Call Me by Your Name Page #19

ELIO:

Pour la vie?

(Forever?)

MARZIA:

Pour la vie.

(Forever)

138 EXT. PERLMAN VILLA -AFTERNOON 138

The car comes through the gate. ANCHISE comes forward and

offers to carry the backpack up to his room, ELIO tells him

that backpacks should be carried by their owners.

ANCHISE:

Il signor Ulliva è partito? (Has

mister Ulliva left?)

88.

139

140

141

ELIO Sì, stamattina. (Yes, this morning)

ANCHISE Anche a me duole. (I too am

saddened).

ELIO avoids his eyes, not wanting to encourage him to say

enters it and looks around. Everything of his has been put

anything further, and goes inside.

INT. STAIRCASE -PERLMAN VILLA -AFTERNOON 139

ELIO meets MAFALDA coming down the stairs.

MAFALDA:

I fixed up your room the way it

was.

ELIO frowns, angered by this news.

INT. OLIVER’S ROOM -PERLMAN VILLA -AFTERNOON 140

Elio’s room, in which Oliver has stayed. Alone now, ELIO

back, his clothes in the closet and drawers. He drops his

backpack on the floor and throws himself down on the sunlit

bed. The bedspread is the same. He closes his eyes. He is

glad to be back in his old room, now full of sustaining

memories of Oliver.

INT. PERLMAN STUDIO -PERLMAN VILLA -EVENING/NIGHT

Professor PERLMAN is sitting in his usual place, but his

chair is turned out to face the garden. On his lap are proofs

of his latest book. He is drinking. Three large citronella

candles next to him keep the mosquitoes away.

ELIO comes into the room to say good night. His father puts

away his manuscript with a toss and lights a cigarette -his

last of the day -using one of the citronella candles.

PERLMAN:

So? Welcome home. Did Oliver enjoy

the trip?

ELIO:

I think he did.

PERLMAN takes a drag from his cigarette, then pauses a moment

before speaking.

PERLMAN:

You two had a nice friendship.

89.

ELIO:

(somewhat evasive)

Yes.

Another pause, and another drag on his cigarette.

PERLMAN:

You’re too smart not to know how

rare, how special, what you two had

was.

ELIO:

Oliver was Oliver.

PERLMAN:

“Parce-que c’etait lui, parce-que

c’etait moi.”

ELIO:

(trying to avoid talking

about Oliver with his

father)

Oliver may be very intelligent

PERLMAN:

(interrupting his son)

Intelligent? He was more than

intelligent. What you two had had

everything and nothing to do with

intelligence. He was good, and you

were both lucky to have found each

other, because you too are good.

ELIO:

I think he was better than me.

PERLMAN:

I’m sure he’d say the same thing

about you, which flatters the two

of you.

In tapping his cigarette and leaning toward the ashtray, he

reaches out and touches Elio’s hand. PERLMAN alters his tone

of voice (his tone says: We don’t have to speak about it, but

let’s not pretend we don’t know what I’m saying).

PERLMAN (CONT’D)

When you least expect it, Nature

has cunning ways of finding our

weakest spot. Just remember: I am

here. Right now you may not want to

feel anything. Perhaps you never

wished to feel anything. Andperhaps it’s not to me that you’ll

want to speak about these things.

But feel something you obviously

did.

90.

ELIO looks at his father, then drops his eyes to the floor. ELIO looks at his father, then drops his eyes to the floor.

PERLMAN (CONT’D) Look

you had a beautiful friendship.

Maybe more than a friendship. And I

envy you. In my place, most parents

would hope the whole thing goes

away, to pray that their sons land

on their feet. But

I am not such a parent. In your

place, if there is pain, nurse it.

And if there is a flame, don’t

snuff it out. Don’t be brutal with

it. We rip out so much of ourselves

to be cured of things faster, that

we go bankrupt by the age of thirty

and have less to offer each time we

start with someone new. But to make

yourself feel nothing so as not to

feel anything -what a waste!

ELIO is dumbstruck as he tries to take all this in.

PERLMAN (CONT’D)

Have I spoken out of turn?

ELIO shakes his head.

PERLMAN (CONT’D)

Then let me say one more thing. It

will clear the air. I may have come

close, but I never had what you two

had. Something always held me back

or stood in the way. How you live

your life is your business.

Remember, our hearts and our bodies

are given to us only once. And

before you know it, your heart is

worn out, and, as for your body,

there comes a point when no one

looks at it, much less wants tocome near it. Right now there’s

sorrow. Pain. Don’t kill it and

with it the joy you’ve felt.

PERLMAN takes a breath.

PERLMAN (CONT’D)

We may never speak about thisagain. But I hope you’ll never hold

it against me that we did. I will

have been a terrible father if, one

day, you’d want to speak to me and

felt that the door was shut, or not

sufficiently open.

ELIO:

Does mother know?

Revision91.

PERLMAN:

I don’t think she does.

(but his voice means “Even

if she did, I am sure her

attitude would be no

different than mine”)

142 EXT. CAMPAGNA -PERLMAN VILLA -WINTER DAY 142

The Perlman villa in Winter. A foggy day. Six months later,

ELIO walks in the countryside that surrounds the villa.

NARRATORE:

They had become each other that

summer. And long after every

forked road in life had done its

work this would always be true.

Their lives scarcely touched in

those weeks together, but they had

crossed to the other side, where

time stops and heaven reaches down

to earth and gives us that ration

of what is from birth divinelyours. They could look the other way

and speak of everything but, they

would always know. They had found

the stars, Elio and Oliver. Andthis is given once only.

He crosses the gate and comes back in the garden. He enters

the house.

143 INT. KITCHEN/STAIRCASE/BOCCHIRALE -PERLMAN VILLA -AFTERN1O4O3N *

ELIO walks through the kitchen and up the stairs. The

telephone rings and ELIO runs down the stairs to answer it,

an expression of excited expectancy on his face. It is

OLIVER, calling from New York.

OLIVER (V.O.)

Elio? Are you there?

ELIO:

I’m here, I’m here. How are you?

OLIVER (V.O.)

Fine. How are your parents?

ELIO:

Fine, too... I miss you.

OLIVER (V.O.)

I miss you too. Very much. (long

beat) I have some news.

92.

ELIO:

What news? You’re getting married,

I suppose.

(laughing)

OLIVER (V.O.)

I might be getting married this

spring.

ELIO:

(dumbfounded)

You never said anything.

OLIVER (V.O.)

It’s been off and on for two years.

ELIO:

But that’s wonderful news!

OLIVER (V.O.)

Do you mind?

ELIO:

You’re being silly.

There is a long silence. ELIO’s genuine congratulatory smile

fades.

Just then ANNELLA appears, and ELIO hands it to his mother.

ANNELLA:

Why aren’t you here? When are you

coming? Elio misses you terribly,

going around all the time with such

a long face!

She and PERLMAN exchange greetings with OLIVER.

PERLMAN:

You caught us while in the process

of choosing the new you for next

summer..

“Wonderful, wonderful!” they say. When they go out, PERLMAN

hands the receiver back to ELIO, who reaches for it before

they can hang up.

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