Film Review - Call Me By Your Name

Sometimes movies are there to open our eyes to the natural state of human connection. The film Call Me By Your Name does exactly that.

It stars Armie Hammer as Oliver and Timothee Chalamet as Elio. It’s a story of finding yourself and having that undeniable connection with someone even if it is for a short time.

This movie was based on the book by the same name by Andre Aciman. The novel, just like the movie, follows the blossoming summer romance of Elio and Oliver in 1983 in southern Italy.

Oliver, a student of Elio’s father (Samuel) came to Italy over the summer to help assist in cultural findings. Being there working for Samuel started the connection between Elio and Oliver.

The movie opened up with the arrival of Oliver and a very curious Elio looking out his bedroom window. It was clear from the beginning that Elio was trying to find himself and understand emotions he never felt before as a 17-year-old boy.

It was clear that as a teen he was very unaware of human connections and feelings whether it’d be with the opposite sex or the same sex.

The acting and cinematography of this movie proved that even at a young age or older, understanding foreign feelings are hard to grasp and the feeling of finally understanding it can be worth it if only for a short time.

There are many gems in the movie that critics are praising and seeing it first hand it became clear to me what everyone was talking about.

There was the famous peach scene, that scene proved the level of curiosity Elio was feeling. He experienced something new and fulfilling with Oliver days before and he wanted to try something different but with fruit.

As unorthodox as that may seem I think he was looking for something to fill the inevitable void of losing Oliver at the end of summer, but it also expresses a sense of self sensuality.

The simplicity of the film played hand in hand with the setting of the story. It made what most teens at that time and now might be struggling with in regard to coming to terms with their sexuality.

This is a love affair and it is also a story of completely letting yourself go to another person knowing that at the end the pain would be unbearable but cathartic.

The one moment in the film that made it that more meaningful was the conversation with Elio and his father. The conversation was filled with love, understanding and it was not forced in the aspect of abruptly outing his son’s love affair and his sexuality.

It was beautifully acted and directed in regard to a parent talking to their child who’s coming to terms with being gay. This part of the film I believe holds a good base for parents watching who might have a child going through self-discovery as Elio did.

My general outlook on the film is that it held so many universal meanings. The book gave little to no alteration in the film, there were literary metaphors within the book that the film took and ran with it making the story of two characters finding themselves and loving one another that more appealing.

One thing I could say that this film tried to express is that love is boundary-less. I recommend this film to everyone.

Photo by Denise Jans on Unsplash