Movie

Call Me by Your Name

Name: Call Me by Your Name
Released: 2017

2017 • Drama, Romance

Woke Score

out of 10

Plot

CALL ME BY YOUR NAME, the new film by Luca Guadagnino, is a sensual and transcendent tale of first love, based on the acclaimed novel by André Aciman. It's the summer of 1983 in the north of Italy, and Elio Perlman (Timothée Chalamet), a precocious 17-year-old young man, spends his days in his family's 17th-century villa transcribing and playing classical music, reading, and flirting with his friend Marzia (Esther Garrel). Elio enjoys a close relationship with his father (Michael Stuhlbarg), an eminent professor specializing in Greco-Roman culture, and his mother Annella (Amira Casar), a translator, who favor him with the fruits of high culture in a setting that overflows with natural delights. While Elio's sophistication and intellectual gifts suggest he is already a fully-fledged adult, there is much that yet remains innocent and unformed about him, particularly about matters of the heart. One day, Oliver (Armie Hammer), a 24-year-old American college graduate student working on his doctorate, arrives as the annual summer intern tasked with helping Elio's father. Amid the sun-drenched splendor of the setting, Elio and Oliver discover the heady beauty of awakening desire over the course of a summer that will alter their lives forever.

Overall Series Review

The film focuses on the sensual and intellectual awakening of a young man during a summer romance in 1983 Italy. The narrative takes place within a highly cultured, wealthy, and stable family environment, celebrating the high arts, literature, and Western philosophical tradition. The primary conflict is internal, centered on the main character’s self-discovery and the finite nature of time, rather than external opposition like homophobia or societal judgment. The story culminates in a powerful moment of unconditional acceptance from the family patriarch, who delivers a monologue that elevates the pursuit of intense emotional experience over societal or traditional moral constraints. While the central plot centers an alternative sexual identity, the film is aesthetically rich and character-driven, deliberately avoiding the use of the relationship as a vehicle for political lecturing on privilege or systemic oppression. The movie's atmosphere is idyllic, intellectually rigorous, and ultimately sentimental, presenting an emotionally intense, singular experience as the defining moment of a lifetime.

Categorical Breakdown

Identity Politics2/10

The narrative does not engage with an intersectional hierarchy or lecture on systemic oppression. Characters are highly intellectual and are judged on their personal merit, artistic talent, and emotional depth. The family's wealthy, educated, and white/Jewish background is presented as an ideal, non-judgemental haven, with no vilification of 'whiteness' or forced diversity.

Oikophobia1/10

The film is an aesthetic celebration of Western civilization's high culture. The setting is a beautiful 17th-century Italian villa, the characters are steeped in Greco-Roman history, classical music, and literature, and the central family institution is portrayed as highly functional, nurturing, and a 'shield against chaos.' There is no hostility toward home, ancestors, or Western heritage.

Feminism2/10

Female characters, such as the mother and Elio’s friend, are supportive, intelligent, and well-adjusted. The mother is an educated translator, and the female figures serve as emotional supports or catalysts for the male leads' development. The narrative contains no 'Girl Boss' tropes, male emasculation, or overt anti-family/anti-natalist messaging. The family unit is highly protective and cohesive.

LGBTQ+8/10

The entire emotional plot centers on the protagonist’s awakening to his sexuality, making sexual identity the most important, defining, and celebrated trait of his self-discovery. The family's unconditional validation of the non-traditional relationship, particularly the father's final monologue, frames the acceptance of this alternative sexuality as the highest moral imperative. The film pushes against normative structure by validating an unconventional relationship as a transcendent experience, even though it avoids gender ideology or vilifying the nuclear family.

Anti-Theism5/10

The film’s moral framework replaces traditional, objective moral law with a humanist philosophy. The highly respected figure, Elio’s professor father, advocates for a subjective moral law of 'feeling everything' and avoiding the 'spiritual vacuum' of being cured of pain. This philosophy promotes moral subjectivism as wisdom and a higher calling over a transcendent moral order, although the movie does not actively villainize traditional religion.