'Call Me By Your Name' is a love story for everyone

There is a scene towards the end of “Call Me By Your Name”, when the young protagonist named Elio (Timothee Chalamet) is being driven home by his mother after saying farewell to his lover Oliver (Armie Hammer). His face tells you all you need to know about the parting: there is anguish and pain, confusion and sorrow as only a 17-year-old boy can feel.

Much has been said about Italian director Luca Guadagnino’s cinematic interpretation of Andre Aciman’s acclaimed 2007 novel, but at its core, the entire film can be condensed into this one heartbreaking scene.

Yes, "Call Me By Your Name" is about the magic of first love, the universality of infatuation and the thrilling highs of requited passion, but it’s also about the devastating consequences of revealing yourself to another person and leaving your heart defenseless and vulnerable.

I read the book about a month before I saw the movie (during a special screening in Trinoma at the CinemaOne Originals Film Festival) and what struck me the most was how languid and uncomplicated it was for a love story. This was the first of the many triumphs in Guadagnino film — how he translated the relaxed, unhurried nature of the book into screen.

His camera lingers on random, seemingly unrelated shots of things like staircases, leaves and landscapes to set us up and introduce us to Elio and Oliver’s little world in a town in Northern Italy. Just like the intense, 1980s summer in which the film is set, the pace is laidback and unhurried. It takes a while for things to unravel.

Elio is the bright, precocious son of progressive, academic parents. He plays Bach and Liszt, transcribes music, reads books and mingles with his small town friends. His world is upended upon the arrival of Oliver, a 24-year-old research assistant his father invites for the summer to help him with work.

Unlike so many films of this genre where character and intent are not only obvious but painfully, almost comically predictable, “Call Me By Your Name” doesn’t bother with stereotypes and therefore doesn’t insult its audience. In the book, Elio as the narrator immediately makes it clear that he desires Oliver, but in the film, the attraction is gradual and almost unexpected.

The second triumph in the film is casting. As the cocky, adolescent Elio, Chalamet imbues the character with wit, charm and an openness that automatically reels you in. You know this boy, maybe you even were this boy at one point in your life, and it’s to Chalamet’s credit that you can’t help but feel protective, or empathetic, at the very least.

Hammer, meanwhile, embodies the confident American golden boy so perfectly it’s hard to imagine anyone now who would fit the role better. The Social Network and The Man From U.N.C.L.E. star commits so fully to the role that we join him on his journey from initial hesitation and eventual submission to his desires.

Special mention must go to Michael Stuhlbarg, who, as Elio’s father, delivers one of the most standout performances of the year. He also delivered one of the film’s most thought-provoking lines: “We rip out so much of ourselves to be cured of things faster than we should that we go bankrupt by the age of 30 and have less to offer each time we start with someone new. But to feel nothing so as not to feel anything—what a waste!”

Photo courtesy of IMDb

It’s easy to think that this is yet another “gay love story” that exploits the growing trend of tolerance and acceptance for the LGBTQ community, but the third triumph of this film is Guadagnino’s deft and clear direction that ensured that this is a “love story” above everything else.

He has so much respect not only to the source material but for the very ideas of love and heartbreak that he often holds back and chooses to let silence or what you don’t see onscreen convey the message. Never does the film feel cheesy or salacious.

There are perhaps many other films in history that better capture the experience and stages of same-sex love better than "Call Me By Your Name", but I’m sure few have done it as gracefully and as eloquently.

At its heart, the film is about longing and grief and the absolute terror and agony of opening yourself up to another person. You don’t need to be gay or straight to understand all of that; you only need to be human. — LA, GMA News

Call Me By Your Name will be screened at Power Plant Mall on Saturday, November 25 at 7 p.m.