Call Me by Your Name

"Is it better to speak or die?"

2017 2h 12m EN

🙌

8.1

BANGER

★8.1TMDB · 12,981

RomanceDrama

Synopsis

Spoiler shield

In the summer of 1983, a 17-year-old Elio spends his days in his family's villa in Italy. One day Oliver, a graduate student, arrives to assist Elio's father, a professor of Greco-Roman culture. Soon, Elio and Oliver discover a summer that will alter their lives forever.

“Is it better to speak or die?”

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Cast

Timothée Chalamet
Elio
Armie Hammer
Oliver
Michael Stuhlbarg
Mr. Perlman
Amira Casar
Annella
Esther Garrel
Marzia
Victoire du Bois
Chiara
Vanda Capriolo
Mafalda
Antonio Rimoldi
Anchise

Credits

Behind the camera

Director: Luca Guadagnino
Writers: James Ivory
Languages: French, English, Italian
Countries: Brazil, France, Italy, United States of America

Want more? Switch to Cinephile mode in the header for DP, composer, budget, box office, production companies, keywords, and release history.

Did you know?

Fun facts 🍿

1 / 8

MONEY

Did you know

Shot for just $3.5M — micro-budget by Hollywood standards.

MoodPlayr · trivia#01

2 / 8

MONEY

Did you know

Grossed $43M — a 12.3× return. The kind of profit studios chase for a decade.

MoodPlayr · trivia#02

3 / 8

ERA

Did you know

Released 9 years ago.

MoodPlayr · trivia#03

4 / 8

WORLD

Did you know

Dialogue crosses 3 languages: French, English, Italian.

MoodPlayr · trivia#04

5 / 8

WORLD

Did you know

International production across 4 countries: Brazil, France, Italy, United States of America.

MoodPlayr · trivia#05

6 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Directed by Luca Guadagnino, shot by Sayombhu Mukdeeprom. Note their partnership — DPs and directors often return to each other across a career.

MoodPlayr · trivia#06

7 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Original score by Sufjan Stevens. Worth a dedicated listen after — most great films lose half their impact without the score.

MoodPlayr · trivia#07

8 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Editor Walter Fasano shaped the rhythm. On an edit-heavy film, the editor does more to control your pulse than the director.

MoodPlayr · trivia#08

Cinephile deep dive

The take

Luca Guadagnino directs. Sayombhu Mukdeeprom behind the camera. Sufjan Stevens scores. Walter Fasano cuts. Made its budget back several times over at the box office. Produced in Brazil, France, Italy, United States of America. Dialogue in French, English, Italian.

Trivia

Things worth knowing

1Shot for just $3.5M — micro-budget by Hollywood standards.
2Grossed $43M — a 12.3× return. The kind of profit studios chase for a decade.
3Released 9 years ago.
4Dialogue crosses 3 languages: French, English, Italian.
5International production across 4 countries: Brazil, France, Italy, United States of America.
6Directed by Luca Guadagnino, shot by Sayombhu Mukdeeprom. Note their partnership — DPs and directors often return to each other across a career.
7Original score by Sufjan Stevens. Worth a dedicated listen after — most great films lose half their impact without the score.
8Editor Walter Fasano shaped the rhythm. On an edit-heavy film, the editor does more to control your pulse than the director.
9Timothée Chalamet and Armie Hammer and Michael Stuhlbarg carry the top of the cast.
10Marketing tagline: "Is it better to speak or die?".
11IMDB entry: tt5726616 — still the authoritative cross-reference for credits and trivia.
1212,981 TMDB user ratings logged — serious cultural footprint.
13Classified under 15 themes, including "based on novel or book", "upper class", "italy", "swimming pool".
14Released under 27 different titles around the world.

The technical file

Cinematography: Sayombhu Mukdeeprom
Original score: Sufjan Stevens
Editing: Walter Fasano
Production design: Samuel Deshors
Costume design: Giulia Piersanti
Makeup / hair: Paola Gattabrusi
VFX supervisor: Luca Saviotti
Sound: Alessandro Boscolo
Runtime: 132 min · 2h 12m
Aspect ratio (typical): 1.37:1 (Academy)
Status: Released
Budget: $3,500,000
Box office: $43,143,046
Return: 1233% of budget
Original language: EN
Certification (US): R
IMDB: Call Me by Your Name (2017)

Awards

Dorian Award for LGBTQ Film of the Year
Dorian Award for Film of the Year
American Film Institute Awards
National Board of Review: Top Ten Films
Gotham Awards
European Film Award – People's Choice Award for Best European Film
Academy Award for Best Writing, Adapted Screenplay

Individual records documented via Wikidata; the summary above may count more.

