Guadagnino captures Chalamet’s eyes at every possible opportunity. See the beautiful closing credits accompanied by “Visions of Gideon” by Sufjan Stevens for further evidence!
On which note should bring us to a conclusion for this brief treatise and love-in appreciation of another wonderful film from Luca Guadagnino, but that would be to overlook the sterling performances of Amira Casar as Elio’s mother with her lightness of touch and loving glances, Esther Garrel as his would be girlfriend “Marzia” and particularly, though I am an unabashed fan of his for some time now, a truly great performance from Michael Stuhlbarg as Elio’s father and forever only known here as “Mr Perlman”. It’s no coincidence that I’ve chosen the above scene as a spoiler free introduction to this review as he shines like the sun throughout the film with barely a smile leaving his face and how he didn’t become the fifth wheel in the nominations for the film at the 2018 Academy Awards in the Best Supporting Actor category is anyone’s guess. Or perhaps that’s just the fan in me speaking once more.
Sunshine. Sexual. Sensual. Voyeuristic even. Call Me By Your Name is a beautiful coming of age heartbreaker.
Thanks for reading. I hope this message in a bottle in The Matrix finds you well, prospering, and the right way up in an upside down world.
Whilst you’re here I may as well brag about the release of my trilogy of recently self-published books. Beautiful covers eh! As the title(s) would suggest, this is my life at the movies or at least from 1980 to 2024, and in volume 1 you’ll find 80 spoiler free appraisals of movies from debut filmmakers, 91 of the very best films appraised with love and absent of spoilers from 1990–2024 in volume 2, and in volume 3 you’ll find career “specials” on Paul Thomas Anderson and Quentin Tarantino together with the very best of the rest and another 87 spoiler free film reviews from 2001–2024.
All available in hardback and paperback and here are some handy links:
"A Life at the Movies Vol.1" - link to Amazon
"A Life at the Movies Vol.2" - link to Amazon
"A Life at the Movies Vol.3" - link to Amazon