Movies…with a little bit of obscure culture and sports mixed in
This blog post is about one particular scene from Guadagnino’s most well known film. The one-time Oscar nominated Italian filmmaker became more of a household name in 2017 with the release of the critically acclaimed romantic drama Call Me By Your Name (2018).
On Friday I put out my reaction to Bones And All (2021), the latest movie from director Luca Guadagnino. If you haven’t seen it, watch it. It’s on Hulu.
This blog post is about one particular scene from Guadagnino’s most well known film. The one-time Oscar nominated Italian filmmaker became more of a household name in 2017 with the release of the critically acclaimed romantic drama Call Me By Your Name (2018).
For those who are not familiar, the character focused story takes place in 1980s Italy and shines its light on a blossoming romantic relationship between a young seventeen-year-old adult and an older man hired for the season to be his father’s research assistant. Timothée Chalamet plays the part of young Elio, and Armie Hammer is the elder Oliver. These two actors put on a pair of performances that are equally outstanding.
Call Me By Your Name introduced me to Timothée Chalamet, and for that I am eternally grateful. But the movie gives even more. Oscar-winning screenwriters James Ivory and André Aciman combine with Guadagnino to construct a scene that has been in my playlist of rewatched YouTube clips since I first saw the film.
For those who haven’t seen Call Me By Your Name, some context. Elio (Timothée Chalamet) has just returned from a trip he took with Oliver (Armie Hammer). What started off as a friendship between the two evolved into a romantic relationship that took both by surprise. Oliver is older than Elio and had to eventually move on, but the lovers agreed lovingly and amicably that their love is still very meaningful to one another.
Mr. Perlman is the father of Elio, and he is incredibly perceptive to what his son is going through. This conversation is their first interaction since Elio’s return.
Puddle. A puddle of tears. This has to be the moment in the movie where the Academy nominators decided to write down both Ivory and Aciman’s names. Actor Michael Stuhlbarg takes the words on the page and makes this conversation between father and son unbelievably powerful.
This scene is one of those that I personally relate to because I do subscribe to the idea that everyone should have some sort of hardship in life. We have arguments at work about the concept of our future kids and whether or not they should struggle. I am the lone defender of the stance that it is okay for youth to have uneasy times. Others say they would do anything to make their kids’ life easy and happy, but I stand on the opposite side of the river holding a different sign. I think it is okay to see your children experience sadness. It is not because I want them to suffer. It is because I want them to learn from it.
This monologue by Mr. Perlman illuminates this idea and brings it to light with more elegance than I ever could. He tells Elio to not bury his emotions, no matter how painful they are. Don’t dull your senses. You need to learn to live with everything you are feeling because if you do not then you will handicap yourself later in life. You will cut off your investment level, scared to feel the sharp stab of disappointment. Mr. Perlman talks about how he envies his son because he has a chance to grow from this experience. Mr. Perlman admits that he made the mistake of muting his emotions earlier in life, and he is begging that his son doesn’t do the same thing.
It is beautiful. There is beauty in sadness.
And then there is the Script To Screen comparison. God, I love these. You see what Ivory and Aciman wrote, and pinpoint all the subtle changes and decisive actor choices that made the final cut. It is movie lover porn here.
This post is a purely selfish endeavor. I love this scene, and I would love for more people to see it and appreciate it for both the technical skill involved and the message it is telling its viewers.
If you made it here to the end, I deeply appreciate it. Thanks for letting me indulge myself.
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