Call Me By Your Name: Authentic Movie Review

Posted on May 22, 2023June 17, 2023 by thespectrumworld

Call Me by Your Name || January, 2017
Director- Luca Guadagnino
Starring- Armie Hammer, Timothée Chalamet, Michael Stuhlbarg, Amira Casar, Esther Garrel, Victoire Du Bois Adapted from- Call Me by Your Name
Languages- English, Italian, French

“Call me by your name and I’ll call you by mine.”

A film based on André Aciman’s novel ‘Call Me by Your Name’, has won the ‘best adapted screenplay’ at Oscar. This film deals with the emotional turmoil of young Elio who finds himself falling for a guest named Oliver. Everything seems abnormal to him at first but grows to accept his sexual orientation. Luca Guadagnino, director of the film has successfully captured the spirit and the budding love between Elio and Oliver. Though they knew that their relationship is temporary. Yet this journey being with each other helped them to grow into accepting their sexuality.

“Just because two people don’t wind up spending their entire lives together doesn’t mean their relationship was a failure.”

As Satyajit Ray has said that it is all about how a film remains closer to reality and to what level the adaptation does justice to the pre-existing text. Call Me by Your Name is a film is adapted in such a way that it reflects the actual meaning that has been conveyed in the novel. It remains faithful to the text. This story of Elio and Oliver connects people from all over the world regardless of cultures, religions, race, and linguistic barriers.

Cinema breaks national boundaries and Call Me by Your Name has done justice to homo-sexual people. It paved a way for accepting and coming to terms with it at a broader level. Nevertheless, visualization feels so real that the audience immediately witnesses the chemistry between both. The story of Elio and Oliver was never the one that could have been completed. But it didn’t meet the expectations of the audience.

Not to neglect the fact of commercial importance, this film has strategically used good music and songs throughout the entire movie. It is a perfect combination of a writer’s spirit and a musician’s soul. The element of music and academics gives an insight into the character’s mind and their thought process.

This works as a binding factor for them and strengthens their chemistry. It brings out the element of film aesthetics beautifully. The setting of the film is of Italian summer of 1983 with vibrant vibes. The setting of the Call Me by Your Name movie adds another highlighting feature to it for its long-lasting impact on the audience.

This coming-of-age movie talks about the freshness of the first love and about the pain of an unrequited love. Elio embraces the uniqueness of his relationship with Oliver but at the same time, he also suffers an unspeakable heartache.

“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. But to feel nothing so as not to feel anything- what a waste!”

This speech by Perlman sums up the entire movie as it is moving and wise and contains the gist of life in general. Call Me by Your Name movie stands true to the fact that cinema is for change. As it talks about the gay-love which is completely normal rather than reacting as it is something to be ashamed of.

The parents of Elio set an example of how a parent should react towards their child’s sexuality. How important it is to talk about your feelings? How we waste so much of our emotions by merely thinking about society and other people’s opinion.

There is no subtle art of parenting. It’s just how you react to your child’s first love and how you advise them that remains with them. In the case of Elio, he happens to be blessed as he didn’t have to carry the emotional baggage for his entire life. The special appearance of the author himself as the character of Mounir in a homo-sexual relationship. However, this captures the spirit of the Call Me by Your Name movie. It is completely normal and possible to have your forever happy-ending within the same gender.

In Luca’s movies passion and drama are expressed through music and words and deeds. But, also in vibrant, visceral textures that envelopes his characters- the cool marble, succulent fruit, shadow and light, sheens of sweat. As per Los Angeles Times, Guadagnino uses pleasure not only as an intended effect but it is his defining obsession and artistic principle.

“He has become world cinema’s great sensualists, a filmmaker whose sun-kissed surfaces and woozy rhythms produce an atmosphere of sweet, heady intoxication.” Call Me by Your Name movie turns your gaze into near-touch, inviting you to see and almost caress their sun-warmed bodies. The warmth of sunlight on Elio and Oliver’s bodies makes you crave their bare-chested bodies. It takes the bodily aesthetics onto another level of perfection.

To describe Call Me by Your Name movie as one of the best on-screen adaptations. The audience could relate to the 17-year-old Elio, as he went through a roller-coaster ride of emotions and not hiding them. Being a teenager, his role-play makes sense to almost all the teenagers. Those who are going through an upheaval of emotions at a time, falling in love, that first touch and the never-ending pain of an unrequited love. Chalamet has done justice to his role as Elio and he was nominated for best-performer.