Wild Card Wednesday: Call Me By Your Name

Author: Andre Aciman

Director: Luca Guadagnino

Year of film: 2017

Genre: Romance, Drama

Summary: A story of a sudden and powerful romance that blossoms between an adolescent boy and a summer guest at his parents' cliffside mansion on the Italian Riviera. Each is unprepared for the consequences of their attraction, when, during the restless summer weeks, unrelenting currents of obsession, fascination, and desire intensity their passion and test the charged ground between them. Recklessly, the two verge toward the one thing both fear they may never truly find again: total intimacy.

5/5 Pineapples

Review:

I write this review to you while choking back ugly sobs. Not because I am disappointed or because the film adaptation of the book Call Me By Your Name was horrendous - rather the exact opposite. 95% of voters on Rotten Tomatoes agree this is a 5 star film. Everything from the shots to the score were/was beautifully executed. The characters were vibrant and rich with emotion. The story itself is devastatingly beautiful.

If you haven't already, I highly recommend reading this book. And if you can, I recommend reading it before seeing the film. I'm a terrible, terrible reader - though I love it so - and I was able to fly through this book in 3 DAYS! That's huge for me. But, Andre Aciman writes Elio's perspective so smoothly and so gracefully that flying through the pages was a breeze.

In the book, the story is told by Elio who is a 17 year old boy living in the 1980's. He is staying in Italy with his family during one of their annual summer stays in the area. Every year, they take in scholars studying abroad. Our story begins with Oliver, this summer's scholar, getting out of a cab in front of Elio's family's home as he grabs his belongings and waves, "Later!" to the cab driver.

Elio has a severe issue with the term, "Later!" To him it feels flighty, fickle, volatile - insincere. But, as the days go on, he finds himself fearing that one day he will be on the receiving end of one of Oliver's goodbyes. Elio feared that, as if he made no lasting impression on Oliver's personal life at all, Elio would watch as Oliver walk out of his life with a loose-wristed wave, "Later!"

Elio remains near Oliver as often as he can, studying him, and obsessing over him. In the book, there isn't much dialogue shared between them. The dialogue shared between the two of them is mostly spoken in questions, neither ever really speaking candidly. This leaves a constant question for the reader and for Elio's character of, "Does Oliver care for Elio too? Does he know?"

Elio's character is one that's struggling with sexuality and relationships and how that does or does not define who he is. He falls in and out of depression based on how Oliver is or is not treating him as the weeks pass. To cope, he begins sleeping with his friend Marzia. She's in love with him. He doesn't mean to use her, but he's struggling to find himself. And it's not that he doesn't care for her, because he does - so sleeping with her makes sense to him... Until Oliver returns from a night out or begins talking to Elio again, then the cycle repeats itself.

Elio is inspired by the story of a princess and a knight who, in a struggle to confess his love, asks the princess, "Is it better to speak or to die?" Elio decides it'd be better to speak.

He finally opens up to Oliver on one of their bike rides into town. The film did a good job at sticking to the original conversation. Here, you can see what I mean about speaking in questions. Despite that complicated approach to communicating, the two of them understand one another. The book describes the characters as 2 halves of one being.

Oliver, fascinated by Elio's historical knowledge, compliments him by saying, "Is there anything you don't know?" A compliment from Oliver is rare in the book. Elio takes this as his chance to open up.

"I know nothing, Oliver. Nothing, just nothing."

"You know more than anyone around here."

Elio elaborates, "If you only knew how little I know about the things that really matter."

"What things that matter?"

"You know what things. By now you of all people should know."

Oliver takes time to process Elio's words. "Why are you telling me all this?"

"Because I thought you should know."

Oliver repeats Elio’s words slowly, considering them.

"Because I thought you should know. Because I want you to know. Because there is no one else I can say this to but you."

"Are you saying what I think you’re saying?"

"Yes."

It's all out in the open now! Elio shows Oliver his secret spot in a meadow over-looking the water, and that's where the both of them "bend", so to speak, and share their first kiss. Elio gets overzealous, and Oliver pushes him away, saying he knows himself and that neither of them have done anything they're ashamed of yet and he'd like to keep it that way.

After that day, Oliver is distant again. Elio is back in limbo, and he writes Oliver a note in despair: "Can't stand the silence. We need to talk." To which Oliver responds, "Grow up, I'll see you at midnight." This perplexes Elio for the extent of the day. "Grow up", feels like a blow off, but then "I'll see you at midnight" is a commitment. A lot of the book is Elio weighing the mixed signals he's receiving from Oliver.

After an excruciating day of waiting, Elio meets Oliver at midnight, one thing leads to another, and the two of them make love. It's in the midst of passion that Oliver calls out, "call me by your name!"

The only issue is, once it's over with, Elio has this terrible feeling that he's done something wrong - or something he regrets.

The two of them go swimming the next morning, and Oliver is aware of Elio's sudden distance. The two of them talk, and Elio eventually grows comfortable in his own skin again by accepting what happened, who he is, and what he wants.

