Why I loved Call Me By Your Name

Ever since I first saw the Oscar-nominated, coming-of-age film Call Me By Your Name I have wanted to write about it, but have never known exactly how to do it justice. I recently applied for a job and in the application form, I had to describe a recent positive experience of making art or going to a cultural event (an exhibition, music, theatre, film, design etc). 

I chose to write about this film because I love it so much, and thought it would be a good opportunity to write about it on here. I realise I will probably never do it justice but hey ho! It's worth saying I haven't yet read the book.

You know when you watch/ experience an extraordinary piece of art that just moves you, whether that's hearing a piece of music that leaves you with goosebumps, or reading a book/watching a film that makes you both laugh and cry. CMBYN did that to me and then some, I tell my friends it changed my life (I have been known to exaggerate). 

But the world seems to have had the same reaction, an analytics firm found that the film received the most 'positive' mentions out of the Oscar Best-Picture nominated films. And the general consensus that people (I have spoken to) who have seen the film, has been an expression of adoration for how beautiful it is.

Timothée Chalamet's performance won the world's attention, and the producer of CMBYN, Rodrigo Teixeira, suggested he could be one of the best actors in the world: possibly the next Leonardo DiCaprio. After all, how could anyone not be obsessed with him? Chalamania is real: 

Both images from article linked above (The New Yorker).

Here is the first version of the excerpt I wrote for the application, I had to edit it about a million times to get it down to 200 words:

Before going to see Call Me By Your Name, I had no idea what it’d be about (I hadn’t seen the trailer). Before seeing it, I realise now, I had never seen such a beautiful portrayal of a same-sex romance in a mainstream film. Elio and Oliver’s relationship is represented as being without or more importantly beyond categorisation; and the word 'gay' isn't mentioned once.

Because their sexualities are not made binary, they are not limited in their pursuits with other characters. Yes, Oliver is ultimately unable to pursue his relationship with Elio and marries a woman, but whilst they are in Italy (for the majority of the film), they freely explore sexual encounters and relationships with each other as well as other women. Elio loses his virginity and has a relationship with Marzia, and Oliver has a fling with Chiara. I realise that the development of Elio and Oliver's relationship is kept relatively private, but they nevertheless face no condemnation for it throughout the summer. 

The performance of Elio as performed by Timothée Chalamet was most striking to me. There was an essence to Elio that Chalamet perfected, the fluidity within his physicality in the way he moved, as well as the fluidity his sense of self; his sexuality and his ability to pass so easily between English, French and Italian. His sense of swagger.

Because of the film's coming-of-age genre, it makes sense that throughout the film Elio is somewhat naive and innocent. This is shown by the fact that he is unable to quite come to terms with the depth of his feelings for Oliver, who is older than him and so seems already more aware of what is expected of him (to marry a woman). I think Elio's sense of innocence is what makes the ending of the film so cathartic, because whilst Oliver seems to already have come to terms with the fact their relationship could not last, the viewer witnesses Elio’s heartbreaking realisation of this.

Most heartbreaking scene ever ever </3