The main and supporting cast members of Call Me by Your Name. Tropes primarily relate to the film adaptation. Beware of spoilers!
open/close all folders
Main Characters
Elio
Elio Perlman
Played by: Timothée Chalamet
"Can't stand the silence. I need to speak to you."
17 year-old Elio is the son of a renowned professor of archaeology and spends his summers at his family's villa in the Italian countryside. A quiet, slightly introverted, though highly-intelligent young man, Elio finds himself drawn to Oliver, an American graduate student assisting his father during the summer of 1983.
- Age-Gap Romance: Oliver is 7 years his senior at 24, and therefore more mature and at ease with himself, though he is very much intrigued by Elio's age-defying intelligence — and his cute looks.
- Ambiguously Bi: Elio has a physical relationship with both Marzia and Oliver, though he lusts over and finds actual love with the latter, and is seemingly just fooling around with the former.
- Anguished Declaration of Love: He never quite manages to actually say "I love you" to Oliver (usually "I love this", or suchlike when they spend time with each other), though in the final few days that the pair spend together at Crema, at one point he breaks down in anguished sobs, crying that he doesn't want Oliver to leave.
- Belligerent Sexual Tension: When he first meets Oliver, he finds him intriguing, but also arrogant and a little rude even, which he notes to his parents. As the pair spend more time together, they engage in egg-headed banter, and have a low-key, tetchy row in the back of Professor Perlman's car when Elio becomes jealous over Oliver flirting and dancing with Chiara. It's mostly bluster, however, and used to mask both men's blossoming feelings for each other.
- Bittersweet 17: In his seventeenth year, Elio falls in love with a man 7 years his senior. Although he acts fairly mature, he is sometimes treated like a child — as seen when Mafalda argues with him about him wanting to go into town in the evenings.
- Caught with Your Pants Down: He famously masturbates with, and comes into, a de-stoned peach (often cited as a symbolism of anal sex) — something he's mortified about when Oliver discovers him, despite the former finding it erotic.Elio: I'm sick, aren't I?Oliver: I wish everyone was as sick as you.
- Coming-Out Story: What Elio's story-arc amounts to. The film doesn't establish whether he has ever explored an attraction to men before, but he falls head over heels for Oliver during the summer of 1983, and the film explores their budding relationship and unspooling admittance of mutual attraction. After some gentle prompting, he is able to come out about his love for Oliver to his father who, as he already suspected it, is encouraging and supportive.
- Cute Bookworm: Elio is an intelligent, well-read young man, and when he isn't swimming, or playing music, he usually has his nose in a book. He's also cute as a button.
- Drowning My Sorrows: In Bergamo, on the last night he and Oliver spend together before Oliver has to depart for the United States, Elio gets absolutely wasted — so much so that he vomits in the street. It's clear he does so partly to have one final big night out, but also to deaden his sense of dread over Oliver leaving by train the next day.
- First Love: Oliver is Elio's first love, and it shakes him to the core. Though Oliver has loved others before Elio, the feeling is no less mutual.
- Have I Mentioned I Am Heterosexual Today?: Gets a case of this on Oliver's behalf after he watches him dance with Chiara at the outdoor disco, noting the next day that they make a good couple and that she's "more beautiful this year". Oliver is unimpressed with his performative behaviour and tells him to mind his own business.
- Heroic BSoD: Even more devastating than having to bid Oliver farewell at the station is the moment Oliver calls Elio at the Perlman villa later that year, and reveals that as much as he misses him, he is now engaged to be married. Elio is wracked with silent devastation, and cries as he stares blankly into the dining room fire.
- Longing Look: As he begins to realise his feelings for Oliver, he spends a good amount of time analysing and admiring him from afar — of particular note is when Oliver is dancing at the outdoor disco with Chiara — and the film expertly portrays the stomach churning anxiety Elio feels as he pines for Oliver.
