Call Me by Your Name

Call Me By Your Name 1.
FADE IN:
1 INT. ELIO’S - OLIVER’S ROOM - PERLMAN VILLA - DAY 1
The sound of an approaching car. ELIO, 17, barefoot and in

his bathing suit, is in the process of moving his clothes
from his room to the adjacent room - a wardrobe somehow
refurbished into a single bedroom.
The two rooms are separated by a ruined wooden door, with
cracks all over it. MARZIA, a girl of about his same age, is
lying on the bed. It is obvious both have been on it
together. ELIO goes to the window and looks down.
A car pulls up below, blowing up clouds of dust, and stops at
the villa’s main entrance. A young man steps out of the car,
wearing a billowy bright blue shirt with a wide-open collar,
sunglasses. This is OLIVER, 25. He is followed by the
handyman and gardener of the house ANCHISE.
ELIO
(in French)
L'usurpateur.
(The usurper)
MARZIA jumps up to come stand next to him, looking down.
ANCHISE appears below followed by the PERLMANS who introduce
themselves to Oliver. Professor PERLMAN is in his fifties,
distinguished, vigorous. ANNELLA, his wife, is in her mid-
forties.
ANNELLA
(in Italian)
Dove è Elio?
(Where’s Elio?)
ELIO
(in French)
Il faut que je descende.
(I’d better go down.)
2 INT. STAIRCASE - PERLMAN VILLA - DAY 2

At the end of the stairs ELIO sees OLIVER being walked to
Professor Perlman’s study. Oliver’s suitcase and backpack lie
on the floor nearby. ANNELLA sees Elio approaching and
gestures towards them.
ANNELLA
(in Italian)
Generated on January 21, 2022

Aiuta Oliver a portare le sue cose

in camera tua.
(Help bring Oliver’s
things up to your room.)
3 INT. PROFESSOR PERLMAN’S STUDY - PERLMAN VILLA - DAY 3

ELIO enters his father’s studio. OLIVER, sitting on the sofa,
is having a glass of fresh water. Even if exhausted by the
heat, he remains elegant and somewhat iconic. Professor
PERLMAN introduces the two formally. They shake hands.
ELIO
I’m Elio.
OLIVER
(non committal)
Hi.

They head up the stairs together; ELIO lunges for the heavy
suitcase, OLIVER takes the backpack.
ELIO
My room is now your room. I’ll be
next door.
They meet MARZIA coming down. More introductions in the
middle of the stairs. OLIVER is curious about her and looks
back as he continues up. She looks back after he does.
5 INT. OLIVER’S ROOM - PERLMAN VILLA - DAY 5
They enter Oliver’s bedroom. OLIVER drops his backpack and

crashes on the bed, exhausted. ELIO lays the suitcase next to
the bed.
ELIO
We're sharing the bathroom. It's my
only way out--
But Oliver is not listening, already asleep. Elio walks out

and closes the door that separates their two rooms.
6 EXT. GARDEN - PERLMAN VILLA - DAY 6

In front of the kitchen is a fruit orchard with a variety of
fruit trees. From outside we see inside MAFALDA at work in

charge of the domestic duties of the place, and she is

virtually a member of the family.
One of the trees is shaking. In the dappled light under the

tree we see ANCHISE reaching up into the limbs to pick the
ripest peaches. They seem to glow within their foliage as his
long, gnarled fingers seek them out. He carefully places the
fruit he has picked in a basket.
7 INT. STAIRCASE - PERLMAN VILLA - DUSK 7
Later. MAFALDA, at the bottom of the stairs, rings a bell.

She looks up the stairs and, getting no response, rings the
bell again.
8 INT. ELIO’S - OLIVER’S ROOM - BATHROOM - PERLMAN VILLA - DUSK 8

8
ELIO is at the desk in his small “new” bedroom; he is
transcribing music. Next to his desk lamp a walkman is
playing music. He hears the bell. He enters the bathroom and
the door that connects it to the other room is open. OLIVER
sleeps in the dim light of sunset.
ELIO
We’re being called to dinner.
No answer. Elio enters Oliver's room and reaches over to the
bookshelf, takes a book from it but then drops it on the
floor. It makes a sharp clatter. Oliver is briskly awoken.
ELIO
(embarrassed)
We’re being called to dinner.
Oliver looks up from his pillow scarcely knowing where he is.
OLIVER
Later. I’ll have to pass.
(beat)
Can you make my excuses to your
mother?
Elio, backing out of the door with the book, nods that he
will. Oliver looks around for a moment.
OLIVER
So, this is usually your room--
About to shut the door, ELIO nods.

