​Minh Phuong Nguyen's
Foundation Portfolio
[9 FRAME ANALYSIS]
Call Me By Your Name
"Call Me By Your Name" is a coming-of-age romantic drama film directed by Luca Guadagnino, based on the novel by André Aciman. Set in 1983, the film beautifully captures the poignant and passionate summer romance between 17-year-old Elio Perlman and 24-year-old Oliver, exploring themes of love, identity, and the fleeting nature of time.
FRAME #1
The edited letters and the sounds of birch chirping tell the audience the time that the film is set in - Summer 1983 - using a chalk-like typography, reinforcing the nostalgic feels. The medium shot slowly pans from the girl to the boy, whom she's looking at dearly. The fact that the boy is half naked while throwing clothes from the wardrobe all around the room and the girl is comfortably lying on his bed suggests to the audinece that they are in a close, intimate relationship.
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Additionally, the voice of a woman downstairs saying "He's here" suggests that the house has a guest come over.
FRAME #2
The edited letters reveal that the film is set in Northen Italy, summer 1980s. The old stone building with the old-fashioned window where the boy pops out evokes themes of history and tradition. It is possible that the boy's family is of the middle to upper income social class. The new shirt he wears is red, connoting themes of love, and possibly reflect his personality as somewhat rebellious.
FRAME #3
The film goes on with an eyeline match, using slow pan to track a green vintage car coming to the house, helping the audience immerse in the boy's world. The car's noises disrupts the sounds of cicada, connoting changes. Together with the dominant focus on the car in this shot, it can be interpreted from that the car and the person in it will bring changes, or simply hold great significance in the storyline.
FRAME #4
The girl's body language of picking nails and staring at the boys' direction shows that she is also curious about what's happening, hence stands up and walks towards the window. So far, this poses an enigma to the audience - who is this new guest, and why are they so important?
FRAME #5
The wide two shot tells a lot about the relationship between the boy and the girl, as well as revealing important information about the boy's family. As the girl stands next to the boy, their matching outfit and almost non-existent distant between each other confirm to the audience that they are in a romantic relationship. The room is filled with books and paper files, suggesting that the boy's family is of the intellectual class. The family could be doing things related to researching fields. The soft focus and subtle color hues of the overall film is further highlighted in this shot, reinforcing themes of nostalgia, coming-of-age, and following the visual conventions of summer.
FRAME #6
The owner of the house came out to greet the guest. The old man's body language can be more informal with the guest, hinting that the guest can be someone the dad already knew before, shown from their informal dialogue "Mr. Perlman. Thank you so much", revealing the old man's name. The woman who comes next to Mr. Perlman can be his close companion, likely to be his wife.​
FRAME #7
The shot moves back to the boy and the girl. Their clothes are quite different to the guest and Mr & Mrs. Perlman, emphasizing their young age. The fact that the boy and the girl talk in Italian, while the adults talk to each other in English suggest that the guest is someone from a foreign country, therefore the parents had to talk to him using English instead of Italian.
FRAME #8
The greeting of the parents - especially the mom - towards the new guest is quite formal, suggesting that he is not someone the family is quite familiar to. This can be seen in the mom shaking hands with the guest, introducing her name as "Annella", and the guest replied her with "Oliver. Nice to meet you". As Oliver carries some a suitcase with him, it is possible that he will be staying with the family for a period of time.
FRAME #9
The shot-reverse-shot editing helps the audience focus on the boy's reaction to the new guest coming and his conversation with the boys' parents. It is quite inherent that the boy has taken an interest in the new guest as he rushes to go when his parents call him, revealing his name "Elio!".