- Love Confession: Although he goes about it in a tentatively arch manner, Elio finally plucks up the courage to admit his feelings to Oliver on a day trip into the town of Pandino:Elio: Well, if you only knew how little I really know about the things that matter.Oliver: What "things that matter?"Elio: You know what things.Oliver: Why are you telling me this?Elio: Because I thought you should know.Oliver: Because you thought I should know?Elio: Because I wanted you to know.Elio: [to himself] Because I wanted you to know. Because I wanted you to know. Because I wanted you to know.Elio: [to Oliver] Because there's no one else I can say this to but you.Oliver: Are you saying what I think you're saying? [Elio nods]
- Love Hurts: Whilst their love is mutual, it's Elio who outwardly suffers the most when Oliver puts the brakes on their romance by announcing his engagement over a telephone call later that winter. Hearing the news, Elio is of course devastated.
- Lover and Beloved: In a smart parallel to the subject of ancient Greek archaeology that forms the basis for Oliver's visit to the Perlman villa, Elio and Oliver share this dynamic, enjoying an Age-Gap Romance that's grounded in intellectualism and improvement through their romantic partnership.
- Momma's Boy: Despite his intellectual maturity, he's still very cuddly with his mother, greeting her with an affectionate kiss and having her read to him whilst he lays cosied up in her lap.
- Omniglot: As well as speaking English, Elio seamlessly flits from fluent French to fluent Italian, and describes his family as "American-French-Italian".
- Operation: Jealousy: Elio often tries to make Oliver jealous, particularly by being in a relationship with Marzia, but Oliver reacts coldly to it and considers it childish.
- Overcome with Desire: Happens twice:
- The first time is with Marzia, and in a sexually-charged moment he pulls her into an alleyway and she can feel his excitement Right Through His Pants. The pair then remove to a nearby field, where they have sex right out in the open.
- His second time is with Oliver, and after the pair meet on the villa balcony, they creep into Oliver's room (accidently slamming a door loudly as they go) and then rip each other's clothes off with abandon. In the morning, Elio is convinced they were noisy, and notes that Mafalda always "checks" for evidence of these types of encounters.
- Perverted Sniffing: Elio sniffs the crotch of Oliver's worn shorts, even pulling them over his head and moaning with pleasure.
- Pretty Boy: A sensitive young man with Quirky Curls, a beautiful, chiselled face and large, green eyes.
- The Quiet One: Elio is softly spoken (though occasionally snarky) and quite languid, preferring to take himself off to read quietly in a favourite spot.
- Secret Relationship: With Oliver, with the secrecy derived from the fact that rural (Catholic) Italy in the early 80s would not be at all approving of same-sex relations — even if Professor and Mrs Perlman are amazingly liberal in their own views on their son's relationship.
- Sensitive Guy and Manly Man: Elio is quiet, melancholic and passive, and enjoys reading and playing piano, in contrast to his lover Oliver, who is boisterous, playful, and sporty, at one point enthusiastically joining in with a local volleyball match with gusto.
- Speed Sex: Elio is so pent up that he comes prematurely when making love to Marzia. She doesn't mind, and just giggles.
- Teen Genius: His father is an academic, and he has been raised to be exceptionally literate, able to converse on a variety of humanistic topics. He spends his free time reading books and transcribing and playing music. He also speaks at least three languages fluently; English, French and Italian.
- Their First Time: After a spat involving Elio becoming jealous over Oliver's perceived relationship with Chiara, Elio writes Oliver a note, stressing that he can't bear them fighting. Oliver leaves him a note in turn, telling him to "grow up", but also to meet him at midnight on the villa balcony. Oliver then takes Elio to bed, and after much sexual tension throughout the first two thirds of the film, they finally consummate their relationship in discretely shot, but sexually-charged scenes.
- Train-Station Goodbye: Provides the trope image. After their last big night out in Bergamo, Elio has to bid Oliver farewell at Clusone station, and is so upset after waving him off that he calls his mother to come and pick him up, his voice cracking with tears.
Oliver
Oliver
Played by: Armie Hammer
"Call me by your name and I'll call you by mine."
A handsome and endlessly charming 24 year-old American graduate student, Oliver arrives at Elio's family villa in the summer of 1983 to spend six weeks revising a postdoctoral manuscript with Elio's archaeologist father. The sleepy Italian countryside operates at a much slower pace than Oliver is used to back home, and his flirty, fun-loving personality soon beguiles everyone he meets.
