Call Me by Your Name Page #13

Your silence is killing me.

He says to himself, out loud,

ELIO:

Way over the top.

He writes:

61.

Can’t stand thinking you hate me.

He tears that up too, and tries again:

I’d sooner die than know you hate

me.

He laughs, tears that one up, and writes once more:

Can’t stand the silence. I need to

speak to you.

He reads this, liking it. He lifts his right hand to his

face, smells his fingertips, his palm, then his other hand

liking that too.

ELIO gets up, folds the last note, and slips it under the

door that separates his room from Oliver’s.

EXT. GARDEN IN FRONT OF THE KITCHEN -PERLMAN VILLA -DAY 86

Breakfast. PROFESSOR PERLMAN sits behind his newspaper, while

a very sleepy ELIO cracks his egg.

OLIVER walks in, sits down, and without looking at ELIO,

says:

OLIVER:

Did you enjoy yourself last night?

ELIO Insomma (so-so).

PERLMAN:

(from behind his paper)

Must be tired then. Or were you

playing poker too?

ELIO:

(busy with his egg)

I don’t play poker.

PERLMAN and OLIVER exchange glances.

PERLMAN:

Several hundred color slides of our

boxer and the others like him

arrived yesterday from Berlin. We

should start cataloging them. That

will keep us busy until lunch I

imagine.

Revision62.

87 87

INT. ELIO’S BEDROOM -PERLMAN VILLA -DAY

ELIO enters his room. He sees the folded note he wrote to

Oliver lying on his desk and opens it. Oliver has added:

Grow up. I’ll see you at midnight.

ELIO feels weak-kneed and has to sit down on his bed. He

kisses the slip of paper, then holds it against his heart.

Then he looks at the time on his watch: 10:30 AM.

88 INT. PROFESSOR PERLMAN’S STUDY -PERLMAN VILLA -DAY 88 *

OLIVER and PROFESSOR PERLMAN project images of classical

athletes in his study. On the screen is a close-up detail ofa bronze navel in an impressively muscled stomach. There are

several of these, and PERLMAN points out stylistic

differences:

PERLMAN:

(pointing at the images)

Beautiful aren’t they?

OLIVER:

They’re amazing. But these are far

more... sensual.

PERLMAN:

Because these are more Hellenistic

than fifth-century Athenian, most

likely sculpted under the influence

of the greatest sculptor in

antiquity:
Praxiteles. Their

muscles are firm-look at his

stomach for example-and yet nevera straight body in these statues,

they are all curves, sometimes

impossibly curved and so

nonchalant, hence their agelessambiguity. As if they’re daring you

to desire them.

OLIVER, not unmoved by these images, grins, pats his own

belly and sucks in.

89 EXT. TABLE UNDER THE LIME TREES -PERLMAN VILLA -DAY 89

At the lunch table. A clock strikes two. Lunch is over and

everyone folds his napkin and pushes back their chairs.

ANNELLA:

And don’t forget Mr. Keller and Mr.

Hodell are coming for dinner

tonight.

63.

ELIO:

(to Oliver)

Otherwise known as Laurel and

Hardy.

PERLMAN:

(gently admonishing)

Okay...

ANNELLA:

I want you to wear the shirt they

gave you for your birthday. It

will make them happy.

ELIO:

It’s way too big on me. It looks

ridiculous.

Elio turning to OLIVER to bring him into the conversation and

to test his mood.

ELIO (CONT’D)

See if Oliver doesn’t think I look

like a scarecrow in it. I’ll model

it for you.

But OLIVER is non-committal and won’t be drawn into the

decision.

ELIO can’t help glancing at his wrist watch, but attempts to

hide the gesture from OLIVER by reaching out for an uneaten

cookie on a plate just as MAFALDA is removing it. Then, to

tease ELIO:

OLIVER:

What's the time?

Oliver reaches for Elio’s wrist, But Elio pulls away and runs

up the stairs.

90 INT. KITCHEN -PERLMAN VILLA -DAY 90

MAFALDA is cleaning up after lunch. OLIVER comes in.

OLIVER:

(in his halting Italian)

Mafalda, non sarò con voi a cena

stasera. (I won’t be home for

dinner this evening).

91 EXT. ABBEVERATOIO -PERLMAN VILLA -AFTERNOON 91

By the abbeveratoio. ELIO is asleep, his face resting on his

hand. MARZIA arrives on her bike just as OLIVER leaves on

his. They pause in the road to say hello. MARZIA continues

towards the house and approaches the sleeping ELIO.

64.

She plants a light kiss on his forehead, waking him up. He

darts a look at his watch: three fifty-five.

Later. MARZIA and ELIO are in the abbeveratoio. She slips her

hand inside his bathing suit and takes hold of him like she

did in the street the night before.

MARZIA (IN FRENCH)

Tu ne bandes pas.

(You aren’t hard.)

ELIO (IN FRENCH)

Ne fais pas ça ici.

(Don’t do that here.)

MARZIA (IN FRENCH)

Montons dans ta chambre.

(Let’s go up to your room.)

ELIO (IN FRENCH)

J'ai une meilleure idée.

(I have a better idea.)

92 INT. KITCHEN -PERLMAN VILLA -AFTERNOON 92

ELIO and MARZIA, in their swimsuits, run through the kitchen.

Elio holds her hand, almost dragging her. They haven't dried

up, and are wetting the floor as they go.

93 INT. STAIRCASE/CORRIDOR (1ST FLOOR) -PERLMAN VILLA -93

AFTERNOON:

ELIO and MARZIA go up the stairs that take to the upper floor

of the building.

MARZIA:

(riant)

On va où???

(laughing)

(Where are we going???)

They enter a small door on the left end of the corridor.

94 INT. SMALL SPIRAL STAIRCASE -PERLMAN VILLA -DAY 94

A small and narrow spiral staircase. ELIO jogs up the steps

with MARZIA.

95 INT. ATTIC -PERLMAN VILLA -AFTERNOON 95

ELIO and MARZIA enter the attic, it is filled with old

furniture, books, and other unused stuff.

65.

Elio moves a mattress that was leaning on the wall and lays

it on the ground. They pull off their bathing suits and lie

on the mattress, ELIO on top. He takes off his watch, places

it on a bed-side table, where he can see it. It is 4:29.

The windows are open, but the shutters are half closed. The

subdued afternoon light draws slatted patterns on the bed, on

the wall, on MARZIA and ELIO making love.

96 EXT. PERLMAN VILLA -LATE AFTERNOON 96

MARZIA leaves just before dinner time. ELIO comes down with

her as the evening guests pull up in their car: a GAY COUPLE

one tall and thin, the other short and rotund. Both are

professors on holiday, and both are wearing purple shirts.

Each carries a bouquet of white flowers which they present to

ANNELLA. ELIO introduces them to MARZIA. They speak terrible

Italian, one starting a sentence loaded with compliments, the

other having to finish it. ELIO leads them into the house as

MARZIA bikes off.

97 INT. ELIO’S BEDROOM -PERLMAN VILLA -EVENING 97

ELIO finds his father in his room going through all his son’s

shirts hanging in the closet in order to pick out theunwanted present. He hands it to ELIO, who groans.

ELIO:

I can’t put it on now! They’ve

already met me. It will look like a

put-up job.

PERLMAN:

(in a very amused tone)

No misbehaving tonight. When I tell

you to play, then play! You’re too

old not to accept people as they

are. What’s wrong with them? I

don’t think it’s very attractive of

you to call them ‘Laurel and Hardy’

behind their backs...

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