By: Keaton Marcus

PREFACE:

Atmosphere. I've referred and delved into this word many times on various posts, and in cinema, it's a fundamental component that goes into building a "good" movie in my eyes. It's likely the most effective tool to really, genuinely immerse audiences into the world of a film. Luca Guadagnino's Call Me by Your Name, an LGBTQ+ romantic drama released in 2017, uses its visuals to produce depth instead of the plot. It's wholly enamored in panache over a story that absorbs viewers into the celestial world of Italy effortlessly, all with using its atmosphere. Seductively and sumptuously, this is a bright, sunlight-laden visual treat, and I will break down the genius of Guadagnino's perfectionism in crafting authentic ambiance.

PREMISE:

Call Me By Your Name details the love story of Elio and Oliver, two young men who spend a summer together on the Italian Riviera and develop a bond that shapes their view of love for the rest of their lives. Elio is a precocious 17-year-old who spends summers with his family in their villa on the Italian Riviera.

ROMANTIC LONGING:

One of the significant aspects Guadagnino touches upon in this masterful film is Elio's infatuation with Oliver at simply first glance. His desire, longing, and overall yearning to have a romantic relationship with him kindle their eventual passion for each other. Of course, there are different types of connections with people. The one forming the unbreakable mental bond between these two characters is a sense of admiration or even unhealthy obsession. Call Me by Your Name has such a brilliant structure because the storytelling encapsulates Elio and Oliver's love for each other in three distinctive parts. The first is hiding desire through behavioral tendencies. For Elio, he constantly spends the beginning third of the film irritated, confused about his sexuality, and attempting to hide his love for Oliver with distractions. In moments that include the dance scene and Elio's father foreshadows their relationship together, the cinematographer Sayombhu Mukdeeprom enforces this seductive, dreamy, and almost whimsical environment with blurred surroundings and lens flares. Lush greens and blues further evoke sexuality as Elio and Oliver have various interactions with each other until the first kiss. These shots reinstate Guadagnino's push for a beguiling atmosphere and create the distinct feeling of recollections of the past.

THE POWER OF RETENTION:

Retention or the power to remember significant events in the past was another feature of this film that immediately stuck out to me. As they swim in the water together, bike around, and linger in the field, it all feels like Deja Vu. A vague sense of nostalgia adds to the dreamy, melancholic, and reminiscent feel of this movie. Every single frame looks like a painting and adds substance, which I adore in a film. Green, yellow, and blue are the colors of these retrospections, and it's brilliant to witness such masterful direction of palettes and visuals. However, this doesn't only happen due to the cinematography, but also the soundtrack. Sufjan Stevens' score and the combination of pre-existing music add to the evocative enticement of the Italian backdrop. Speaking of "pre-existing" music, Andre Laplante's Une Barque Sur L'ocean is what moviegoers commonly refer to as a "leitmotif." It's a melodic, soothing piano-driven piece that plays whenever Elio and Oliver ride their bikes together. I would call it this film's recurring theme of romance, and call me basic, but it's beautiful. Contributing to my point about how Laplante's music breathes life into this colorful movie, it even plays during their first kiss together, so that should tell readers enough. Surreal, alluring, and otherworldly, it comes to the question of why Guadagnino puts in so much effort to convey these feelings. It's because this entire movie is technically the past, and the ending is Elio remembering everything.

THE PAST:

Leading me neatly to the next part of this analysis is that our view of the film seems like the present, but it's several years ago in the movie's world. However, because of the skilled direction, it almost eases viewers into realizing that. As a result, the entire film more or less plays like a vivid, messy, and wonderfully joyous dream that ends in a saddening but finalizing manner. Being honest with myself, this is an example of impeccable work from the director and something I will always aspire to match if I ever become a filmmaker. We are looking back at events and the rarely satiated desires of Elio to have a long-lasting connection with Oliver. I can also appreciate this film's transcendentalism of the different types of romantic couples. It doesn't solely apply to gay couples. One can see this happening with a man with a woman, a woman with a woman, and in this case, a man with a man. The sexuality of romance is irrelevant here, and it's another reason why the film is so successful. That leads us to the heartbreaking conclusion of Call Me by Your Name, which evokes such a universal and personal feeling of losing someone or something you admire or love. Romantic or not, gay or not, the conclusion is a celebration of general adoration. Elio and Oliver say goodbye to each other, and as Elio wears a similar shirt to what Oliver wore at the beginning, audiences feel the lasting impact that he has had on the boy's life. Before Mukdeeprom cuts away from the train station (the setting of their last encounter), the camera pans to reveal a gorgeous final clash of green, light blue, and yellow. Absolute mastery of craft is achieved with cinematography here, and my jaw physically dropped at the callback to their love earlier in the film.

THE FINAL SEQUENCE:

Although the train station sequence may feel like a fitting end, Guadagnino knows it doesn't quite hit the landing. The actual final sequence cuts in the future to Hanukkah as Elio's parents are choosing the next student to spend six weeks at their beautiful summer home. In direct contrast to the playfully bright palette that shined through the film before, the last 10 minutes or so carry a darker, wintery color scheme to them. It's still a little bit dream-like in a sense, but it feels far more depressing as Elio desperately tries to distract himself from his loss of Oliver. If the film's previous scene wasn't already disheartening enough, Elio receives an unexpected phone call from Oliver, who tells him that he's getting married. To a woman. Elio hides his apparent sadness with an artificially masked facade and congratulates him hastily. However, the real important part of this call is when Oliver says, "I remember everything." The dialogue here opens the door entirely to the fact that their entire love affair has been reduced to memory, but a beautiful and wholesome one at that. Then, easily one of my favorite cinematic moments of all time was the final, unbroken shot of Elio on the verge of tears sitting down by a fireplace. The embers reflecting on his watery eyes as he contemplates his short-lived romance is a tender moment of reminiscence that wraps up everything perfectly. Overall, CMBYN is the poignant yet uplifting feeling when we remember something important in our lives. A visual representation of commemoration that we moviegoers should cherish and apply to our own lives.