Call Me by Your Name Page #2

NARRATOR:

Taking a summer guest for six weeks

is the way Professor helps young

academics revise a manuscript

before publication. They are given

full run of the house and can

basically use their time as they

like, provided they help Professor

Perlman for an hour or so every day

with his correspondence and other

paperwork.

ANNELLA enters carrying a little tray with a pitcher of more

apricot juice which she pours out into glasses. Everyone has

some; OLIVER downs his in a gulp. He smacks his lips, says

“Ah!”. Annella looks at him amused and gives him an approving

pat on the shoulder. Elio looks at his father, alreadyknowing what he’ll say.

PERLMAN:

The word apricot comes from the

Arabic -it’s like the words

“algebra”, “alchemy”, and

“alcohol”. It derives from an

Arabic noun combined with the

Arabic article ‘al-’ before it.

(MORE)

6.

PERLMAN (CONT'D)

The origin of our Italian‘albicocca’ was ‘al-barquq’...

He pauses to draw breath, then continues, warming to his

subject.

PERLMAN (CONT’D)

It’s amazing that today in Israel

and many Arab countries the fruit

is referred to by a totally

different name:
‘mishmish’.

ANNELLA:

When we visited Persia they called

it Zardoulou.

PROFESSOR PERLMAN, shrugging, spreads his hands as if to say,

‘Who can ever tell about these matters of present-day

etymology?’. Through all this OLIVER has been listening

carefully.

OLIVER:

I beg to differ.

PERLMAN:

Ah?

OLIVER:

The word is not actually an Arabic

word.

PERLMAN:

How so?

ELIO and ANNELLA listen carefully, surprised.

OLIVER:

It’s a long story, so bear with me,

Pro. Many Latin words are derived

from the Greek. In the case of

‘apricot’, however, it’s the other

way around.

(he throws a quick, amused

look at ELIO)

Here the Greek takes over from

Latin. The Latin word was praecoquum, from pre-coquere, precook,

to ripen early, as in

precocious, meaning premature.

The others take this in. ANNELLA is clearly charmed.

OLIVER (CONT’D) TheByzantines -to go on -borrowedpraecox, and it became prekokkia

or berikokki, which is finallyhow the Arabs must have

inherited it as al-barquq.

Revision7.

There is a moment of silence. ELIO and ANNELLA look at

Perlman.

OLIVER (CONT’D)

Courtesy Philology 101.

PERLMAN:

(somewhat under hisbreath)

He’s right, he’s right.

ANNELLA, unable to resist, reaches out to OLIVER and ruffles

his hair, laughing.

ELIO applauds.

ELIO:

He does it every year...

ANNELLA:

Every year.

PERLMAN:

I was testing you.

12 EXT. ROAD TO CREMA -DAY 12

ELIO and OLIVER are riding bicycles, with Elio in the lead.

They go along the main road towards the town of Crema and its

bank. The day is already hot.

13 EXT. CAFE -CREMA TOWN SQUARE -DAY 13 *

ELIO and OLIVER are sitting at the little cafe with iron

chairs and tables, drinking coffee. OLIVER examines bank

application forms, then folds them up and puts them in his

knapsack. He looks around the almost empty square.

OLIVER:

What does one do around here?

ELIO:

Nothing. Wait for summer to end.

OLIVER:

What do you do in the winter, then?

Don’t tell me:
wait for summer,

right?

ELIO:

We come here only for Christmas and

some other vacation..

OLIVER:

Christmas?

8.

ELIO:

And Easter too. We are Jewish,

English, American, Italian,

French... somewhat atypical.

Besides my family you are probablythe only other Jew who has set foot

in this town.

OLIVER:

I am from a small town in New

England. I know what its like to be

the odd Jew out.(beat) And what

else do you do here in summer,

besides this?

ELIO smiles, says nothing. They both laugh.

OLIVER (CONT’D)

What do you do?

ELIO:

Transcribe music. Read books. Swim

at the river. Go out at night.

OLIVER takes this in, his eyes hidden by dark sunglasses as

he gathers up his things, cutting their conversation off.

They silently reclaim their bikes. OLIVER seems to be miles

away, but as ELIO is getting on his bike, he loses balance

for a moment and OLIVER puts his arm around Elio’s shoulder,

steadying him. He then speeds off, saying “Later”, leaving

ELIO on his own.

14 EXT. SOUTH TERRAZZA -PERLMAN VILLA -DAY 14

The same day. ELIO is sitting at a table in the shade of the

house, practicing his guitar. From where he sits he can see

OLIVER ride up on his bike and dismount. He has to pass by

ANCHISE, who is doing some garden work with small plants and

a ball of twine. OLIVER stops to watch and converses with

ANCHISE in Italian.

ANCHISE:

Non bisogna dare troppa acqua ai

pomodori. (You dont want to douse

the tomatoes with too much water)

OLIVER:

Pomodori? Oh, Tomatoes...

ANCHISE:

Sì! Tomatos.. Se crescono troppo in

fretta saranno pieni di semi. No

good! (They will grow too fast.

They will be mealy.)

ELIO sees this but is too far away to hear what they say.

9.

Later. OLIVER is lying on a towel spread on the grass nearby,

reading a book, which we see is Heraclithus. He wears a green

bathing suit and his straw hat. His belongings are spread out

around him:
sun lotion, a note pad and pen, espadrilles.

At the bottom of the stairs, in the middle of the field, the

PERLMANS and some FRIENDS in bathing suits are sitting around

an old stone drinking trough, now used to freshen up. There

are always people coming and going at the Perlmans’ friends,

relatives, acquaintances of Elio, like Marzia. We

don’t always learn who they are, but they give a sense of

ever-moving inhabitants of the place.

Oliver lowers his book and stares at ELIO, who is focused on

the fingerboard. ELIO raises his face to see if OLIVER likes

what he is playing, but OLIVER looks back without expression,

almost coldly.

Unsettled, ELIO breaks off for a moment, then returns to his

music-making, looking down. OLIVER, aware that he has caused

ELIO to interrupt his flow, gets up and comes over to where

ELIO is sitting. ELIO is non-committal, hiding hurt feelings.

In a pause, OLIVER questions Elio about the piece that broke

off -who was it, or is it yours? Do I know it?... It sounded

like... ELIO hits some notes: This? Or that?

OLIVER:

Just play it again.

ELIO:

I thought you didn’t like it. Hated

it...

OLIVER:

Hated it? What gave you that

idea?.. Just play it, will you?

ELIO:

The same one?

OLIVER:

The same one.

The tall, half-naked OLIVER, hanging over him intimidatingly,

causes ELIO to get up and enter the house through the big

door.

15 INT. LIVING ROOM -PERLMAN VILLA -DAY 15

ELIO plays the piece on the piano. OLIVER leans on the door

looking in. The music sounds very different from when he

played it on his guitar.

OLIVER:

You changed it. What did you do to

it? Is it Bach?

10.

ELIO:

I just played it the way Liszt

would have played it if he’d

jimmied around with it.

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