Not too long ago, I went to the cinema with a few friends where I watched Call me by your name. After finishing the movie, I walked out speechless and it took me a while before I could find any words to express my love for it. It felt as if I had just travelled to Crema, where I had spent a summer and had deeply fallen in love. Meanwhile, I was walking through minus ten outside and snow was still falling; in my head I was still in 1983 and in Italy. Now, after about a month of seeing the film, I still find myself thinking about the world of the characters and I am craving to see it again and lose myself in the story all over, but until then: a review and analysation of Call me by your name. Since I really do not want to restrict myself when expressing my love for this film, I want to warn you: there will be spoilers in this article!
In this film you follow the story of Oliver and Elio in a summer in Northern Italy. Oliver is a 24 year old grad-student who comes to write his thesis and Elio is a 17 year old student, enjoying his vacation in the place he comes to every year. In the first encounters of the two boys, Oliver comes off as rude, coming and going whenever he pleases and just saying later as a sort of ‘goodbye’. There is however, also immediately a tension between the two, they are interested in each other. Oliver massages Elio’s back to show him that he wants something from him. Elio is however still confused about his not yet discovered attraction to Oliver and walks away in full confusion, still holding the water bottle, utterly bewildered about the situation.
The confusion fades and the two guys start spending more time together. They go out together, where Elio just looks at a dancing Oliver, so jealous of the girl that Oliver kisses that night. This jealousy comes from both sides, when Elio starts a relationship with Marzia, one of the town girls and brags about it in front of Oliver. They constantly play games with each other, without saying a word, letting the tension between the boys grow only further. They flirt but don’t act on it, not yet.
One of the things this film so beautifully portrays is the vibe of Italy. Not only is the landscape beautiful, they also managed to show the calmness of the place. There are even a little playful with the Italian culture, shown during the scene where Elio’s nose starts bleeding. The whole table is talking loudly, interrupting each other. The guests of Elio’s parents are criticizing the parenting style of Elio’s parents, showing us the conservative Italy of 1983.
Intertwined with all these magnificent shots of the nature, the story of Elio and Oliver evolves. Elio gains confidence, starts to understand his feelings a little bit more. And when his mother reads him a story of which the main moral is: speak or die, he decides to speak. The next scene, however, is filled with irony, it ends in Oliver and Elio speaking about how they are feeling, but not actually saying it, with Oliver asking if there is anything that you don’t know and Elio replying that he does not know a thing about the things that matter, Oliver knows what Elio is saying, but he just can’t speak of it, he says, subtly that they can’t act on their feelings, leaving Elio to say: so we are on speaking terms, but not really?
It all builds up to their first kiss later that day. Where Elio steps towards Oliver, with confidence, he knows he wants him, because even though he had slept with Marzia, he really is attracted to Oliver. So they kiss, full of passion and they don’t want to pull away, but Oliver does. Even after a strong moment when Elio tries again, Oliver pushes him back. We haven’t done anything to be ashamed of and that is a good thing, I want to be good. Elio just looks at Oliver and puts his hand on his crotch: am I offending you? And thus the flirting continues.
The two keep distant from each other after their first kiss, Oliver has made it clear that he does not want to do it again, but a desperate Elio writes him a note and in response gets back: grow up, I’ll see you at midnight. The mixed message sums up the whole relationship the two had so far and Elio spends the day impatiently, teasing Oliver, asking him what time it is. Although he spends the day with Marzia, he ends it with Oliver, because they make love for the first time. Call me by your name and I’ll call you by mine, the famous sentence is said in this scene. Saying your own name tastes weird in your mouth, you rarely say it, you only hear it, so it is intimate when you lay in a bed with a person you love and they say ‘Oliver’ and you say ‘Elio’ back.
Elio abandons Marzia and the two boys stay close and intimate and up follows the peach scene. This film is about vulnerability and discovering your sexuality and your own body, so when Elio ejaculates into a peach, it isn’t gross, he tries something, he does something nobody does in broad daylight, but everybody does in their own privacy. It is something he is ashamed of and when Oliver finds out what happened, a scene that could have turned into an intimate moment between the two, ends in one where Elio is ashamed but also torn up by the fact that Oliver will be leaving him and so he bursts into tears in Oliver’s arms.
Elio’s parents see that the two boys are bonding and they let them go on a trip together. We see a sequence of scenes where the two are carefree and happy, where they can actually be together and not hide their relationship anymore. One of the best scenes of the film is the glimpse we get of a dream from Elio. We share his most intimate thoughts about Oliver and see how much Oliver takes up his mind. It only lasts about two seconds and after the film you have totally forgotten about that, but that is the beauty of it, because we too forget our own dreams.
In the end, Oliver goes back to America and we see the last moment they get to touch each other. Elio pulls him tightly in and they both know, that this is the end. Meanwhile we see Elio wearing a blue shirt that is way too large for him and we are reminded of Elio’s question to have the shirt Oliver came to Italy in. Elio calls his mother with a cracking voice and silently cries the whole car ride home.
Completely devastated he comes home, where Marzia forgives him and wants to be friends and his father sits down with him. He talks about how you shouldn’t supress the things you are feeling, because you only have so much love to give. At some point, you will be thirty and have no more left to give anymore. He tells Elio that he should treasure his memories, instead of trying to forget them. After his father’s speech, we suddenly understand why there was a scene of him admiring the statues of naked men: he had a romance like Elio’s too, but supressed it. He did not choose that love, but instead went a different path and regrets it. And now we also suddenly understand the role of Marzia in this film, the path Elio could have gone down but didn’t, the path his father did go down, because he wasn’t brave enough to choose for true love.
The film ends in the winter, when Elio gets a phone call from Oliver saying that he is getting married. But Oliver also says that he remembers everything and he calls Elio Oliver one last time. The phone call is important for Elio, to understand that it did truly happen, that it wasn’t all a dream. We follow Elio into the living room, where he flips coin, wondering if they end up together, the audience doesn’t see how it lands, but Elio just walks away, knowing a coin does not decide fate.
And then we see Elio in front of fire, symbolising how much he is burning inside, crying in front of the fire. With no words, he says so much. He thinks about his whole summer, about his youth that is slowly fading, about all the things that happened and although they hurt, although he cries, he is happy they happened, leaving almost a smile at the end. He lets himself feel everything, because that is better than supressing it. We hear Elio one more time: his mother calling him to come eat. Elio looks into the camera and it fades to black. The film is over, with one of the most powerful endings I have ever seen, containing just one word: Elio.
Babette Helena 