Call me by your name, a love story!

This is a critique of the movie "Call me by your name". It has a few plot details that may be spoilers, if you have not seen the movie. 

On the same weekend when my city of birth, Mumbai, was observing the Annual LGBT Pride, I happened to watch "Call me by your name". Interesting coincidince: while the pride represents the struggle for a legal, dignified status for the gay community of my motherland India, the film is the
epitome of mainstream celebration of the acknowledgement, awareness and acceptance at a global level. While I was convincing my buddies on watching this movie, a new American friend, corrected me that I mustn't call it a "Gay" love story, but a love story. Touché!

Heteronormativity is either the curse of ignorance or a scared man's camouflage. This intrinsic need to outrightly dismiss any alternative viewpoint on intimate matters of sexuality today is as absurd as those who once laughed at the thought of the earth being a sphere. Simply put, human history is replete with examples of natural things, that were discovered, acknowledge, accepted and then respected, much, much later. While the evolution of human body has been scientifically documented, that our mind remains a continuum, as well as a debate-  scholastic at times and ridiculous at others.

CMBYN is indeed the mainstream celebration of love, that is misunderstood sometimes even by those in it. It is up in the league of Brokeback Mountain and Milk, each having excelled in the cinematic representation of the trials, tribulations and even triumphs of the LGBT community.

  For the uninitiated, I will just add a lines bullets from the movie's Wikipedia page:

..it received a ten-minute standing ovation at its New York Film Festival screening at the Alice Tully Hall, the longest recorded in the festival's history. On review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes, the film has an approval rating of 96% based on 251 reviews, with an average rating of 8.8/10.  It was the best-reviewed limited release and second best-reviewed romance film of 2017 on the site. As of February 1, 2018, it is Rotten Tomatoes' best-reviewed romance film, the second best-reviewed drama film, and the fifth best-reviewed film overall, based on its adjusted score. 

Clearly, there is nothing to add to the already well reviewed, well received, and somehow not-so-well-nominated-at-the-oscar-awards film. But I can not help but think of the film, its relevance to a country like India and to the audiences that have embraced it with such love.

CMBYN is a simple narrative of two seemingly simple but deeply complex, conflicted individuals who couldn't be more different and more similar at the same time. One, an archaeologist, looking for history in remains, the other a musician looking for new interpretations of classics. One in the prime of his adult youth, the other barely legal. One is seemingly conflicted by his own sexual awakening and the other resolved to not act upon his impulses.  But both genuine, drawn to each other and when they come together, inseparable.

Set in the Italian summer of 1983, this film not only is a snapshot of that time in history and the struggles of self acceptance for an American, (who one could assume today, is entitled to far more, thanks to their progressive laws and open gay culture), but also a peek into the personal journey of the two characters and their reactions to what they discover. From shy advances and indirect proposals to obvious indications and bold moves - their journey and its risqué quality makes for engrossing viewing at best and a humble provocation of the mind at least. Why must gay men fear being seen? Why must two gay men, consenting, still have to worry about the society at large?

Heteronormativity.

It is the success of our times as much as it is the success of the medium that the audience questions:  What about Elio and Oliver's feeling was so absurd or unnatural after all? The normalcy of their courtship, camaraderie and chemistry, irrespective of their gender, is at the heart of the film's pure portrayal of first love. The contrast between the vivid day shots of exterior and the monochromatic intimate moments elevate the chemistry as well as the sexual tension of the protagonists alike. The music, and the silence, both lend the film its emotional contours. I particularly thought the placement, use and lyrics of mystery of love was remarkable.

Eliot and Oliver's homoerotic journey goes through its ebbs and flows and crosses every line there is to cross for the orthodox, but not for the humans who can feel the universality of their raw emotions. And when Elio's parents encourage them to even take a holiday together, one thinks has indeed struck gold. But has Oliver made peace with himself? Is he still guilty of somehow having corrupted Elio?

To me, the film's biggest success is the audience's collective anxiety when the phone rings. Even if all the characters have not, the audience surely has awakened to the normalcy, innocence and purity of love between Elio and Oliver, in this beautiful gay love story.