- Age-Gap Romance: At 24, he’s 7 years older than 17 year-old Elio, which caused something of a Cross-Cultural Kerfluffle in countries where the age of consent is typically 18. In Italy, where the work is set, it’s 14-15.
- Ambiguously Bi: Oliver is endlessly flirtatious, and strikes up a romance with local girl Chiara soon after he arrives. It's not entirely clear whether this is a genuine attraction (we see them do no more than kiss), or more a way of dulling his budding feelings for Elio, whom he becomes increasingly attracted to, and ultimately enjoys a sexual relationship with.
- Art Imitates Art: In the early hours of the morning, following a raucous final night out in Bergamo with Elio, Oliver stands on the hotel balcony, lost deep in thought. Leaning fully naked on the railings with his curved, muscular body on full display, he evokes the forms of the ancient Greco-Italian sculptures he and Professor Perlman analysed via a slideshow of images weeks earlier.Prof Perlman: Not a straight body in these statues. They're all curved. Sometimes impossibly curved. And so nonchalant. Hence their ageless ambiguity. As if they're daring you to desire them.
- Belligerent Sexual Tension: When he first meets Elio, he finds him intriguing and attractive, but also a little bratty and immature. As the pair spend more time together, they engage in egg-headed banter, and have a low-key, tetchy row in the back of Professor Perlman's car when Elio becomes jealous over Oliver flirting and dancing with Chiara. It's mostly bluster, however, and used to mask both men's blossoming feelings for each other.
- Bruiser with a Soft Center: Outwardly, he's cool, confident, and a little cocky, enjoying his status as something of a Big Man on Campus when he arrives in Crema due to his charm and good looks. However, his budding relationship with Elio reveals a far softer side to his character, and an unexpected caution and shyness.
- But I Would Really Enjoy It: Holds off on his relationship with Elio as he doesn't want to hurt him. Despite how much they enjoy spending time together, Oliver is nervous about taking things too far, both because Elio is younger, and because Oliver is fearful about potential social prejudices. Yet despite knowing he might be bad for Elio, Oliver can’t quite seem to stay away from him either, as the pair have a chemistry that’s impossible for him to ignore.
- Catchphrase: Oliver always steps out of conversations with a casual "Later!", which he says no less than 19 times during the film. By the end of the film, Elio's parents are aware of it and say it back to him as a joke.
- The Charmer: Handsome, smart, and flirtatious, Oliver has the breezy self-assurance of someone who knows how magnetic he is to be around. Though he’s deeply intellectual, he comes across more as a sporty jock than a bookish nerd, and has the ripped, tanned physique to prove it.
- Closet Gay: Oliver is confident in his sexuality in private, but is also very cautious about his relationship with Elio at first, convinced that his parents would not approve and he'd be taking advantage. The fact that in the end he decides to marry a woman, and notes that his father would "have him institutionalised" if he found out about his feelings for men, may have something to do with his internalised homophobia.
- Closet Key: Elio may well have been attracted to men in the past, but doesn't come to terms with his attraction to them until Oliver arrives on the scene.
- Establishing Character Moment: Apparently, each year Elio's father tests the graduate students coming to his house with the same factually wrong claim about the etymology of the word "apricot". Oliver passes with flying colours, confidently correcting the professor’s deliberately false explanation and demonstrating that he's not just a pretty face.
- Gayngst: Whilst confident in himself, and open to enjoying passionate homosexual relationships in private — at one point he expresses pleasure that Elio becomes hard again so soon after they've just had sex, showing this is clearly not his first rodeo — Oliver clearly still exhibits guardedness over making them public. At the end of the summer, after enjoying a passionate romance with Elio, he reluctantly climbs back into the closet, having become engaged to a woman over the autumn.
- Hunk: He's broadly built, stands 6'5", and has an overall muscular build. He also sports glossy, honey-blond hair, classically handsome facial features, and large blue eyes.
- I Kiss Your Foot: After Elio gets a nose-bleed, Oliver gives him a secret foot massage in the villa's pantry and kisses his foot.
- Lovable Jock: The inhabitants of Crema are instantly smitten with Oliver due to his blond, filmstar good looks and charming, boisterous personality.
