C1 Originals 2017: Luca Guadagnino's Call Me By Your Name
In a nominal sense, the title “Call Me By Your Name” may sound preposterous and absurd. But as one goes deeper into viewing Luca Guadagnino’s latest film, shown in the World Cinema section of this year’s Cinema One Originals (Nov. 13-21 at Gateway and Ayala Mall cinemas;Nov. 22-28 at Power Plant cinema) and which had its premiere in this year’s Sundance film festival, the phrase takes on a meaning that’s intended to incorporate the other person, to make him as part of one’s being. Making such a level of relationship particularly special is that it’s same sex in nature. Of course, cinema has been a witness for a long time to a wealth of homosexual relationships of varying nature and outcome. In that regard then, "Call Me By Your Name" can't be considered as something unique or revolutionary. What's noteworthy, however, is how the film is made up of seemingly small and freewheeling moments, but when taken altogether add up to a meaningful whole.
Those of us who were able to see Guadagnino's previous works ("Melissa P." and "I Am Love") will notice that "Call Me By Your Name" has a considerable difference in mood and texture. The film has a pacing that begs of no dramatic highlights. In accordance with its summery look (courtesy of Sayombhu Mukdeeprom, who has collaborated before with arthouse favorites Apichatpong Weerasethakul and Miguel Gomes), the film revels in sweetness and light, as if the characters have indeed taken a break from life's more pressing concerns, a "summer break" so to speak. It's like everything is being started from a fresh slate, reflecting all the things that Elio (portrayed by Timothée Chalamet), a precocious, frizzle-haired 17-year-old who's an only son to Lyle and Annella Perlman (Michael Stuhlbarg and Amira Casar), is experiencing for the first time, as if a baptism of fire. And one such experience is getting to meet Oliver (portrayed by Armie Hammer), an American doctoral student seven years Elio's senior who gets to spend one summer of 1983 in the Perlmans' Lombardian villa to be of assistance to the boy's professor of a father. We learn that every summer, there's a student who serves as an intern to Mr. Perlman, so it should be something as a common occurrence already for Elio. However, this particular summer will prove to be something different for the teenage boy, because (aside from the student taking over his own room) he'll get to have a special liking for Oliver, whose handsome and tall features (rusty-brown hair and all) resemble something of a classical statue.
Oliver's response to Elio's intimations of feelings is at first ambiguous, acknowledging but then foiling them after. It seems the American has no issues with regards to homosexual flirtations, yet he still wants to make it clear that he's secure with his masculinity. Perhaps, the kind of relationship that he wants to foster with the boy is more of a platonic one. But anything headed towards that direction is put to doubt when Oliver invites Elio one night to his room (which is in fact the latter's room) where they eventually have sex (which the camera "walks away" from to focus on a tree outside the window). And thus, a special affair begins. But in consonance with the film's carefree and whimsical pace, the scenes of the two lovers being happy together are depicted as if they were just close friends playing around, the romance being more gentle than erotic. If Guadagnino's "I Am Love" evokes an elegant Visconti melodrama, his "Call Me By Your Name" recalls the free-flowing energy of a French New Wave romance.
Though not exactly Wong Kar-wai's "Happy Together" in terms of a homosexual love affair being bathed with ache and melancholy, there's a fluidly-shot sequence in "Call Me By Your Name" that takes place in the town square (in which all the people and motorcycles and buses passing by appear to be actually passing by) where Elio and Oliver talk about the nature of love and affection while they are far apart from one another and we can't clearly see their faces (Elio has his back to the camera, while Oliver's face is blurred as he's in a long shot), which may signify that the two men's affair isn't really for keeps. They even enter into dalliances with the local girls! There's really just a build up of small details in the film that when the "separation" does eventually happen - though at the back of our minds, we expect it to be coming given that the doctoral student's stay in the family villa is only for six weeks - we're somehow caught off-guard, like when a highschool class' horsing around is suddenly interrupted because the teacher finally comes in for the lesson. The ironic thing is that it’s still tinged with sadness in such a way that it's still painful to watch the two men bidding farewell to a "beautiful friendship" because of the dictates of time. After the train has left, we still see Elio in the next scene staying for some more time at the station, pensive and wearing Oliver's sky-blue long-sleeved shirt, the heartache of being left - and definitely not because of some falling out - by someone whom you regard as your first love becoming more palpably felt than ever. The teener is probably literally stunted by his baptism of emotional pain that he has to call his mother from a phone booth (as we see an old woman in the background, who seems to happen to be there) to fetch him from the station, while he's seemingly on the verge of sobbing.