Also by

Luca Guadagnino

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Trailers & featurettes

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Community reviews

What people are saying

jessetaylor2017-09-15
★ 9/10
Alongside Weekend and Moonlight, Call Me By Your Name is the greatest queer film I have seen in the past ten years. It's a gorgeous, quiet masterwork - Luca Guadagnino has given us something truly special here. I'll cherish this one for a long, long time as it's extremely human and very personal. The fact that the legendary James Ivory wrote the screenplay for this shoots this over the top and slam dunks it into the cinematic stratosphere. Truly stunning work that deserves to be remembered, preserved, and celebrated for decades to come. The performances in this are so mesmerizing. I've never liked Armie Hammer as much as I like him in this. He really embodies his character and it's a lived in, fully realized performance. Timothée Chalamet - who has a great year ahead of him with other big projects - is absolutely captivating as the young lead in this coming-of-age tale. I've seen many a coming-of-age film, but this one is one of the truest portrayals of a gay youth coming to terms with his sexuality, emotions, and his own body. There are so many phenomenal scenes, but the one that stands out above the rest - and the one that made me cry in a theatre full of festivalgoers - is Michael Stuhlbarg's final monologue. It's one of the most honest and real moments I've seen in any film and one of the best father and son moments too. Crossing my fingers so hard that this becomes a huge critical darling and garners some attention come awards time (specifically for Guadagnino, Ivory, Chalamet, and Stuhlbarg). Oh, and bonus points for that final shot of Chalamet's face as the credits roll. It's the best of its kind since Glazer's Birth in 2004 when Nicole Kidman shattered all of our souls. Chalamet does the same thing here and it's overwhelmingly stunning.
tmdb152146182018-01-07
★ 8/10
A near-perfect, timeless movie which will be responsible for many tears and yeast infections. Languid small-town living is captured perfectly, as is the tentative romance between the leads. I can't think of any substantive criticism until the last 25 minutes, when the movie becomes sloppy, less of a climax than a dissipation. (And personally, I'd have liked to see a sliver more of sexuality, which is oddly lacking.) Still, it's good. Watch it.
CinemaSerf2024-08-11
★ 7/10
Amidst some beautiful Italian rusticity, we are introdcued to the "Perlman" family. It's the father (Michael Stuhlbarg) who has employed American "Oliver" (Armie Hammer) to help out with some research, and that involves living-in with his family of wife "Annella" (Amira Casar) and teenage son "Elio" (Timothée Chalamet) at their villa. Initially, they just call him "later" as that's his most often used expression as he takes his leave, but gradually they take to this man who appears to have depths that bely his slightly friendly but diffident attitude. It's the young "Elio" who seems most smitten. He's only seventeen but has a maturity that seems beyond his years as he uses his own substantial polyglot intellect to engage with their visitor. Though he's flirting like mad with his childhood friend "Marzia" (Esther Garrel) it's quite clear that his relationship with "Oliver" is passing the infatuation stage and heading into uncharted territory for both men - and the onlooking parents. With the sun shining, the wine flowing and the swimming tempting, Luca Guadagnino now takes us on a beautifully crafted story that is more than a rite of passage, or a typical "coming of age" drama - it's a love story that I felt at times was joyous and optimistic and yet, ultimately, somewhat cruel. The outwardly confident "Elio" has been raised in a loving and tactile family environment and so finds this emotional exposure he now faces both exhilarating and terrifying, and the sylphlike Chalamet really does deliver that vulnerability - and playfulness - like an experienced hand, whilst Hammer walks a path that I was never quite sure of. Is he just playing games with the young man, does he really care? Is it all just to pass the time during his visit or it it more? The location settings are gorgeous and the combination of a sparing script from James Ivory and some poignantly mixed musical themes ranging from Bach to Giorgio Moroder contribute to an aesthetic that is both ideally sheltering and yet hot-blooded at the same time. This is a film that seems to get better with age, and for just over two hours we are immersed in something that's really quite natural.