- Love Hurts: Whilst his love for Elio is clear and mutual, he decides to back off after their summer of romance, even becoming engaged to marry a woman. When he calls Elio to give him this news that winter, it's clear that he too is sad about it, but his own Gayngst, the social attitudes of the time period, and their geographic separation renders the relationship (for him) impossible.
- Lover and Beloved: Along with the seven-year age difference between them, Oliver's academic status makes his relationship with the teenage Elio a modern example.
- Love Revelation Epiphany: Prior to their conversation at the Piave Memorial in Pandino, it’s clear that any romantic feelings he had for Elio remained firmly unvoiced, aside from a few subtle gestures, and unlike with Elio, the viewer is up to that point less privy to his point of view or feelings. However when Elio plucks up the courage to make a Love Confession, Oliver (whilst initially a little cautious) is liberated to admit his mutual feelings and they begin to explore a romantic relationship.
- Manly Gay: Oliver doesn't exhibit any stereotypically "gay" mannerisms and is something of a boisterous, macho jock. His sexuality is only apparent in his romantic interactions with Elio, where he takes more of a dominant role, whilst Elio is more submissive.
- Mr. Fanservice: Oliver is handsome and debonair, often strutting around in only short-shorts with his shirt unbuttoned. Whilst nudity in the film is kept to an elegant minimum, Elio does manage to catch a look at his perfect ass when he's getting changed to go swimming, as well as grabbing a meaty chunk of his package when they share their first kiss.
- Nerds Are Sexy: Though he’s deeply intellectual, Oliver comes across more as a sporty social expert than a bookish nerd.
- No Full Name Given: He is only ever referred to as 'Oliver' and even the literary source neglects to reveal his surname.
- Renaissance Man: As well as being an accomplished student of ancient civilisations and philology, Oliver is also sporty, verbose, socially charming, a good dancer, and able to converse in fluent Italian.
- Secretly Gay Activity: Soon after his arrival, he subtly tries to let Elio know that he likes him by giving him a seemingly-innocent shoulder massage, but Elio fails to pick up on it. Weeks later, after they've started a full blown love affair, Oliver reveals to Elio what he was trying to signal.
- Sensitive Guy and Manly Man: Oliver is boisterous, playful, and sporty, at one point enthusiastically joining in with a local volleyball match with gusto, in contrast to his lover Elio, who is quiet, melancholic and passive, and enjoys reading and playing piano.
- Shirtless Scene: Oliver struts about with his shirt unbuttoned most of the time, and removes it on multiple occasions, revealing his toned, tanned physique.
- The Social Expert: Oliver is skilled at making those around him feel special and at ease, flinging himself into any social situation with charm and aplomb.
- Suspiciously Apropos Music: At the outdoor disco, Oliver appears to have a special appreciation for the The Psychedelic Furs’ post-punk classic "Love My Way." Lead singer Richard Butler has stated that the song was written for gay men struggling with their sexuality, which Oliver clearly is.
- Their First Time: After a spat involving Elio becoming jealous over Oliver's perceived relationship with Chiara, Elio writes Oliver a note, stressing that he can't bear them fighting. Oliver leaves him a note in turn, telling him to "grow up", but also to meet him at midnight on the villa balcony. Oliver then takes Elio to bed, and after much sexual tension throughout the first two thirds of the film, they finally consummate their relationship in discretely shot, but sexually-charged scenes.
- Title Drop: When they first go to bed, Oliver whispers to Elio "Call me by your name, and I'll call you by mine". It becomes a mutual signifier of their love thereafter and is likely in tribute to Plato's Symposium, which Oliver would be very familiar with as a student of ancient Greek; "Humans were originally created with four arms, four legs and a head with two faces. Fearing their power, Zeus split them into two separate parts, condemning them to spend their lives in search of their other halves.”
The Perlman Household
Professor Perlman
Professor Samuel Perlman
Played by: Michael Stuhlbarg
"In my place, most parents would hope the whole thing goes away. Pray their sons land on their feet, but... I am not such a parent."
Elio’s kindly father and a professor of archaeology specialising in Greco-Italian antiquity. He spends every summer at his wife’s family villa in rural Lombardy while he catalogues his research.