OLIVER
Thanks, buddy.
Oliver turns and goes back to sleep. Elio closes the door,
leaving the room in almost complete darkness.
9 INT. STAIRCASE - BOCCHIRALE - PERLMAN VILLA - DAY 9

The following day. OLIVER is coming down the stairs. Not
knowing where to go, he listens for the Perlmans' voices
until he sees, through a corridor, the kitchen. Just beyond
it, outside in the garden, he can see the family having
breakfast.
10 EXT. GARDEN IN FRONT OF THE KITCHEN - PERLMAN VILLA - DAY 10 10

The PERLMANS are eating breakfast outside, in front of the
kitchen. OLIVER comes out and sits down, watching how ELIO
expertly cracks his soft-boiled egg shell, then attempts to
do the same, but only a tiny bit of the shell is pierced, so
he pretends to busy himself with his coffee and pushes the
egg in its cup away.
MAFALDA asks him if he would like juice. He says “Please”.
She looks down at the discarded egg.
MAFALDA
Lasca fare a me, Signore.
(Let me)
She slices the top off and returns to her kitchen.
ANNELLA
Did you recover from your trip,
caro?
OLIVER
Big time.
ELIO, who has been trying not to stare at their guest and is
concentrating on spreading honey on a piece of bread, now
lifts his head and speaks, growing unnaturally loud:
ELIO
I can show you around.
OLIVER
Good. Are we far from the town? I
need to open a bank account.
Both Professor PERLMAN and ANNELLA look up, interested.

PERLMAN
(smiling)
None of our residents has ever had a
local bank account.
Elio turns in his seat to get a better view of Oliver, who is

sitting beside him.
ELIO
Should I take him to Montodine?
PERLMAN
I’m think they’re closed for summer
vacation. Try Crema.
OLIVER
Is that your orchard?
PERLMAN
Pesca, ciliege, albicocche--
(peaches, cherries,
apricots--)
ANNELLA
Pomegranate.
MAFALDA returns with a pitcher of apricot juice on a little

tray and proceeds to fill Oliver’s glass.
OLIVER tastes it, then enthusiastically downs it.
ELIO realizes he is staring at OLIVER, his head tipped back

with his throat swallowing the juice, and notices the Star of
David on a necklace around his neck.
OLIVER smacks his lips and begins to eat his second egg,
giving it a sharp crack.
MAFALDA brings him a third egg.

ANNELLA
Have another egg.
OLIVER
(shaking his head)
I know myself. If I have three, I’ll
have a fourth, and more.
ELIO has never heard someone Oliver’s age say, I know myself.
It’s somewhat intimidating. He lowers his eyes.

PERLMAN is attempting to devise a new filing system for his

correspondence; there are packs of letters lying about and
open boxes with more letters. OLIVER is helping him, ELIO is

with them. The professor makes a joking comment like "My
guest from last year was very good at organizing. I on the
other hand--”
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, already
knowing 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. The origin of our
Italian ‘albicocca’ was ‘al-barquq’-
-
He pauses to draw breath, then continues, warming to his

subject.
PERLMAN
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, pre-
cook, to ripen early, as in
precocious, meaning premature.
The others take this in. ANNELLA is clearly charmed.
OLIVER
The Byzantines - to go on - borrowed
praecox, and it became prekokkia or
berikokki, which is finally how the
Arabs must have inherited it as al-
barquq.
There is a moment of silence. ELIO and ANNELLA look at

Perlman.
OLIVER
Courtesy Philology 101.
PERLMAN
(somewhat under his
breath)
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?
ELIO
And Easter too. We are Jewish,
English, American, Italian, French--
somewhat atypical. Besides my family
you are probably the 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
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 don't 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.
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 notepad 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 Perlman's -
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?

ELIO
I just played it the way Liszt would
have played it if he’d jimmied
around with it.
OLIVER
Just play it again, please!
ELIO begins playing the piece again. OLIVER listens, then
speaks:
OLIVER
I can’t believe you changed it
again.
ELIO
Not by much. That’s how Busoni
would've played it if he’d altered
Liszt’s version.
OLIVER
Can’t you just play the Bach the way
Bach wrote it?
ELIO
Bach never wrote it for guitar. In
fact, we’re not even sure it’s Bach
at all.
OLIVER
Forget I asked.
ELIO
Okay, okay. No need to get so worked
up.
ELIO begins to play the Bach in its original form. OLIVER,
who had turned away, comes back to the door.
ELIO says, softly, over his playing:

ELIO
It’s young Bach, he dedicated it to
his brother. He plays it
beautifully, as if sending it to
OLIVER as a gift.
16 INT. ELIO’S BEDROOM - PERLMAN VILLA - LATER 16

