A battle with the inevitable in a love story that exists with the awareness that it will end.

A lot of people really clung to this story due to its telling of a ‘first love’. And it seemed to be able to transcend the homosexual aspect to the relationship and strike a chord with gay and straight audiences alike for that very reason. But the theme that really reached out to me entailed the solitude experienced both during and after their time spent together.

As in any story pertaining to reality, the characters in this film experience moments of solitude interspersed throughout the contact they have with each other, the intricacies of which can be guessed at, but remain part an accumulative individual experience, all of which relates to this often unspoken aspect to the course of our lives that is so rarely mirrored this well in our stories and art (the necessity of which is advocated by this film’s resonance with such widespread audiences).

This is exacerbated by the uniqueness and authenticity in each of each character, as presented via their traits, flaws, and quirks, such as their somewhat shared dorky nature, made apparent by Elio through his flimsy physical demeanour, and by Oliver via his dance moves and frequently mocked use of the term ‘later’; as well as their oblivious stumbling through time, reflected by a conversation well into their shared experience about all the earlier opportunities they had to be together, but wasted.

All this is extremely telling in the last shot of the film, a frame of which which is featured below, wherein Elio struggles in his contemplation of all that has so fortunately transpired with Oliver, and the void that will come from its ceasing to continue in the future; his face illuminated and body warmed by the fire, in all its symbolism, as life continues to go on in the backdrop behind him, and even calls out to him, in a sequence that appears to purposefully drag on.

I would like to leave you with a monologic scene between Elio and his wise and accepting father (who is presented as more of a rarity than a status-quo), as I believe it has its profound points, such as the ripping out parts of ourselves and aims to feel nothing that some of us undergo, even if it does also present something that I, and most probably readers of this blog, disagree with, namely: the idea that our bodies reach a point wherein no-one wants to look at them, which I think is only as true as one deems it to be. It is a call for thought that such words came through an adaptation done by the great James Ivory, who is worthy of a separate post that I will write about him in the near future. But if you want to see the scene for yourself and draw your own conclusions, you can do so by clicking here.

And if you would like to share your own thoughts about Call me by your name, feel free to do so in the comments below.
All the best to you all and happy viewing!