James Ivory will forever be associated with the period Merchant Ivory films of the 80s and 90s. I hadn’t seen anything with his name on for years, so it came as a surprise that the 89 year old had adapted Andre Aciman’s book for a film that was garnering almost universally glowing reviews.Directed by Luca Guadagigno, it bears a lot of tonal and visual similarities to his previous film, A Bigger Splash. It is set in Italy in the 1980s, during a long hot summer. A professor played by Michael Stuhlbarg and his wife (Amira Casar) invite a grad student, Oliver (Arnie Hammer) to stay with them for the holiday period. Over the weeks, Oliver and the couple’s son, Elio (Timothee Chalomert) find themselves falling for each other.
It took me a little while to click with this film and the characters – probably not helped by the incessant chatter of two women a few rows from me – but once attuned to the pace of this elegant piece, I found myself becoming really invested in it. It is shot beautifully and mostly impeccably acted, by the main players and also by Esther Garrel as a girl that a confused Elio has a dalliance with. It also contains a couple of truly outstanding scenes. Firstly a raucous dinner party as politics are discussed and then a magnificent monologue by Stuhlbarg as Elio suffers. I don’t know if that is in the book, or created by Ivory, but it is very touching.
So, why won’t Call Me By Your Name feature in my 10 best of the year list when a lot of people are acclaiming it as the film of the year? Aside from the slow start, there are some moments that did not ring true. Chief amongst those is a potentially key one that explains the film’s title and there is an American Pie style moment that left me a little queasy! At 2 hours 20 minutes it is too long and towards the end of the film, Oliver and Elio take a trip to Verona. That sequence added nothing to the story and could have been trimmed. Ultimately, it is a little too languid for my taste.
Rating: 8 out of 10