Italian Dir/Screenwriter Luca Guadagnino's CALL ME BY YOUR NAME - No Shame in Love

"Call Me by Your Name" is an Italian art film.  It's a lyrical expose on love, literature, music, poetry, nature, cuisine and archeological treasures.  The many bounties life offers are presented on a platter.  This scenic film discovers the treasures of finding love & the freedom to experience & express it openly.  It's multi-lingual in Italian, French, German and English that flows fluently utilizing English sub-titles.  The idyllic setting is an Italian chateau during the summer of 1983. The year is markedly shown although there is a timeless aesthetic to the film's look (albeit rotary landlines  & 80's music anachronistic to the era).  The year bears significance marking the burgeoning HIV/AIDS pandemic that took the lives of so many people; mostly gay men.  Oliver (Armie Hammer, "The Social Network") is an American grad student visiting the rural estate of his archeology prof. & patriarch of the Perlman family (Michael Stuhlberg "A Serious Man").  The Perlman's precocious 17 yr. old son, Elio (Timothee Chalamet "Ladybird") is a musical prodigy.  There's a palpable, combative sexual tension that builds languidly over this lush, unhurried film until the inevitable attraction becomes "more than a special friendship."  Guadagnino's film is more layered  than a coming of age, sexual awakening story.  This is a luxurious & sensual film accentuating a cornucopia of life's bounties.  There's ambiguities regarding individual's sexual orientations.  And, an uncertainty if Oliver's dark lesion is a bruise or indicates an AID's sarcoma.   Elio's parents are very compassionate, intelligent and open minded.  They encourage Oliver & Elio to take a short vacation before Oliver must return to the states having noted their fondness for each other.  Their short lived romance leaves Elio morose. Elio's father has a heart to heart talk with him intending to being supportive & to revel in his son's fortune having found love.  Perhaps, the father professes too much.  His son is distressed to unearth the facade of his parent's idyllic marriage.  The film's overriding theme is the loss of time by not living one's life as one's true best self without shame or recrimination.  Oliver brandishes his Jewish heritage but masks his homosexuality.  The Perlmans consider themselves "Jews of discretion".  The last scene is on Hanukah which the family is celebrating with latkes, a menorah & Hanukah gilt.  The hidden message in the homonym of gilt & guilt is somewhat slick.  There is plenty of glorious music. Poetry is read aloud & translated from various languages.  The poetry helps speak for Guadaginino's elegiac & stirring film. "As soon as you trust yourself, you will know how to live". (Goeth)  "Life belongs to the living, and those who live must be prepared to change." (Goeth)  This film is a sumptuous feast.  It lingers on like an al fresco French meal.  It may lose appeal for those lacking patience & discerning tastes.