Jaylen Smith

Travis Sarandos

Communications Media

13 May 2021

An Analysis Of Luca Guadagnino's Call Me By Your Name

When I first watched Luca Guadagnino's 2017 film Call Me By Your Name I thought

there was something whimsical and dreamlike about it. The film is based on Andre Aciman 2007

novel of the same name and tells the story of a brief relationship in 1983 between Elio Pearlman,

a 17 year old, and his Dad's assistant Oliver. The film is full of dream-like sequences that are

long and keep the audience's attention. At the center of Call Me By Your Name is a theme of

memory and being so infatuated by someone's presence even when they're not really there. Elio

and Oliver’s relationship is one big ball of non stop infatuation and lust. Actor Armie Hammer

states, “it's the confusion of Elio’s infatuation.”

In the First half of the film Elio masks his feelings for Oliver through frustration with the

way Oliver communicates around the family. During dinner with his parents Elio says in

italian,”Don’t you think he’s impolite when he says later? Arrogant?” Elio’s dad then

foreshadows their relationship by saying, “ I think he’s shy, you’ll grow to like him.” Elio looks

back down at the table in thought. The scene is dreamlike and quiet. The camera is still and the

scene is dimly lit, and the family garden can be seen in the distance. I should mention that the

entire film is shot with one 35mm lens. This gives the entire film a dreamlike feel and makes the

viewer feel as though we are reminiscing on our own summer fling, as though we are in the

minds of Elio and Oliver. In my favorite scenes in the film we follow Elio and Oliver as they

allude to their crushes on one another all the way to their first kiss in a lush green field of grass.
In these scenes there was a recurring use of green yellow and light blue and the film continues to

keep that dreamy essence. Despite location changes these colors are something that remains

present during these sequence of events adding to the overall theme of memory.

Luca Guadagnino described Call Me By Your Name’s aesthetic as if you were thinking

of your own memories from a time that has long passed.The score of the movie also contributes

to this. With songs by famous bands like the “Psychedelic Furs” and music made specifically for

the film by one of my favorite artists Sufjan Stevens. Andre Laplante’s “Une Barque Sur

L’ocean” acts as a theme song for Elio and Oliver and plays most prominently in the scene

leading up to their first kiss, The piano heavy song ties into the directors objective of creating a

dreamy and memory-like atmosphere. The story of Call Me By Your Name in itself is a memory.

Guadagnino states in an interview “Call Me By Your Name it's about the avenue it leads you

through and your capacity to meet this driving force of desire no matter what its object is. It can

be a man with another man, a woman with another woman, and a man with another woman. It is

absolutely irrelevant”

In the moments leading up to the final acts of Call Me By Your Name everything starts to

come crashing down for Elio. We the viewers are made to feel as if a love of our own has

blossomed and disappeared. As Elio and Oliver face each other for one last time at the train

station we can feel the heartbreak between the two. This was a Summer Fling that for these two

characters could have lasted a whole longer had they had told one another about their feelings

earlier. Something I noticed right away is that Elio is wearing the shirt that Oliver wore when he

first arrived at the family’s home in the first scene of the film. This small detail shows the viewer

the impact that this small fling had on Elio, and how attached he has grown to Oliver. Nothing is

said when Oliver prepares to board the train. He attempts to say something but doesn't. As Oliver
boards and the train Speedway Elio watches, the camera pans around and we sense that same

dreamlike feel that is present throughout the film, only this time it feels colder and more lonely.

As the film enters its final minutes we can see that time has passed. It is Hanukkah, and

Elio’s parents are in the midst of choosing the next student and will spend six weeks at their

home in Crema Italy. the dreamy pastel colors of yellow green and blue have been discarded and

swapped out for gray, white, and dark blue symbolising the loneliness and coldness that Elio

feels with Oliver’s absence. Elio receives a phone call from Oliver. Oliver then proceeds to tell

Elio that he's getting married to a woman. One last time Elio calls Oliver by his name in which

Oliver responds with his. Finally Oliver states “I remember everything” tying back to the theme

of memory, and that dreamlike essence. The love affair is something of a memory now but that is

not necessarily a bad thing as Ellio’s Dad tells him in a monologue. A part of the film that

brought me to tears. Elios' father states, “We rip out so much of ourselves to be cured of things

faster, that we go bankrupt by the age of thirty and have less to offer. But to make yourself feel

nothing so as not to feel anything, what a waste.”

In conclusion Call Me By Your Name is a tragically beautiful and heartbreaking film. It’s

a story of love, memory, lust, and seduction. It’s wide shots filmed on a 35mm lens and amazing

score gives the story a dreamy aesthetic and makes the film as a whole feel very immersive, and

almost as if you are in the minds of the two main characters.