Daily Dialogue — November 21, 2018

Oliver rubs Elio’s shoulder. Elio moves away.

Oliver: What’s the matter? You all right? Pinch a nerve?
Elio: I’m okay.
Oliver: [hands bottle of water to Elio] Here, hold this. Trust me. I’m about to be a doctor.

He massages Elio’s shoulder. Elio attempts to separate himself from Oliver’s grasp, but he pulls Elio back.

Oliver: Hey, hey, that’s the problem. You’re too stressed. Just gotta relax a little bit.
Elio: I am relaxed.

— Call Me By Your Name (2017), screenplay by James Ivory, novel by André Aciman

The Daily Dialogue theme for the week: Seduction

Trivia: There was only one rehearsal before shooting. In multiple interviews, Timothée Chalamet and Armie Hammer said that director Luca Guadagnino asked them one day to come outside to do a rehearsal in the backyard of the villa. They walked to a patch of grass and flipped their scripts to a randomly selected scene to practice. When they opened the script, the page only read, “Elio and Oliver roll around in the grass making out.” Chalamet and Hammer looked at each other and said, “Alright, let’s go!” Just seconds into the making out scene, however, Guadagnino stepped in and directed them to act more “passionately.” So they started making out and continued to do so, and no one told them to stop. Eventually, the two actors stopped, looked around and realized Guadagnino had just walked away, leaving them rolling around in the grass. This was their only rehearsal.

Dialogue On Dialogue: Here the words “stressed” and “relax” are layered with sexual subtext. In combination with the physical contact (massage) and Oliver’s virility as exhibited playing volleyball, the scene is a subtle, yet key moment in Oliver’s seduction of Elio.