Writer: James Ivory (Screenplay) Andre Aciman (Novel)
Starring: Armie Hammer, Timothee Chalamet, Michael Stuhlbarg, Amira Casar, Ester Garrel
Plot: In Northern Italy in 1983, seventeen year-old Elio begins a relationship with visiting Oliver, his father’s research assistant, with whom he bonds over his emerging sexuality, their Jewish heritage, and the beguiling Italian landscape.
Runtime: 2 Hours 12 Minutes
There may be spoilers the rest of the review
Verdict: Beautiful Love Story
Story: Call Me by Your Name starts as Mr Perlman (Stuhlbarg) and his family in Northern Italy open their doors for one of his assistant American Oliver (Hammer) for the summer, Elio (Chalamet) the eldest son must give up his room for Oliver and notices the behavior of Oliver being different to what he is used to seeing.
When Elio and Oliver start hanging out more, it starts with a mentoring effect, but soon turns into something else, a sexual relationship which posses its own problems for the two, with Elio’s age being one of them.
Thoughts on Call Me by Your Name
Characters – Elio is a 17-year-old music and book lover, living in Northern Italy, he is trying to learn how to seduce women and when Oliver arrives on the scene, he starts to learn a few things, but then he starts to question his own sexuality after he becomes attracted to Oliver. Oliver is an American research assistant working with Elio’s father, he is a charismatic man who grabs the attention of the people he is around, he takes a shine to a local woman, but the attention he really wants is Elio’s, he knows this could be bad for his career, leaving us to wonder if it is work the risk. Mr Perlman is the father of the house, he has ben working on a ground-breaking historical discovery and Oliver is part of his research team.
Performances – Armie Hammer is an actor that has always been braver with his own career decisions, this would be considered his bravest choice and his best performance, he is engaging through each scene as you just want to know where he will take the character next. Timothee Chalamet could easily be the biggest breakout star this year, he is fantastic in this leading role, where he shows the lost innocence while trying to discovery his characters sexuality. The rest of the performance in the film are great but don’t take away from the leading two stars.
Story – The story examines the idea of needing to understand your sexuality when going into adulthood, the story does a good job of showing both of Elio’s choices, either being with Marzia or with Oliver, because this only continues to show the decision and discovery that he is looking to make about himself. The one weakness I did find in the story, which is part my own confusion I think, is that it never feels like a forbidden love, but it also feels like it was meant to be, forgive me if this doesn’t make sense.
Romance – The romance side of the film is the whole deal, we get to see the whirlwind summer romance between Oliver and Elio, while also seeing the idea that Elio could have to avoid his homosexual side in the future.
Settings – The settings are breath-taking landscapes of Northern Italy which could be postcard after postcard of beauty spots.
Scene of the Movie – Distant bike ride.
That Moment That Annoyed Me – Not really knowing if it was a forbidden love or not.
Final Thoughts – This is a wonderful acted movie, visually pleasant experience with the landscapes, but if we are being honest, this film isn’t going to be for the casual audience, even with the fantastic story of love.
Overall: Beautiful love story.
Rating