Call Me By Your Name

Every time I watch Call Me By Your Name, I want to like the film. Yet every single time I come away from it cold, disinterested, and, worst of all, bored. This is not a film that speaks to me. On top of that is the unshakable foreknowledge of Armie Hammer and the various accusations against him, including charges for rape, branding a woman, and threats to “consume” them. It is no surprise that of late he has had difficulty finding acting work. Knowing this now, watching Call Me By Your Name is more like homework than entertaining. 

There was a small amount of backlash when Call Me By Your Name hit theaters, targeting straight males who didn’t like the film, calling them intolerant and bigoted. Combatting that was a vocal minority of gay men who also expressed their dislike for the film. You can tell this group because they open their reviews with the disclaimer that they are gay and therefore don’t come after them calling them intolerant towards alternative sexual identities. The problem with this film is not because the audience is or is not intolerant of movies about gay or bisexual characters; it’s about several other aspects of this film that I will go into in more detail below. 

The film takes place in the summer of 1983 in Northern Italy. Elio Perlman (Timothée Chalamet), a 17-year-old Jewish French-Italian boy, lives with his parents (Michael Stuhlbarg and Amira Casar). His father, a professor of archaeology, invites a 24-year-old Jewish-American graduate student, Oliver (Armie Hammer), to live with the family over the summer to help with his academic paperwork. Initially, Elio feels he and Oliver have little in common as he is confident and carefree, while Elio is bookish and plays music, lacks confidence, and self-esteem. Things start to change, though, when Oliver casually touches his back during a volleyball match, but Elio brushes this off initially. Later, he finds himself feeling jealous when he sees Oliver kissing Chiara (Victoire Du Bois), one of Elio’s childhood friends who is there playing volleyball with them. 

Elio and Oliver spend more and more time together, going into town and accompanying Elio’s father on an archaeological trip. Elio finds that he is growing more drawn towards Oliver, even sneaking into the man’s room to smell his clothes. When Elio confesses these feelings to Oliver, Oliver warns him not to talk about such things. Later, away from everyone else, the two kiss. But Oliver stops before things can go any further and avoids seeing Elio for several days. 

During this time, Elio begins seeing Marzia (Esther Garrel), another of his childhood friends. This relationship quickly turns physical, but Marzia is afraid he will break her heart eventually, which is exactly what he does. After Elio extends an olive branch to Oliver, the two meet up and sleep together for the first time. Elio is conflicted by the encounter, crying out in frustration that they have so little time left together. The two spend three days together before Oliver has to leave for home. Elio returns to his home, reflecting on the time he had with Oliver, knowing the two will never be together again.

As a love story, this one is lacking. There is chemistry between Armie Hammer and Timothée Chalamet, but the story goes back and forth too much and takes way too long to get to the point. Even after it does get to it, it meanders too much and drains any real emotion from every moment. The inclusion of Marzia adds yet another complication to the mix that only serves to slow down the whole affair and makes us mad at Elio for how he treated the situation. When she comes to see him on her bike and he shuts her down, effectively ending their relationship, it feels cruel and mean-spirited and makes it hard to be on his side.

Then there is the elephant in the room. By having Elio be 17 and Oliver 24, this adds a questionable element to the proceedings. 17 is the age of consent in Italy, but here, in the United States, it is not. Therefore, watching this film here, there is a divide that wouldn’t exist over there, the idea that this relationship carries the stigma of pedophilia. This could have been resolved by making Elio 18 instead without altering the story much, but it is being faithful to the André Aciman novel by the same name, and that brings with it that stigma. Add to that the information we now have about Armie Hammer’s personal life and this just further challenges this film. These are not the kind of things we should be thinking about when watching a film, but because of Armie’s past sexual exploits, it’s hard to get past it. 

Call Me By Your Name is a flawed film. Timothée’s portrayal is not one of those flaws. When the end credits start to roll and he is staring into the fireplace, emotionally hurting, it is believable. But his character, as written, has done some things that make it hard to care for him, even as we understand his pain. This film tries to manipulate our emotions, and depending on your feelings towards Elio, it may or not succeed. For me it did not. That, and the glacial pace in which anything happens, makes this a hard film for me to get into. The best part of the whole affair is the closing moment between Elio and his father. His words are some of the best-written lines in the entire film.

“We rip out so much of ourselves to be cured of things faster that we go bankrupt by the age of thirty and have less to offer each time we start with someone new, but to make yourself feel nothing so as not to feel anything— what a waste.” It’s a profound statement that makes you look inside yourself to see if you have done the same thing in your life. It’s beautiful. I just wish the rest of the film lived up to that profound moment. 

Academy Award Nominations:

Best Picture: Peter Spears, Luca Guadagnino, Émilie Georges, and Marco Morabito

Best Actor: Timothée Chalamet

Best Adapted Screenplay: James Ivory (won)

Best Original Song: “Mystery of Love” by Sufjan Stevens

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Release Date: November 24, 2017

Running Time: 132 minutes

Rated R

Starring: Armie Hammer, Timothée Chalamet, Michael Stuhlbarg, Amira Casar, Esther Garrel, and Victoire Du Bois

Directed by: Luca Guadagnino