Call Me By Your Name, 2017
Elio (Timothée Chalamet) is a 17 year old who lives in Italy with his archaeology professor father (Michael Stuhlbarg) and his mother (Amira Casar). Elio's world is shaken up when his father's summer research assistant, Oliver (Armie Hammer) arrives. Elio develops a profound attraction to Oliver, and experiences emotional highs and lows when he discovers that Oliver returns his feelings.
There are movies about traditionally marginalized groups that emphasize systems of oppression and movies that instead take a more "life is hard no matter who you are" universal approach.
Call Me By Your Name mixes both of these approaches together and the result is a story that is both very specific and very relatable.
My main apprehension going into the film is that I tend to be very critical of movies that feature relationships with conspicuous age gaps. For the most part I felt that this film landed on the right side of the line. Hammer's character is meant to be in his early/mid-20s, though I felt that he and Chalamet looked like there was more distance between them age-wise. That said, I felt that overall Oliver followed the "campsite rule" and it didn't feel like Oliver was intentionally taking advantage of Elio.
But I do think that some of the movie's best moments come from the fact that there is an inherent imbalance between the characters. Elio talks a good game and, for the most part, he is the one who initiates the relationship. But Elio is still a teenager who does not have a wealth of romantic or sexual experience (with men or with women). While Oliver tries to be careful with Elio's feelings, it's such a complex time in Elio's life that even when things are going well he is overwhelmed. It's also significant that with his confidence and all-American looks, Oliver is the kind of person who will never have trouble finding a partner, male or female. But for Elio, who is far less confident and imposing, such relationship can't and won't just come at the drop of a hat.
I also liked how the film handled the question of the acceptance (or lack thereof) of homosexuality. Elio's parents are very accepting, as is his childhood friend and girlfriend Marzia (Esther Garrel). His parents even have good friends who are a gay couple. But there is a tacit acknowledgement that it's not expected of Elio to be openly gay. Oliver repeatedly says that he doesn't want himself or Elio to be "punished" or "suffer" from their relationship, and it's pretty clear he's not talking about the age gap. The fact that Elio can barely talk about his feelings, and even then half in code, only exacerbates the agony of his first serious romantic love. This is echoed in the fact that the family do not advertise that they are Jewish, with his mother saying that they are "Jews of discretion." There is this vague sense that some things should not be said aloud, and it creates an undercurrent of fear and unease.
I thought that Chalamet was very good in the lead role, really nailing the way that teenagers can put up a front of indifferent swagger while actually being a mess on the inside. Hammer also really nails the way that some attractive people can be, like, annoyingly seductive. Obviously some of Oliver's actions are meant to deliberately get Elio's attention, but mainly he's a man who is incredibly confident and settled as a person. Stuhlbarg and Casar also do a good job of portraying an affability that constantly leaves you wondering how much they know about what is happening with their son.
I was a big fan of the way that the film was choreographed. Elio can't stop touching Oliver, something that he finds erotic, of course, but also clearly comforting in a way. It's interesting to see the way that the film differentiates this from Elio's relationship with Marzia. Elio loves Marzia, and the two have sexual encounters that Elio seems to enjoy, but what he feels towards Oliver comes across as a much deeper need than that of sexual gratification. The movie is relatively chaste when it comes to their sex scenes, so the main emphasis is not on their lust (though that is certainly a driver). At times this feels a bit prudish (like when the camera just pans over to a tree for a minute?), but overall I didn't think that the movie needed to be more explicit, especially when one of the characters is a teenager.
The Italian setting is absolutely beautiful, and many of the sequences are just really breathtaking. I liked the soundtrack, and especially liked the closing number that played in the transition into the credits.
A very relatable, heartbreaking romance. I see why it got so much positive attention.
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