The Unspoken Desire of CALL ME BY YOUR NAME
Sony Pictures ClassicsAlthough Luca Guadagnino's 2017 LGBTQ+ masterpiece Call Me by Your Name might contain impressively eloquent and emotionally seductive dialogue within its Academy Award-winning screenplay from the legendary James Ivory, the true power of the film lies between the lines. Any expression of love or emotion is built on a crucial foundation of the unspoken thoughts and desires which make up the core of the film's identity. From the film's leading question asking if it is better to speak or die and the continued use of statues to represent these subliminal emotions throughout the film, Call Me by Your Name defines itself with this unspoken layer of human communication.
The largest question within the film is the question of if it is better to speak or die. Drawing from the 1558 real-life collection of poems titled Heptameron by Marguerite de Navarre, the characters within Call Me by Your Name debate this question with the overall consciousness being that, of course, it is better to express one's emotions than let them die alongside oneself. Some characters even feel strongly enough in this opinion to even make fun of the fictional knight within the story for failing to confess his love – which feels rather ironic considering their own inabilities to do the same. Call Me by Your Name is devastating due to the cursed nature of the love in which the two leads feel for each other. Summer is always winding down meaning the end of the relationship is inevitably right around the corner. Even after they express their feelings for each other and embrace, Elio (Timothée Chalamet) and Oliver (Armie Hammer) reflect on how much time they wasted in hiding their emotions from each other seemingly proving they are just a smudge better than the knight himself.
Yet the truth is just because something isn't outwardly spoken doesn't mean there was silence. Both Elio and Oliver share a laugh over the small passes they made at each other in the weeks following up to their eventual relationship but even that key moment is built by the unspoken. As Elio puts his soul on the line and comes out to Oliver, there is not a single outright mention of sexuality or love. The unspoken bond they share in this moment is enough to convey the message and emotion to each other and to the audience as well. This idea of a silent expression of emotion is found not just within the relationship of Elio and Oliver but also the continued use of ancient statues throughout the film. From the opening credits, which solely focus on pictures of the statues in which Elio's father Samuel (Michael Stuhlbarg) studies, the film keeps returning to the image of these ancient statues which are being recovered from a local lake and draws a clear line between them and the silent expression of emotions.
In speaking about these statues to Oliver, Samuel remarks, "Muscles are firm, not a straight body in these statues. They're all curved, sometimes impossibly curved, and so nonchalant, hence their ageless ambiguity – as if they're daring you to desire them." These statues serve as an outlet for the unspoken desires of the artist. They also play a key role in the relationship of Elio and Oliver; it is with the arm of a statue which Oliver accepts Elio's apology in their only major conflict with each other throughout the film. Without saying a word, Oliver has used this statue to connect deeply with Elio and start the row of dominos which eventually will lead to their ultimate relationship.
Perhaps the most difficult side of Call Me by Your Name, however, is how the film actually views this debate between speaking and dying. Whilst its characters are outspoken in their opinions on why it is always better to speak and the film shows the pros which can come out of the act with the relationship between Elio and Oliver, it also focuses on the double-edged sword which is this level of vulnerability. The film doesn't end on some large romantic gesture or sign of hope for the future, instead it ends on a clear message of pain and emotional trauma as Elio is left alone near a fireplace to forever be haunted by what he once had. When looking at the complete picture, one could reasonably take from Call Me by Your Name that both speaking and staying silent will cause pain and sometimes it is more logical to stay silent. As seen by the creation of these statues, these desires don't go away but rather haunt forever with no one truly finding complete closure. Even Samuel with a happy family and loving marriage expresses to Elio the regrets he has with his emotional baggage from when he was just a young teenager.
There is no easy answer as far as if it is better to speak or die, and Call Me By Your Name painfully yet authentically expresses this. Specifically through the film's use of the unspoken, there is a poignant power found within the demands and undeniable nature of human desires. While it might not be the most positive outlook on life, it is one of the most authentic and realistic pieces of the film, which is one of the many reasons so many have been able to connect to the project on such a deep level.
