‘Call me by your name’ review
By: Nikki Smith
Tags: Review, Gay, Call Me By Your Name, Movies, Books

The movie ‘Call me by your name’ which is directed by Luca Guadagnino, is based on a novel written by André Aciman. The movie came out in 2017 and is situated in Italy in the summer of 1983. It’s about a 17 year old boy named Elio, played by Timothée Chalamat and Oliver played by Armie Hammer, an American intern his dad took in.

The movie shows the story of Elio and the path he’s walking towards growing up and coming of age. The six weeks he and Oliver spend together play a very crucial part. When Oliver first arrives Elio doesn’t like him very much since he finds Oliver way too arrogant and impolite. Oliver is loved by everyone else, especially by the girls. Elio himself is only now starting to experiment with girls, as he is discovering his masculinity and manhood. The fact Elio states that he finds Oliver unlikable masks that the two are actually deeply attracted to each other, which they find out only at the end of Oliver’s stay. They admire each other’s intellect and this is one of the biggest reasons why they find each other attractive. A romance blossoms between the two, but it’s hard since Oliver is older and homosexuality s was still a big tabboo.

This movie is very aesthetically pleasing, because they really stick to the colorful pastel theme which really brings out the colours of the sunny Italy. The sky is light blue and the fields are green. The colours are not the only thing I find pleasing. The piano music in this movie is beautiful and it plays a big part in the aesthetic where the director was going for. The acting is amazingly done and Timothée really brings Elio to life through the screen. You can feel his confusion when he realises he’s attracted to Oliver; he doesn’t even need to say it. His face tells you everything you need to know. You can feel his longing for Oliver even though he tries to play it off as nonchalant as he can. The movie is spoken in three languages. French, Italian and English. I think this adds so much to the movie and it makes it so much more realistic since they are in Italy and Elio’s mom is French.

The movie might be a little slow for some people their liking, but that’s actually why I really enjoy it. I think it illustrates the slow six weeks of a warm summer which the two spend together and you can feel everything build up towards the moment they find out about their attraction towards each other. I wouldn’t call it a mainstream film, but it’s definitely one of the better romantic movies representing queer love that I’ve seen. It’s very realistic for that time. Their attraction is based on their admiration towards each other. This is also how you can explain the title. In the movie Olivers says: “Call me by your name and I’ll call you by mine.” This comes from the fact the characters mirror each other. Elio looks up to Oliver and sees a more mature version of himself in him while Oliver sees himself from years ago. They want to be each other as much as they want to be with each other.

The only thing I thought could have been done better is the fact that Oliver’s age isn’t talked about enough. He is 7 years older and you can ask yourself if Oliver is abusing his power, because Elio looks up to him so much. If this would have been a story of a girl and a man this would have been a much bigger issue. You would get a story like ’Lolita’ which is far more frowned upon while here it’s much more normalized. That double standard is the only thing I dislike about the movie.

In conclusion I absolutely adore this movie and it’s theme of obsessive love that drives the plot. I think it’s a great movie for gay representation and it’s amazingly executed. I love how even though it’s a rather slow movie you can feel their intimacy and you don’t get bored, because of the amazing acting as well as the build up of the plot. My favourite part is near the end of the movie when Elio is talking to his father about Oliver and his father tells him: “What you two had had everything and nothing to do with intelligence. He was good, and you were both lucky to have found each other, because you too are good.” Elio answers that he thinks Oliver was a better person than him and his father responds with: “He would say the same thing about you.”

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