Call Me by Your Name / YMMV

Alternative Character Interpretation: It's unclear if Oliver is intended to be bisexual or gay. While he does end the film saying that he's getting married to a woman, he's implied to have some shame regarding his sexuality and comes from a very conservative household, causing some fans to interpret it as him getting married just to conceal his true sexuality.
Americans Hate Tingle: A good number of American writers were repulsed not so much by the same-sex relationship but rather by the Age-Gap Romance, viewing it as exploitative and creepy rather than romantic.
Award Snub:
- Neither Armie Hammer nor Michael Stuhlbarg were nominated for Best Supporting Actor at the Academy Awards despite much acclaim for both of them (with each earning nominations at the Critics Choice Awards and Hammer additionally being nominated for a Golden Globe). Given there wasn't a clear favorite between the two actors, many figured they failed to make the cut due to a vote split.
- Some also feel Luca Guadagnino should've been nominated for Best Director.
- Fans of Sufjan Stevens were (and many still are) livid that "Mystery of Love" didn't win its nomination for Best Original Song (not that "Remember Me" was undeserving, though).
- Many fans and critics took Timothée Chalamet for a Best Actor frontrunner going into awards season, but ultimately, almost all of the major awards for the category were given to Gary Oldman for his performance as Winston Churchill in Darkest Hour.
Awesome Music: All of the original music by Sufjan Stevens, guaranteed to make every listener teary-eyed. "Mystery of Love" captures the awe and splendor of Elio and Oliver's getaway just as vividly as "Visions of Gideon" illustrates Elio's grief and sadness as he reminisces about Oliver at the very end. Even Doveman's remix of the pre-existing "Futile Devices" is used to transcendent effect.
Broken Base: Depending on who you ask, the infamous peach scene is either romantic and tragic or disgusting and unnecessary.
Ensemble Dark Horse: Everyone loves Mr. Perlman for being such a loving and supporting father who completely accepts Elio’s orientation and helps him to move on from his heartbreak. His big speech to Elio towards the end is regarded by many as the story's high point.
Fandom Rivalry: With Love, Simon, another LGBT-themed Coming of Age Story released relatively shortly after. Despite that, Keiynan Lonsdale, one of the film's cast members, has praised both films for their own merits.
Friendly Fandoms: Funnily enough, this film has retroactively developed one with Pixar's 2021 film Luca, as both stories are set in Italy and involve a coming-of-age-tale about two male protagonists struggling with growing up and developing a close bond that struggles against a judgmental world (and Luca, while not explicitly queer due to its child audience, still has enough Ho Yay undertones to attract queer viewers), which causes many audience members to draw comparisons. One New York Times review even jokingly refers to Luca as Calamari By Your Name.
Harsher in Hindsight: The controversy surrounding allegations of sexual abuse and cannibalistic fetishism being made towards Armie Hammer in 2021 made the romantic scenes he's in feel creepy upon rewatch for some, including the scene of Oliver kissing Elio's foot as well as the peach scene, wherein he attempts to taste a particular fluid of Elio's and gets in a physical altercation with him where they have this exchange:
Elio: You're hurting me!
Oliver: Then stop fighting.
He Really Can Act:
- Armie Hammer, after a series of flops, experienced renewed interest in his career for his performance in the film.
- While watching the film, you may wonder why you heard so much praise for Michael Stuhlbarg, but then you get to that scene, and it all makes sense.
Hilarious in Hindsight:
- Elio getting himself off with a peach can bring to mind the coconut stories from Reddit, which shows how masturbating with produce can end badly.
- Similarly, the peach emoji is often used as another way of referring to a butt due to how it looks like one. Maybe Elio's peach scene is a metaphor for anal sex?
- The director's first name later became the title for a film that got a ton of comparisons with this one with its Italian setting and focus on a relationship between two male characters.
Hype Backlash: As is usual for overwhelmingly acclaimed movies; some people find it monotonous and even boring. For this one, oddly enough, some of the backlash comes from people in the LGBTQ community itself, as although many of them are happy for more representation, for others the movie doesn't do anything remotely interesting other than depicting two people falling in love, and for them the fact that it's two guys doesn't really carry any punch.
Narm: Several scenes (including the most infamous one) and lines (such as "apricock" and saying that the heart and soul meet in the asshole) come off as unintentionally hilarious rather than portraying the depths of First Love passion as intended, though many can easily be considered Narm Charm as well.
Signature Scene:
- The peach scene is so well-known that it's one of the first results one will get from Googling the book. Questions of how it would be adapted littered the marketing trail for the film.
- For a more chaste scene, there’s Mr. Pearlman’s beautifully accepting speech to Elio about love and not wasting his youth.
- Elio crying by the fireplace, which plays over the final credits.
Squick:
- A prudish love story this is not. The peach scene, Elio licking Oliver's eyelid, the two watching each other's bowel movements (the last of which is thankfully only in the book, but still...), not to mention Elio getting a bloody nose while the family has dinner.
- While the love between Elio and Oliver is genuine and very touching, some still can’t entirely get over Elio having an explicitly sexual relationship with an older man while he’s underaged (in their regions, anyway). This may have been solved if they simply aged Elio up by a single year.
Tear Jerker: Again, the lingering final shot of Elio sitting by the fireplace with his eyes full of tears.
Unintentionally Unsympathetic: As noted under The Woobie, both Marzia and Chiara are treated rather poorly by Elio and Oliver. While this doesn't detract from their own love story, the fact that they pretty much just throw girls who like them away doesn't exactly do their likability any favors.
Values Dissonance: A number of American critics accused the film of promoting pedophilia (or rather, ephebophilia), since the younger character is under 18. However, the age of consent in Italy (where the story takes place) is between 14 and 16 depending on the circumstances. Part of it might have to do with the fact that Oliver is supposed to be 24 but in the movie he looks at least 30 while Elio looks like a boyish 17 year old, which makes the age gap in their romance look even bigger than it already is. Add in the fact that their relationship is a very sexual one and you have a group of people who believe Elio is being groomed. Had Oliver been a few years younger (and look his age) and his relationship with Elio was shown to be a chaste one, until Elio's 18th birthday, the movie would have avoided unsavory implications.
- The book manages to avoid some of the issues in the film since Elio is portrayed as less innocent from the get-go, and a still twenty-four Oliver comes off much younger and his confidence feels much more like a facade. On top of that, Oliver's character is far more developed and his struggles with his own sexuality are far more apparent, even as the narrator Elio doesn't take much notice of them. The book also is more ambiguous as to whether this love affair was a good thing for Elio. It was passionate, beautiful and pleasurable, but book Elio is undeniably damaged by it. Was the love affair too much for young Elio? Or is Elio just not willing to let go of his youth? Or were they soul mates and the longing Elio has justified? The book leaves it open.
The Woobie:
- The depth of poor Elio's love for Oliver which ultimately ends in his heartbreak is pretty much universally sympathetic. The last scene of the film has left more than one audience in tears.
- Marzia and Chiara genuinely liked Elio and Oliver, respectively, but both are hurt and tossed aside at different points in the novel.

YMMV / Call Me by Your Name

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