- Ambiguously Bi: He is well aware of Elio and Oliver's relationship, and after Oliver returns to the United States, Professor Perlman offers his son great comfort via a beautiful speech, in which he tells him to celebrate every aspect of his relationship and be thankful for it, at the same time revealing that he too could have enjoyed a same-sex romance, but was never brave enough to go through with it.Prof. Perlman: Have I spoken out of turn? Then I'll say one more thing. It'll clear the air. I may have come close, but I never had what you two have. Something always held me back or stood in the way. How you live your life is your business, just 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 to come near it. Right now, there's sorrow, pain. Don't kill it and with it the joy you've felt.
- Bourgeois Bohemian: He's a wealthy, incredibly liberally-minded intellectual who spends his summer holidays and Hanukkah at his wife's enormous inherited villa in the beautiful Italian countryside.
- Cool Old Guy: Professor Perlman is a chilled out, reasonable guy and is both socially agile and liberal in equal measure.
- A Day in the Limelight: He has a much larger role in the follow-up novel, Find Me, which begins ten years after the events of Call Me By Your Name, and prominently features his relationship with the much-younger Miranda, whom he meets by chance on a train to Rome when visiting Elio.
- Happily Married: He and Annella are clearly very much still in love and are affectionate at all times, enjoying each other's company.
- Open-Minded Parent: To an almost unbelievable and highly commendable degree for the early 80s — he actually encourages and celebrates his son's relationship with Oliver in far less enlightened times than nowadays, finding it pure and romantic.
- Shipper on Deck: He reveals to Elio that he knows about his relationship with Oliver, and tacitly encourages him to treasure the time they had together.
- The Smart Guy: He's a professor of archaeology specialising in Greco-Italian antiquity and at one point leads an exploration to dredge up a bronze statue from a lakebed.
Annella Perlman
Annella Perlman
Played by: Amira Casar
[Reading from The Heptaméron] "A handsome young knight is madly in love with a princess, and she too is in love with him, though she seems not to be entirely aware of it. Despite the friendship that blossoms between them, or perhaps because of that very friendship, the young knight finds himself so humbled and speechless that he is totally unable to bring up the subject of his love. Until one day he asks the princess point-blank: Is it better to speak or to die?"
Elio’s mother. She’s a loving wife to Samuel and runs her household with a louchly glamorous light touch.
- Bourgeois Bohemian: She's a loving, incredibly open-minded parent, never censuring her son and openly discussing his sexual relationships, despite his young age, without prejudice. An intellectual in her own right, she spends her summers at her glamorous family villa (which comes complete with loyal staff), enjoying dinner parties, political debates, reading, and relaxing.
- Hiding Your Heritage: As Elio explains to Oliver, Annella refers to their family as “Jews of discretion” and the family is not open with their faith.
- Old Money: It’s revealed that the family villa was inherited by Annella sometime prior to the events of the film, which evidences her wealthy, sophisticated background. The villa itself is well-appointed and elegantly shabby-chic.
- Omniglot: She’s an exceptional linguist, flitting easily between English, Italian and French, and is also apparently fluent in German too, as she’s seen translating an old German saga into English when she reads to Elio on a rainy, indoorsy day at the villa.
- Open-Minded Parent: Like her husband, she’s positively encouraging over her son’s relationship with Oliver, at one point reassuring Elio that Oliver likes him right back, if not more.
- Smoking Is Glamorous: A striking, well-dressed older woman, she’s rarely seen without a cigarette in hand.
Mathalda
Mathalda
Played by: Vanda Capriolo
The Perlman's housekeeper and cook.
- Anger Born of Worry: She ticks Elio off when he says he won’t be home for dinner, but only because she says it’ll make her worry.
- Kindly Housekeeper: Mathalda is a quiet but diligent woman, and runs the Perlman villa as a maid-of-all-works, cooking for the family, tidying up, and doing the laundry.
- Old Retainer: She’s in her late 50s-early 60s and from the familiar way she interacts with the family, it’s clear she’s part of the furniture.
Anchise
Anchise
Played by: Antonio Rimaldi
The Perlman's groundskeeper.
