Oh, I can go. I'm not doing anything today.

Why don't we go together?

Luca Guadagnino's coming-of-age romance Call Me By Your Name operates invisibly.

The film is visually striking, for sure, but in every aspect, it really excels in its sensuality and subtlety.

Look at how people walk downstairs in Call Me By Your Name.

Why did Oliver just touch that wall?

Why are we now shown him dusting off his bike?

Why is Elio touching his hair so much?

Why does his hand linger so painfully on this rail?

On page 4 of the Call Me By Your Name screenplay, the film's screenwriter James Ivory gives the simple direction Oliver is coming down the stairs.

On page 10, he cuts straight from should we take Anchisa's bikes to Elio and Oliver are riding bicycles.

But when director Luca Guadagnino gets on set, he puts into practice a lesson drilled into him by the legendary Italian film director Bernardo Bertolucci.

And he said, Luca, you're so naive.

Scripts, they don't count.

You have to throw the script when you start the movie.

And I took the lesson by the letter.

Part of a film director's job on set is to direct performances and determine the blocking of the scene, the movement of actors within the space.

So every chance he gets, Luca Guadagnino emphasises the tactile nature of this world.

In this scene, Guadagnino directs Armie Hammer to curiously feel out the texture of the wall and all of a sudden this house is given an extra tactile dimension.

Let's now re-edit the bike scene to show how Ivory wrote it in the screenplay.

Should I give him Anchisa's bike?

And now as Guadagnino directed it.

Should I give him Anchisa's bike?

Should I give him Anchisa's bike?

It's not much, but now whenever you see them riding, you can feel your own hands on the handlebars and really place yourself on that bike.

Directed as it is, the world becomes not just a beautiful thing to see with your eyes, but a place you can touch, feel and linger upon.

Let's jump forward a little to page 19 in the screenplay and watch the scene at the same time.

Anchisa approaches Elio, carrying a large fish wrapped up in a t-shirt which he uncovers for Elio.

Let's pause here.

In this script, Anchisa takes the fish straight to the kitchen.

But remember, as soon as Guadagnino gets on set, he throws this script into the fiery pits of hell.

So he decides to create a few more actions which add to Elio's character and emphasise yet another important sense.

This film sounds incredible.

Notice particularly how it makes the house a character of its own.

Listen to the knock on this door and you can feel its weight.

Now listen to the silence.

And listen to how this book cuts it like a knife echoing throughout the house.

Listen to this bell, how loud and crisp it is.

And now listen to that sound barely reaching Elio's room.

With just this difference in sound, you can feel the size and emptiness of the house.

Guadagnino also places a heavy emphasis on taste.

There is a lot of eating in this movie and most of it is not sexual but simply epicurean in nature for the simple purpose of sensual enjoyment.

But of course there is the peach scene.

You need look no further than this simple question from T.S. Eliot's classic poem

The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock.

Do I dare to eat a peach?

But in Call Me By Your Name, Guadagnino combines the natural taste of the fruit with the taste of a slightly more sexual substance.

The question of daring thus becomes the question of daring to eat a peach.

The question of daring thus becomes sexual in nature.

But it's not something you just think about or intellectualise.

It's something you can disgustingly almost taste on the screen.

Do I dare to eat a peach?

And finally notice how the film smells.

There's this obvious example.

Elio is really enjoying himself in there.

But notice that this theme of dirty used clothing runs throughout the film.

This is what Guadagnino lets us smell after they have sex.

And immediately after we're treated to this.

I don't know that much about lakes but listen to the mosquitoes.

This lake you can definitely smell.

But let's return to the lyrics of Sufjan Stevens which I used to open this video.

This quote talks about a paradoxical clarity that comes through lack of vision.

By focusing on the invisible one can truthfully feel an experience rather than seeing and intellectualising it.

And I think this philosophy is also true for the film's story.

It took Call Me By Your Name almost 10 years to find funding and get made because there was no obvious antagonist or even conflict.

In fact the world of this film is a utopia.

Elio lives in the most beautiful house in the most picturesque town.

He is fed wonderful food every day.

He spends his time swimming in lakes and pools, writing and transcribing music.

At night they go out dancing and there are girls all over him.

It's perfect.

And in any other gay romance it would be so easy to create conflict within the story by bringing in obvious homophobia.

But Call Me By Your Name steers clear of this cliché.

In fact it pushes it in the opposite direction.

Gay couples are shown to be friends in this world and Mr Perlman explicitly denounces homophobia.

When I tell you to play, you'll play.