One day while Oliver is out, Elio's in absolute despair and boredom waiting for Oliver to get back. He's irritably picking apart a peach before he starts masturbating with it.

Yeah, it's a super weird scene. Simply because I've never had the desire to do anything like that to a fruit. But, I'll explain later.

He finishes and sets the peach aside before falling asleep. He wakes up to Oliver standing over him. Oliver sees the peach and starts to pick on Elio, until he sees how upset and ashamed Elio is about it. Then, Oliver consumes the peach, biting into it and swallowing. Elio begins to cry because no one has ever done anything like that for him before. This action reflected Oliver fully accepting all aspects of Elio, and that is groundbreaking for Elio who can hardly accept himself.

From that point on, they're inseparable, but their summer is winding down, and Oliver will soon have to return to America. Oliver asks Elio to come with him on a trip to Bergamo for a book reading. Elio gets permission from his parents and the two of them spend a weekend together. On their mini vacation they stay in a hotel and share the most intimate experiences together. They attend the book reading and have fun drinking and laughing with the others attending. Elio gets too drunk and ends up throwing up beside a fountain - which later becomes a funny story he reflects on. Oliver kisses him directly afterwards.

This initially seems really gross - and I by no means am saying I'd ever do it - but this was another way of Oliver and Elio sharing literally everything. Even the gross aspects of each other. Like vomit. I'm gagging, but it's kinda beautiful, when you think about it.

In the book this kiss is extremely significant because Oliver pushes him against a wall in broad street light and begins passionately making out with Elio. They feel as if they don't have to hide in that moment, and Elio reflects on that night at that exact spot for years to come.

The vacation ends too soon, and Oliver leaves for America. Elio does his best to move on with his life, and his father, recognizing Elio's discontent, decides to have the worlds most important conversation with him. His father tells him he's aware of the relationship Elio and Oliver have. But he tells Elio that the relationship he shared with Oliver is an important one, and that Elio shouldn't run away from or hide how he feels. It's in this conversation that my favorite quote is derived.

Elio's father tells him, "We rip out so much of ourselves to be cured of things faster than we should that we go bankrupt by the age of thirty and have less to offer each time we start with someone new."

That Hanukkah, Oliver calls Elio to wish him and his family a happy Hanukkah, and to tell Elio some important news.

Oliver is getting engaged.

Elio and Oliver live separate lives, never forgetting the many intimate memories they made together.

20 years later, Oliver visits Elio's family. At this point, Elio's father has passed away.

The book comes to a close as Elio watches Oliver, contemplating if Oliver would still be able to "look me in the face, hold my gaze, and, call me by your name."

FIN.

If you're going into this book or film with the intention to have some kind of Nicholas Sparks' Notebook experience - this story isn't for you. This is real love. This is how real love happens. This is how real love ends. It's never here to stay, rather to teach a lesson and be gone as fast as it came.

I thought the film adapted the book well. It stuck to it's plot progression, and used a lot of the same dialogue. It did feel that they were speaking more than it felt they ever did in the book, but that's because the movie doesn't give us access into Elio's personal thoughts the way the book does. Therefore, their thoughts have to be exchanged out loud for the audience to understand. It's more obvious the two of them are interested in one another in the film. Oliver's character doesn't have such a cold shoulder.

The casting was perfect. The cinematography - using one lens and filming entire scenes in one shot - makes the viewer feel a part of their personal world in Italy, as if we are really there with them.

Something the movie wasn't able to quite capture is the deep meaning behind "call me by your name, and I'll call you by mine". Not only was it a cry out in the midst of passion, but it also reflected what the book was good at reiterating and describing: Elio and Oliver are two halves of one being.

Oh yeah, and let's not forget the peach scene. The film did really well at making the peach a MacGuffin: an object or device in a movie or a book that serves merely as a trigger for the plot. The camera constantly lingers on the peach tree, like the symbol of innocence and the forbidden fruit. Once Oliver and Elio make love, Elio masturbates with fruit, symbolizing a loss of his innocence and his acceptance of this part of him that's been so forbidden.

So, why did I leave the theatre crying? Because the love shared between Oliver and Elio is so raw, honest, and pure, and at the end of it all - it's still not enough. As Elio's father tells him, "Nature has cunning ways of finding our weakest spot." And, unlike the book, the film end's with Elio receiving Oliver's phone call to tell him that he's engaged. Elio's weakest spot is exposes, and Timothee Chalamet's finally performance is awe-inspiring to say that least.

He puts the phone down, walks to the fire and stares into it throughout the end credits as life goes on without him in the background. He's processing all of his emotions directly facing the camera. First despair, then anger, then nostalgia, and a final certain stare directly in the audiences eyes before his mother calls for him, and he is expected to fall back into pace with life.

It's never blatantly stated why Oliver made such a sudden decision to essentially live a life separate from Elio. Why do you think Oliver decided to get married?

That being said, until Shudder Sunday, "Later!"