Guadagnino's film has no dramatic highlights, no big moments, no loud confrontations and no stunning revelations. You'll only get to witness, for example, the family having a long-table lunch outside the house with some loquacious friends while bantering over politics, cinema and Buñuel. Or a shirtless Elio and Oliver (they actually are for most of the time) half-dipping idly in the pool, then the latter will suddenly ask the former to accompany him to the town. Or Elio spending time with a peach (probably the book's most controversial part;though in the film, while not entirely graphic, it's still ticklish). Or Oliver dancing with some awkward steps to a Richard Butler song. All this "poetic languor" (as one film critic terms it) seems to subliminally suggest one thing: that it's the kind of love that dares not speak its name. That's why towards the film's end, when Mr. Perlman gets to speak to his son (it's in fact a wonderful monologue perfectly delivered by Stuhlbarg, as he smokes a cigarette, with Chalamet just listening intently, as if beholden) about the value of speaking out your heart's content, before we realize it's too late "by the age of 30" (thereby suggesting that he may really be speaking from his own experience), it just hits all the right notes. The emotional heft of the film comes full circle in this particular moment. Couple this with the camera staying on Elio's plaintive face through the closing credits (a cinematic device curiously similar to that seen in Claire Denis' "Let the Sunshine In"), it's simply a coup.
On point of the actors' performances, while Hammer continues his streak of meaty roles with the film (after "Mine" and "Free Fire") and is admittedly more sensual than ever in this one, his being Elio's object of affection and desire is like "Death in Venice" in reverse, it's really Chalamet who's the emotional core of the film. For this 17-year-old youth, everything is happening for the first time and nothing is happening at the same time. His being is a maelstrom of conflicting feelings, some are joyous, while some are aching. It's through his perspective that we get to partake in that definitive Lombardian summer of '83. Needless to say, Hammer and Chalamet exhibit an incredible chemistry that it’s hard not to believe that they would fall for each other. While I'm usually cautious about films that are unanimously acclaimed and incontestably popular ("Call Me By Your Name" was such a hit during the festival that all the screenings were practically sold out;the organizers even had to add an additional screening, with tickets being sold like hot pancakes as well!), preferring those that rather polarize audiences, for it's there that we really get various perspectives about a film, rather than a bandwagon opinion, I think Guadagnino's film's nearly cult status is well-earned. It's sensual, hypnotic, poetic, intelligent and, more importantly, heartfelt.
Those of us who were able to see Guadagnino's previous works ("Melissa P." and "I Am Love") will notice that "Call Me By Your Name" has a considerable difference in mood and texture. The film has a pacing that begs of no dramatic highlights. In accordance with its summery look (courtesy of Sayombhu Mukdeeprom, who has collaborated before with arthouse favorites Apichatpong Weerasethakul and Miguel Gomes), the film revels in sweetness and light, as if the characters have indeed taken a break from life's more pressing concerns, a "summer break" so to speak. It's like everything is being started from a fresh slate, reflecting all the things that Elio (portrayed by Timothée Chalamet), a precocious, frizzle-haired 17-year-old who's an only son to Lyle and Annella Perlman (Michael Stuhlbarg and Amira Casar), is experiencing for the first time, as if a baptism of fire. And one such experience is getting to meet Oliver (portrayed by Armie Hammer), an American doctoral student seven years Elio's senior who gets to spend one summer of 1983 in the Perlmans' Lombardian villa to be of assistance to the boy's professor of a father. We learn that every summer, there's a student who serves as an intern to Mr. Perlman, so it should be something as a common occurrence already for Elio. However, this particular summer will prove to be something different for the teenage boy, because (aside from the student taking over his own room) he'll get to have a special liking for Oliver, whose handsome and tall features (rusty-brown hair and all) resemble something of a classical statue.
Oliver's response to Elio's intimations of feelings is at first ambiguous, acknowledging but then foiling them after. It seems the American has no issues with regards to homosexual flirtations, yet he still wants to make it clear that he's secure with his masculinity. Perhaps, the kind of relationship that he wants to foster with the boy is more of a platonic one. But anything headed towards that direction is put to doubt when Oliver invites Elio one night to his room (which is in fact the latter's room) where they eventually have sex (which the camera "walks away" from to focus on a tree outside the window). And thus, a special affair begins. But in consonance with the film's carefree and whimsical pace, the scenes of the two lovers being happy together are depicted as if they were just close friends playing around, the romance being more gentle than erotic. If Guadagnino's "I Am Love" evokes an elegant Visconti melodrama, his "Call Me By Your Name" recalls the free-flowing energy of a French New Wave romance.
