The spellbinding coming-of-age story is abstractly colored with thought-provoking questions, painting the film as one of the most pivotal of its time.

The director, Luca Guadagnino, places a breathtaking lens on paradisical Crema, set in the summer of 1983. ‘Call Me By Your Name’ radiates the feeling of innocent love, passion-filled air, and fleeting moments caught between breaths and words left unspoken. Amidst dancing beneath the humid August moon, solemn night shores, and espressoes whisked at the edge of dawn, even river-licked stone washes the plot with Italian history.

This captivating setting is led by its main character, Elio Perlman: a deeply intellectual, sensitive, and soft-spirited 17-year-old boy. When 24-year-old Oliver enters as an intern working for his father, Elio is left falling irrevocably in love with the charm of their soul connection. It creeps up slowly, a hushed twinge of tension—then an all-at-one sense of passion and amorous moments.

Sufjan Stevens elaborates on the movie’s mastery with his original soundtrack. It flows into delicate scenes, ones that include vulnerability. The most notable ones include “Mystery Of Love”, “Visions Of Gideon”, and “Futile Devices”. Songs that soften the rueful themes of heartbreak and longing. Infused with a plethora of piano, complex stringwork, and vocals whispered in poetic tongues, this pushes their orchestral artistry to a palpable experience.

Overall, ‘Call Me By Your Name’ is a cinematic masterpiece and one that won’t leave my mindspace for a lifetime.

“Is it better to speak or to die?”