Call Me by Your Name is a 2017 romantic drama film directed by Luca Guadagnino. Its screenplay, by James Ivory, who also co-produced, is based on the 2007 novel by André Aciman. The film is the final installment in Guadagnino's thematic "Desire" trilogy, after I Am Love (2009) and A Bigger Splash (2015). Set in northern Italy in 1983, Call Me by Your Name chronicles the romantic relationship between 17-year-old Elio Perlman (Timothée Chalamet) and Oliver (Armie Hammer), a 24-year-old graduate-student assistant to Elio's father Samuel (Michael Stuhlbarg), an archaeology professor. The film also stars Amira Casar, Esther Garrel, and Victoire Du Bois.

Development began in 2007 when producers Peter Spears and Howard Rosenman optioned the rights to Aciman's novel. Ivory was chosen to co-direct with Guadagnino, but stepped down in 2016. Guadagnino joined the project as a location scout and eventually became sole director and co-producer. Call Me by Your Name was financed by several international companies, and its principal photography took place mainly in the city and of Crema, Lombardy, in May and June 2016. Cinematographer Sayombhu Mukdeeprom used 35 mm film, as opposed to employing digital cinematography. The filmmakers spent weeks decorating Villa Albergoni, one of the main shooting locations. Guadagnino curated the film's soundtrack, which features three original songs by American singer-songwriter Sufjan Stevens.

Sony Pictures Classics acquired worldwide distribution rights to Call Me by Your Name before its premiere at the 2017 Sundance Film Festival on January 22, 2017. The film began a limited release in the United States on November 24, 2017, and went on general release on January 19, 2018. It received widespread critical acclaim, particularly for Ivory's screenplay, Guadagnino's direction, Mukdeeprom's cinematography, and the performances of Chalamet, Hammer, and Stuhlbarg. The film garnered a number of accolades, including many for its screenplay, direction, acting, and music. It received four nominations at the 90th Academy Awards, including Best Picture and Best Actor for 22-year-old Chalamet (the third-youngest nominee in the category), and won Best Adapted Screenplay, making Ivory the oldest winner of a competitive Academy Award in any category. The screenplay also won at the 23rd Critics' Choice Awards, 71st British Academy Film Awards, and the 70th Writers Guild of America Awards. Call Me by Your Name is now considered one of the best films of the 21st century.

Plot In the summer of 1983, Elio Perlman, a 17-year-old Jewish French-Italian boy, lives with his parents in rural Northern Italy. Elio's father, a professor of archaeology, invites a 24-year-old Jewish-American graduate student, Oliver, to live with the family over the summer and help with his academic paperwork. Elio, an introspective bookworm and musician, initially thinks he has little in common with Oliver, who appears confident and carefree. Elio spends much of the summer reading, playing piano, and hanging out with his childhood friends, Chiara and Marzia. During a volleyball match, Oliver touches Elio's back, but Elio brushes it off. Elio later finds himself jealous upon seeing Oliver kiss Chiara.

Elio and Oliver spend more time together, taking long walks into town, and accompanying Elio's father on an archaeological trip. Elio is increasingly drawn to Oliver, even sneaking into Oliver's room to smell his clothing. Elio eventually confesses his feelings to Oliver, who tells him they cannot discuss such things. Later, in a secluded spot, the two kiss for the first time. Oliver is reluctant to take things further, and they do not speak for several days.

Elio goes on a date with Marzia and the two have sex. Elio leaves a note for Oliver to end their silence. Oliver writes back, asking Elio to meet him at midnight. Elio agrees and they sleep together for the first time. Afterward, Oliver tells Elio, "Call me by your name and I'll call you by mine". The morning after, Elio is briefly conflicted about their encounter and takes out his sexual frustration by masturbating with a peach. When Oliver finds him, Elio cries about how little time he and Oliver have left together. Marzia confronts Elio after not hearing from him for three days. He responds indifferently, hurting her.

As the end of Oliver's stay approaches, Elio's parents, who appear aware of the bond between the two, recommend that he and Oliver visit Bergamo together before Oliver returns to the U.S. They spend three romantic days together. Heartbroken after Oliver's departure, Elio calls his mother to ask her to pick him up from the train station and take him home. Marzia is sympathetic to Elio's feelings and says she wants to remain friends. Elio's father, observing his unhappiness, tells him that the bond he had with Oliver was rare and that he envies Elio because he never had what Elio and Oliver had. He consoles Elio by advising him to keep his heart open for more joy and experiences rather than close himself off.

During Hanukkah, Oliver calls Elio's family to tell them he is engaged to be married to a woman he has been intermittently dating for a few years. Elio calls Oliver by his (Elio's) name and Oliver responds with his (Oliver's); Oliver says "[he] remember[s] everything". After the call, Elio sits by the fireplace and stares into the flames, tearfully reflecting as his parents and staff prepare dinner.

