art-hausfan69

[art-hausfan69]

Call Me By Your Name

Seen: 2 Times

Watching CMBYN for the first time was heart wrenching, surprising, and heavy. I went with a friend who read the book and ended up loving the movie just as much as me. It stayed with me for a week after I left the theatre and I immediately ran out the next morning to go get the book. It felt like a love drenched high, when referring it to people I imagined that I was commenting on a memory that I’d had. I listened to the music over and over in the car. It made me feel alive and enthralled- this is what cinema should do.

The second time I saw it I went with my friend. Overall the movie is slow paced and gentle but in the beginning this is especially so. I kept waiting for things to pick up to impress him and was thinking of his experience for the majority of the time. In the end, he liked it but wasn’t a huge fan. My euphoric haze quickly dispersed into pure rage as a stared at the ground and became an insecure 12 year old; dejected and “not understood.” That being said, I believe I’m now in a more objective place to comment on the film.

Luca does a great job of highlighting the environment both sonically and visually. The textures of Northern Italy come alive as he focuses on the sensations of a summer. Recalling it all, it feels like a fantastical dream of sorts. The rich decadence of Ellio and Oliver’s surroundings simultaneously feels as natural as the breeze sweeping through the large French doors that clang together in the afternoon.

Luca successfully walks the line between literary and cinematic devices. Throughout the film, a fly interacts with Ellio and Oliver. It first appears on Ellios crotch before he begins to touch himself and then later on Oliver’s shoulder as he stares offscreen. In CMBYN, love begins as lustful longing- a pestering and ever present annoyance. By the end, the two experience an all consuming and joyous love. The pair are seen romping through a lush waterfall and laughing gleefully. By the last scene, as Ellio sits with the news that Oliver is engaged, he sits in front of the fire with the fly on his shoulder, this time as an old friend rather than an annoyance.

CMBYN allows for a slow, heartbreak that stays with people long after they leave the theatre. Luca implicates the audience into Ellios shoes, the first part is slow and painful. I felt the dread the first time I saw it- “oh god will it ever happen?”