Call Me By Your Name

This afternoon, I travelled to the Errol Flynn Filmhouse in Northampton to see a film that grabbed my attention as soon as it landed at the Sundance Film Festival way back in January. 'Call Me By Your Name' has received many compliments from the LGBT community for it's authenticity and sheer beauty, receiving a 98% approval rating on the popular film site 'Rotten Tomatoes'.

In comparison, multiple Oscar winner 'La La Land' has 92% and Jaws, 97%...

'Call Me By Your Name' is set in 1980s Italy, with 17-year old Elio (Timothee Chalamet) enjoying a summer writing music, reading copious amounts of books by the lake side and brooding around shirtless listening to Bach. Every Summer, his father, an American professor, invites his favourite student to his Italian household to help with research. This year it's the turn of Oliver (Armie Hammer), a strapping statuesque academic from the States, but throughout the film there are few references to work, with the family spending the majority of their time eating lunch al fresco, visiting local bars and swimming in the lakes.

Luca Guadagnino - the director - takes the time to set up the film in minute detail, the tension between Elio and Oliver building from the initial days of Oliver massaging Elio's back, much to the derision of the latter, right through to the inevitable; where the two accept their love; culminating in a scene where we see the pair make love as the camera respectfully moves to the window and a view of the hot, Summer night. In between however, the dynamic between the two is cryptic and sophisticated, almost as if they are trying to work each other out. Both engage in false heterosexual relationships, the use of the musical scores during scenes of love-making between Elio and his girlfriend signalling the smokescreen of lies.

In an odd kind of way, nothing happens during the film while everything happens at once. The relaxed atmosphere of a huge secluded house in the middle of the countryside is the opposite of the intense relationship that builds between the two protagonists. This is not your stereotypical "coming out" story, but instead a young man's realisation that love is love, and when both of them realise they love each other, the moving and sensual scenes that follow are heart-warming and brought a smile to my face. I thought that there would be a happy ending, as the pair travel to another part of Italy together, but with the impending deadline of Oliver's stay fast approaching, the separation of the pair brought yet more tears as the train pulled away from the station.

Elio's pain and grief of his loss hits him hard, but the film is concluded with a wonderfully moving speech by Elio's Father:

“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.”

His speech to an distraught Elio made me cry. It brought back memories of similar conversations with my loved ones; Elio worried about his family's reaction, his Dad accepting him for who he is as he noticed the relationship blossoming between Elio and Oliver. The overarching message is that sadness is a genuine emotion and an emotion not to be crushed or ignored, just like one's sexuality. Elio's slow moving tears down his cheeks, while he stared into the fireplace in the middle of Winter ended one of the greatest films I've ever seen, and I do not say that lightly. Whether gay or straight or somewhere in between, this film is a must see, the overarching message of love and loss is one that will make even the most hard-nosed man's bottom lip quiver.

I very often feel underwhelmed by films that have gained monumental amounts of praise, as I expect too much, but this film was everything I had wished for and more. I would highly recommend giving it a watch, before it moves on.