You're too old not to accept people for who they are.

What's wrong with them?

What's wrong with them?

You call them Sonny and Cher behind their backs?

This is an idealistic scenario for kids growing up in the 2020s, let alone the 1980s.

You could not wish for a better environment to fall in love with someone.

This is utopia.

But then we get this scene which finally brings to light the film's conflicts which until this point have been invisible.

I may have come close but I never had what you two have.

Something always held me back or stood in the way.

How you live your life is your business.

Just remember our hearts and our bodies are given to us only once.

And before you know it your heart's worn out.

And as for your body, there comes a point when no one looks at it.

Much less wants to come near it.

Luca Guadagnino has said that the antagonist of this film is time.

In fact, Mr Perlman's monologue echoes the words of Elio himself just before he leaves with Oliver.

God, we wasted so many days.

Why didn't you give me a sign?

I did.

You didn't give me a sign.

I did.

When it went.

When watching the film you kind of forget about the fact that Oliver's presence is temporary.

In other words, the antagonistic force of time is invisible and so his departure sneaks up on us.

We're just as shocked as Elio when it happens.

But I don't think time is the true antagonist in this film.

Oliver could easily come back to Crema next year.

In fact, in the books he does.

But in the film there's one thing stopping him and Elio correctly guesses it before Oliver even mentions anything about it.

Oh, you're getting married?

I suppose.

I might be getting married next spring.

In his monologue, Mr Perlman hints that he also had an experience like Elio's.

But he says,

Something always held me back or stood in the way.

This line is split into internal and external elements.

The internal element I always saw as that fear and anxiety that anyone would have when approaching love.

But there's also that external element.

Something always stood in the way.

And for both Elio and his father, that is mostly heteronormative society which creates an invisible anxiety towards same-sex relationships.

It's such a pervasive anxiety that Mr Perlman can't even tell his wife about it.

Does mom know?

I don't think she does.

Like Elio, Mr Perlman has the perfect life.

He has a perfect house in the most beautiful town with the most extraordinary occupation.

But ultimately he has the most beautiful, intelligent and empathetic wife.

While watching the film, we see their marriage as the perfect ideal relationship.

And so when Mr Perlman reveals that this supposedly utopian marriage is in fact built on a lie, the illusion is broken and we are left with immense tragedy.

Look here, for example, at the subtlety of Stuhlberg's performance in this scene when he finds out Oliver is getting married.

Pay attention to his long, drawn-in breath before his response and the knowing way he looks at his wife afterwards.

Well, speaking of which, I'm trying to tell you guys I got engaged.

Ah, wonderful!

Congratulations, Oliver.

Listen, we'll leave you, we'll let you speak to Elio.

Happy Hanukkah!

Happy Hanukkah!

Mr Perlman says congratulations, but inside he feels just like Elio, longing for the heat of an ephemeral summer that can never again exist.

Yes, heat.

In this final shot, Elio isn't telling us that he longs for that summer again.

We can feel it.

We can feel the heat of the fire reflected on his tear-streaked face.

And we are reminded of that heat.

The sweltering heat of the bus.

The heat of the sun beating down on us as we ride into the distance.

The heat that makes water taste like air.

The heat that sets dreams on fire.

Open your eyes and you will see Elio sitting in front of a fire.

But I entreat you to close them.

And now, you will see without your eyes the first time that you kissed me, boundless by the time I cried.

The first time that you kissed me, boundless by the time I cried.

This is the second video I've ever made on this channel.

The first was a review of a Netflix teen drama show, Young Royals, and this is a bit of a departure from that.

Call Me By Her Name is just a bit too beautiful, and I was inspired by video essayists like The Nerdwriter and Tony Zhu to create something a little more poetic for this week.

For my next video though, I think I will return to a more casual style and review an up-and-coming or a new film or show.

But as I said, this is my second video, so I'm still just experimenting and trying things out.

If you want to join me on this creative journey, then make sure you're subscribed to the channel.

I also do want to give a big thank you to not only everyone who subscribed after my last video, but everyone who reached out to me on Instagram, Twitter.

In particular, I do want to thank this Instagram user, MagnetsAreCool.

That's their Instagram username.

And after I posted a TikTok about all of this sensory stuff in Call Me By Her Name, they came up with this connection between that and the Sufjan Stevens song, which I then used, obviously, to a large extent in this video.

So a big thank you to them.

And of course, if you do want to talk about anything, then all the links to my socials are in the description.

So once again, thank you for watching.

Thanks for being part of this journey.

And I can't wait to see you in the next video.

Bye.