Cor Cordium

(Why does this sound like a BuzzFeed title?)

I watched Call Me By Your Name with a friend from the US, and she brought to my attention that I was always picking up on a lot of small details that non-Italian viewers like her inevitably miss out on.

CMBYN is not your usual postcard-of-Italy movie. I’ve seen tons of foreign movies or shows set in Italy that look more like a Hollywood-made advertisement for my country rather than a true portrayal of it (remember Eat, Pray, Love?). CMBYN instead felt real. It felt like everyday reality in northern Italy, despite being set more than 30 years ago. The director and the production being Italian is probably the reason behind it.

So here’s a list of small details in CMBYN that you can only pick up if you’re familiar with Italy and Italian culture (with Wikipedia links if you want more information):

Both. Bothhh.

Sorry, I can't respond to an ask that singles out Timmy to the detriment of Armie and especially not in this scene because it's the glue that is Oliver that holds this entire part together. Without Armies strong, steady, comforting and readily available presence, Elio's character would come across wildly untethered here. You'd see a massive disconnect between the two parties if they weren't both giving exactly the same amount of themselves. The reason we feel so much for Elio here is because we feel safe do so, because he feels safe to do so and thats because of Armie/Oliver.

(I reckon if we didn't have that, we'd all feel really uncomfortable at such a display of raw emotion, no matter how well it was executed).

Unforgettable memories. He could have exploded for happiness...

Find Me…

Imagine being stared at like this, so intensely