- Green Thumb: His primary role is to maintain the villa’s fabulous outdoor spaces and bountiful orchard of fruit trees.
- Old Retainer: Like Mathalda, he’s apparently been with the family for years. At one point, he brings them an enormous catfish (still alive) to enjoy for dinner.
Friends of the Family
Marzia
Marzia
Played by: Esther Garrel
"People who read are hiders. They hide who they are. People who hide don't always like who they are."
A young French girl from Paris, who spends her summers in Crema and has known Elio and his family since childhood.
- Childhood Friend Romance: She visits Lombardy every summer, meeting up with Elio, Chiara, and a crowd of other kids each time. In 1983, she makes her romantic feelings known to Elio, and the pair share a short romance.
- Girl Next Door: She’s a sweet, elegant young woman and is always kind and polite.
- "No Peeking!" Request: When she and Elio sneak off to have sex in a local meadow, she asks him to turn around while she removes her bra.
- Temporary Love Interest: Whilst Elio undoubtedly likes her, and they enjoy a fumbled fling in a meadow, as well as plenty of necking, once Elio becomes romantically involved with Oliver, he cools right off her and, in her words disappears for days, leaving her dejected. The pair make up and agree to be “friends for life” instead.
Chiara
Chiara
Played by: Victoire Du Bois
A local Italian girl and long-time friend of Elio and Marzia. She’s a little more mature than the other girls in her friendship group, and more flirtatious.
- '80s Hair: The most overt example in the film, she sports a mop of undercut curls.
- The Beard: It's left ambiguous as to whether Oliver really has feelings for her, or is just spending time with her to make Elio jealous, as well as to hide his sexuality. Either way, seeing them together compels Elio to move forward with telling Oliver that he has feelings for him.
- Fille Fatale: She's flirtier and more sexually suggestive than Marzia, who by comparison is more innocent in character, and sets her sights on Oliver soon after he arrives in town.
- Head-Turning Beauty: Elio comments on her body and notes that she's "more beautiful than last year", revealing that Chiara has had something of a glow-up since last summer.
- Temporary Love Interest: For Oliver; he dances with her and they kiss a few times, for which Elio brands him a "traitor", but their relationship is seemingly (on Oliver's part) just a very temporary flirtation.
Mounir & Isaac
Mounir & Isaac
Played by: André Aciman & Peter Spears
A middle-aged gay couple who are friends with the Perlmans and pay a visit to the villa for dinner.
- Camp Gay: Annella playfully refers to them as 'Sonny & Cher' and when they arrive at the villa for dinner, they sport flamboyant pastel pink/white suits in complementary colours.
- Creator Cameo: Mounir is played by André Aciman, the writer of the book on which the film is based, and Isaac is played by the film's producer, Peter Spears.
- Happily Married: They're a couple at a time when their sexuality would be hugely disapproved of, and yet they are proud, happy, and openly affectionate in company.
- Sharp-Dressed Man: Both of them are dressed in very spiffy tailored pink/white suits with matching pocket-squares.
Bambi & Nico
Bambi & Nico
Played by: Elena Bucci & Marco Sgrosso
A vibrant couple who are friends with the Perlmans and pay a visit to the villa for lunch, engaging them in a lively, though one-sided, political debate.
- Italians Talk with Hands: An excellent example thereof. As their debating becomes more frantic and argumentative, they're both in danger of sweeping their glasses from the table with their increasingly animated gesticulating.
- Rambunctious Italian: The pair of them engage in an animated, passionate political debate that's impenetrable even to the combined intellect of the Perlmans and Oliver, gesticulating wildly, frantically smoking, and becoming increasingly aggravated and comically intense — so much so that Oliver excuses himself from the table.Nico: So we got to the government of Bettino Craxi...Bambi: Because we don't do anything but talk, talk, talk.Nico: Let me talk! We have five parties that do nothing but fight.Bambi: Smoke and shut up! Let them speak, him, her. [pointing to Samuel and Annella]
- Shouting Free-for-All: Very quickly, their discussion gets hilariously out of hand, with the Perlmans and Oliver just sitting and observing in Stunned Silence.
