'Nature has cunning ways of finding our weakest spot.'

Rating: 10/10 (15 March 2018)

'Nature has cunning ways of finding our weakest spot.'
The brilliant novel CAL ME BY YOUR NAME written by André Aciman in 2007 has been adapted for the screen by the inimitable James Ivory and the result is a profoundly touching film as directed by Luca Guadagnino. All aspects of the film are well served - scenery, costumes, cinematography, musical score - and delivered by a sterling cast of actors. André Aciman also has a bit part that adds to the finesse of the film.
CALL ME BY YOUR NAME is a sensual and transcendent tale of first love. It's the summer of 1983 in the north of Italy, and Elio Perlman (Timothée Chalamet), a precocious 17-year-old young man, spends his days in his family's 17th century villa transcribing and playing classical music, reading, and flirting with his friend Marzia (Esther Garrel). Elio enjoys a close relationship with his father (Michael Stuhlbarg), an eminent professor specializing in Greco-Roman culture, and his mother Annella (Amira Casar), a translator, who favor him with the fruits of high culture in a setting that overflows with natural delights. While Elio's sophistication and intellectual gifts suggest he is already a fully-fledged adult, there is much that yet remains innocent and unformed about him, particularly about matters of the heart. One day, Oliver (Armie Hammer), a 24-year-old American college graduate student working on his doctorate, arrives as the annual summer intern tasked with helping Elio's father. Amid the sun-drenched splendor of the setting, Elio and Oliver discover the heady beauty of awakening desire over the course of a summer that will alter their lives forever.
In addition to a delicately rendered first love story, the interaction between Elio and his parents (especially the very special father/son relationship) adds depth to the story. The splendor of the foods prepared by Mafalda (Vanda Capriolo), the discovery of lost Praxiteles sculpture in the lake, the visits to the swimming hole, the visit by an elderly gay couple Isaac (Peter Spears) and Mounir (André Aciman) - make this a cherishable film. Or in Elio's father's words, '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 is 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, pain. Don't kill it and with it the joy you've felt.'