Plot Summary: A teenager in Italy, called Elio, grows in confusion and attraction for Oliver, a young American man who was hired by Elio’s father until eventually these feelings are reciprocated.
Key Ideas from Readings: Sexuality has always traditionally been presented in the same way by classic Hollywood cinema. Homosexual characters are often representation as tragic or even evil. They are often just a joke. Homosexual men are often stereotyped as overly camp. There isn’t the same stigma towards lesbians, who tend to be sexualised, as there is towards gay men, who tend to be trivialised.
Film Reflection: Luca Guadagnino’s Call Me By Your Name (2017) subverts many of these views of classic Hollywood cinema. In fact, it seems to ignore them and pretend they didn’t exist. The film even ignores things like stonewall and aids. However, by doing this it is able to be much more fundamental and less guided my tradition. The film tries to present gay men as real people and tries not to caricature them like much of Hollywood cinema before it. It doesn’t present its two main characters, Elio and Oliver as camp. In fact Oliver is actually mostly presented as quite masculine. Both characters are shown to be attractive to the women in the film, who don’t even realise that either one is gay. The film is scattered with Greek and Roman imagery, which is very fitting due to their sexual experimentalism.
Questions, Observations and Thoughts: I liked the film’s pace, however I felt that it was slightly overlong. I think ten minutes could have been trimmed before Elio and Oliver go on holiday together. For this reason, the film comes across as a bit self-indulgent. Another issue I have is the near fourth-wall breaking aspect used in much of Hollywood where Oliver says the film’s title. I found this completely took me out of the moment. Generally the acting was good. Chalamet and Hammer were good, but rough at times. Stuhlbarg was fantastic. The cinematography was really good.
Call Me By Your Name (2017)
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