Though not exactly Wong Kar-wai's "Happy Together" in terms of a homosexual love affair being bathed with ache and melancholy, there's a fluidly-shot sequence in "Call Me By Your Name" that takes place in the town square (in which all the people and motorcycles and buses passing by appear to be actually passing by) where Elio and Oliver talk about the nature of love and affection while they are far apart from one another and we can't clearly see their faces (Elio has his back to the camera, while Oliver's face is blurred as he's in a long shot), which may signify that the two men's affair isn't really for keeps. They even enter into dalliances with the local girls! There's really just a build up of small details in the film that when the "separation" does eventually happen - though at the back of our minds, we expect it to be coming given that the doctoral student's stay in the family villa is only for six weeks - we're somehow caught off-guard, like when a highschool class' horsing around is suddenly interrupted because the teacher finally comes in for the lesson. The ironic thing is that it’s still tinged with sadness in such a way that it's still painful to watch the two men bidding farewell to a "beautiful friendship" because of the dictates of time. After the train has left, we still see Elio in the next scene staying for some more time at the station, pensive and wearing Oliver's sky-blue long-sleeved shirt, the heartache of being left - and definitely not because of some falling out - by someone whom you regard as your first love becoming more palpably felt than ever. The teener is probably literally stunted by his baptism of emotional pain that he has to call his mother from a phone booth (as we see an old woman in the background, who seems to happen to be there) to fetch him from the station, while he's seemingly on the verge of sobbing.
Guadagnino's film has no dramatic highlights, no big moments, no loud confrontations and no stunning revelations. You'll only get to witness, for example, the family having a long-table lunch outside the house with some loquacious friends while bantering over politics, cinema and Buñuel. Or a shirtless Elio and Oliver (they actually are for most of the time) half-dipping idly in the pool, then the latter will suddenly ask the former to accompany him to the town. Or Elio spending time with a peach (probably the book's most controversial part;though in the film, while not entirely graphic, it's still ticklish). Or Oliver dancing with some awkward steps to a Richard Butler song. All this "poetic languor" (as one film critic terms it) seems to subliminally suggest one thing: that it's the kind of love that dares not speak its name. That's why towards the film's end, when Mr. Perlman gets to speak to his son (it's in fact a wonderful monologue perfectly delivered by Stuhlbarg, as he smokes a cigarette, with Chalamet just listening intently, as if beholden) about the value of speaking out your heart's content, before we realize it's too late "by the age of 30" (thereby suggesting that he may really be speaking from his own experience), it just hits all the right notes. The emotional heft of the film comes full circle in this particular moment. Couple this with the camera staying on Elio's plaintive face through the closing credits (a cinematic device curiously similar to that seen in Claire Denis' "Let the Sunshine In"), it's simply a coup.
On point of the actors' performances, while Hammer continues his streak of meaty roles with the film (after "Mine" and "Free Fire") and is admittedly more sensual than ever in this one, his being Elio's object of affection and desire is like "Death in Venice" in reverse, it's really Chalamet who's the emotional core of the film. For this 17-year-old youth, everything is happening for the first time and nothing is happening at the same time. His being is a maelstrom of conflicting feelings, some are joyous, while some are aching. It's through his perspective that we get to partake in that definitive Lombardian summer of '83. Needless to say, Hammer and Chalamet exhibit an incredible chemistry that it’s hard not to believe that they would fall for each other. While I'm usually cautious about films that are unanimously acclaimed and incontestably popular ("Call Me By Your Name" was such a hit during the festival that all the screenings were practically sold out;the organizers even had to add an additional screening, with tickets being sold like hot pancakes as well!), preferring those that rather polarize audiences, for it's there that we really get various perspectives about a film, rather than a bandwagon opinion, I think Guadagnino's film's nearly cult status is well-earned. It's sensual, hypnotic, poetic, intelligent and, more importantly, heartfelt.
(Timothée Chalamet and Armie Hammer spend a memorable summer together in Luca Guadagnino's "Call Me By Your Name")
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