Cast

Styles and themes Call Me by Your Name is the final installment in a thematic trilogy Guadagnino calls his "Desire" trilogy; the other two parts were I Am Love (2009) and A Bigger Splash (2015). Guadagnino described his approach to the film as "lighthearted and simple", a departure from his previous work, which has been called "highly stylised [and] dazzling". Guadagnino considers Call Me by Your Name a "homage to the fathers of my life: my own father, and my cinematic ones", referring to the filmmakers Jean Renoir, Jacques Rivette, Éric Rohmer, and Bernardo Bertolucci, who he says inspired him.

Guadagnino has described Call Me by Your Name as a family-oriented film for the purpose of "transmission of knowledge and hope that people of different generations come to see the film together". He sees it not as a "gay" movie but as one about "the beauty of the newborn idea of desire, unbiased and uncynical", reflecting his motto of living "with a sense of joie de vivre". "We should always be very earnest with one's feelings, instead of hiding them or shielding ourselves", he said. He considers it an "uplifting film" about "being who you want to be and finding yourself into the gaze of the other in his or her otherness."

Guadagnino tried to avoid the flaws he had seen in most coming-of-age films, where growth is often portrayed as a result of resolving preconceived dilemmas such as an enforced choice between two lovers. He also wanted the story to follow two people "in the moment", rather than focus on an antagonist or a tragedy—an approach inspired by Maurice Pialat's À nos amours (1983). As someone who considers sex in film a representation of the characters' behavior and identity, Guadagnino was uninterested in including explicit sex scenes in the film. He explained his intention: "I wanted the audience to completely rely on the emotional travel of these people and feel first love... It was important to me to create this powerful universality, because the whole idea of the movie is that the other person makes you beautiful—enlightens you, elevates you."

Alongside a sexual coming-of-age motif, the movie also touches on the novel's theme of Elio discovering and connecting to his Jewish identity through the openly Jewish Oliver and in contrast to his own family, who are, as his mother puts it, "Jews of discretion". Their common Jewish identity is a part of what draws Elio and Oliver together and is represented by the Star of David necklace Oliver initially wears, which Elio is drawn to. The theme of sexual self-discovery is paralleled by the Jewish theme: in both cases, Elio starts out secretive about these parts of himself and develops greater self-acceptance, both journeys connected to Oliver's role in his life. There is a hint that Oliver may have given Elio his Star of David necklace shortly before they parted ways at the train station. Elio's necklace can be clearly seen during the conversation from which the movie (and the novel) takes its title.

Production Development

Two of the film's producers, Peter Spears and Howard Rosenman, saw a galley proof of André Aciman's debut novel Call Me by Your Name in 2007 and "optioned" the screen rights before its publication. Rosenman first heard about the book through a friend after acting in Milk (2008) and called it "divine". Spears, moved by the novel and believing it deserved a cinematic adaptation, received his first credit as a producer from his work on the film. They invited their friend James Ivory to work as an executive producer on the film adaptation. Spears and Rosenman began production in 2008, but the project was soon trapped in "development hell". The producers met with three sets of directors and writers—among them Gabriele Muccino, Ferzan Özpetek, and Sam Taylor-Johnson—but could not find anyone who would commit to the project. Scheduling filming in Italy during the summer also proved difficult.

The producers contacted Guadagnino, their first choice to direct, but he declined, citing a busy schedule. But as Guadagnino lived in northern Italy, he was initially hired as a location consultant instead. He later suggested that he co-direct the film with Ivory, but no contractual agreement was put in place. Ivory accepted the offer to co-direct on the condition that he would also write the film; he spent "about nine months" on the screenplay. Guadagnino, who has called the novel "a Proustian book about remembering the past and indulging in the melancholy of lost things", collaborated on the adaptation with Ivory and Walter Fasano. Screenwriting took place at Ivory's house, Guadagnino's kitchen table in Crema, and New York City. Ivory rarely met Guadagnino during the process, since the director was busy making A Bigger Splash (2015).

The screenplay was completed in late 2015. Aciman approved it and commended the adaptation as "direct ... real and persuasive", adding, "they've done better than the book". The completed screenplay was vital in securing funding for the film. Among the financiers were the production companies La Cinéfacture (France), Frenesy Film Company (Italy, owned by Guadagnino), M.Y.R.A. Entertainment (United States), RT Features (Brazil), and Water's End Productions (United States). The project was also supported by the Italian Ministry of Cultural Heritage and Activities and Tourism. The backers deemed the production's initial budget estimates "too expensive", so the budget was reduced from $12 million to $3.4 million and the filming schedule was cut from 12 to 5 weeks.

Ivory stepped down from a directorial role in 2016, leaving Guadagnino to direct the film alone. According to Ivory, Memento Films International did not want two directors involved with the project because they "thought it would be awkward ... It might take longer, it would look terrible if we got in fights on the set, and so on." Guadagnino said Ivory's version would likely have been "a much more costly [and] different film" that would have been too expensive to make. Ivory became the sole credited screenwriter and later sold the rights to the screenplay to Guadagnino's company. Call Me by Your Name was Ivory's first produced screenplay since Le Divorce (2003) and the only narrative feature he has written but not directed. He remained involved with other aspects of the production. Guadagnino dedicated the film to his late friend Bill Paxton, who came to visit the set in Crema before his death in February 2017.

Adaptation