Ordinarily, crying in a theater after a movie’s end can be seen as a normal reaction to movies with a gravity as intense as any romance or drama film, but when a piece of art moves me as much as “Call Me By Your Name” did at its end, I can only say this film deserves the noteworthy praise the critics are giving and should inevitably be called a classic of this generation.
“Call Me By Your Name” is about 17-year-old Elio, played by Timothée Chalame, who falls in love with a slightly older and insightful scholar named Oliver, played by Armie Hammer. Chalamet was nominated for a Golden Globe Award for Best Actor for this film and continues to inspire fans to spread the message of “Call Me By Your Name” through his social media.
“Call Me By Your Name” was written by André Aciman in 2007 and a decade later was shot as an independent motion picture by Luca Guadagnino.
Set in 1983 northern Italy, much can be said of the beautiful set, all of which was shot on site, and the nostalgic costume design, but I want to focus on the implications this movie has set for generations to come.
Despite the prejudices against LGBT films, “Call Me By Your Name” showed great detail to replicate the natural chemistry between two people in love without saying so many words and without an excess of the all-revealing, between-the-sheets scenes so many heterosexual romance films are guilty of producing.
Guadagnino tastefully shot and directed each scene through the space and words of the two actors, not only displaying the physical space between them but the gap of words left unsaid in a time and society where openly expressed homosexuality was dangerous to reveal.
Though the LGBT community has reached milestones through the decades, the note of homophobia in “Call Me By Your Name” reflects the ‘80s viewpoint on sexuality but places a familiar feeling in the back of our minds of the people we know who still carry this same mindset.
Hammer’s character, Oliver, comes from a rough background of toxic masculinity and homophobia from his father, and this shows in the way Oliver carries himself throughout the movie and into the ending credits.
On the other hand, Chalamet’s character, Elio, has a loving and accepting family and still struggles to come to terms with his sexuality. Though their backgrounds are widely different, the pair still fight against the societal norms set for them as men.
What we, as the audience, learn is not only the beauty of love’s truest form, but an acknowledgment to the LGBT cause and subsequent LGBT rights. Chalamet and Hammer together have marked the plights of LGBT people by placing in their audiences a feeling of kinship for people we do not know and an immense amount of love for the characters’ stories.
All peoples of varying values must see “Call Me By Your Name” to truly understand the humanity that accompanies the LGBT community. For all my life I will preach the message of “Call Me By Your Name,” not only for the sake of a filmed masterpiece, but for the sake of a society that may someday recognize love’s unending purity.