ELIO is writing his diary, the wind is moving the curtains.
He then puts the open diary on the bed and goes into the
shared bathroom to pee, shutting the door behind him. The

camera moves close on to the diary and we read: “--I was too
harsh when I told him I thought he hated Bach--”
The wind blows the pages of the little book, then dies down
so that we can go on reading: “What I wanted to say was that
I thought he hated me--”
17 EXT. STREETS - CARD CAFE - TOWN STREET - DAY 17
Another day. OLIVER and ELIO walk down a street; OLIVER steps
into a cafe. Some men inside are sitting at two or three
tables with playing cards. Waiters bring coffee and other
drinks to the customers, the place is lively.
NARRATOR
Taking in summer guests was Elio’s
dad and mom, The Perlmans, a way of
helping young academics revise
manuscript before publication.
Summer residents didn’t have to pay
anything, they were given the full
run of the house and could basically
do anything they pleased, provided
they spent an hour or so a day
helping Professor Perlman with his
correspondence and assorted
paperwork. Oliver manuscript was on
Heraclithus and already had found a
publisher in Italy for a translated
version. Elio’s father loved nothing
better than to have some precocious
rising expert in his field of study
helping him.
Some of the men look up and nod at OLIVER. A game is starting
at one of the tables and OLIVER is asked to join. He sits
down to play.
ELIO
How did you know about this place?
Oliver winks.
ELIO pulls up a chair and sits, spectating. The cards are
dealt.
OLIVER, accepted at once, treats his fellow PLAYERS as

equals. Despite being a ‘rich’ American ‘intellectual’, a
guest at the villa of one of the area’s richest men, he has
the ‘common touch’.
ELIO is soon forgotten by OLIVER.

Now and then he supplies a translation of something said in

Lombard dialect by one of the PLAYERS, to which OLIVER
replies, “Thanks, Buddy!”
18 EXT. MAIN ENTRANCE LAWN - PERLMAN VILLA - AFTERNOON 18

A few of ELIO’S FRIENDS play a volleyball game in a makeshift
court set up on the lawn by the main entrance of the villa.
OLIVER is playing with CHIARA, MARZIA’s slightly older

sister, and another BOY.
The three make up one side of the game, while the opposing
team is made up of THREE OTHERS we haven't met. ELIO sits on
the side with MARZIA and another friend MARIA.
All eyes are on OLIVER, the glamorous American who has
unexpectedly dropped into their midst. MARZIA and her friend
ask questions about him.
MARZIA
(in Italian)
Sicuramente è meglio di quello
dell’anno scorso, ti ricordi?
(He’s certainly a big
improvement from last
year, do you remember?)
ELIO and MARZIA laugh.
MARIA
(in Italian)
Oliver è un cowboy biondo latinista!
(Oliver is a latin blonde
scolar cowboy!)
ELIO gives MARIA a look that says “Yes”, rolling his eyes.
MARIA
(looking at Elio and
Marzia)
Bella fregatura! Un’altra estate
nella lavanderia.
(Well, that sucks for you
guys! Another summer in
the lavanderia.)
MARZIA jokingly punches MARIA’s shoulder. ELIO, bored and put

off, gets up and goes to a nearby table under the lime trees,
on it is some fresh fruit and a bottle of cold water.
He takes the bottle and goes to his friends, offering it.

OLIVER takes the bottle and drinks, then hands it back to

ELIO without thanking him.
OLIVER then puts his free arm around ELIO, gently squeezing
his thumb and forefingers into Elio’s shoulder in a friendly
hug-massage.
ELIO, taken by surprise, is spellbound for an instant,
yielding to Oliver’s hand, even leaning into it -- then he
wrenches himself away from Oliver’s grab.
Taken aback, OLIVER apologizes, asking ELIO if he’d pressed a
nerve or something: “I didn’t mean to hurt you”. Honestly not
wanting to discourage OLIVER, ELIO blurts out “I’m not hurt”.
ELIO has the face of someone trying, but failing, to smother
a grimace of pain. OLIVER goes along with this charade.
OLIVER
(back to massaging Elio’s
shoulder)
Here, let me make it better. Relax.
ELIO
But I am relaxing.
OLIVER
You’re stiff as a board. You’re made
of knots.
(to Marzia)
Come here, feel this--
MARZIA puts her hands on Elio’s back.
OLIVER presses her flattened palm hard against it.
OLIVER
Here. Feel it? He should relax more.
MARZIA
You should relax more.
MARIA
(to Oliver)
She certainly knows how to get him
to relax.
ELIO relaxes until the others lose interest and resume the
game. The two boys are playing against the sisters now.
Elio’s view of the players and of the ball in the air over
their heads is often obscured by the OLIVER's muscular back,
moving in closer from the side.

Sometimes they collide, trip, fall into a heap. The girls

shout rudely in Italian. Elio goes back to the table under
the lime trees and sits in the shade, far from the others. He
is inadvertently rubbing the spot that Oliver had massaged at
the base of his neck with his free hand.
MAFALDA and ANNELLA are setting up the table for dinner.
ANNELLA
(in Italian)
C’è Zia Marcella e annessi per cena.
Oliver si ferma con noi o esce
stasera?
(Aunt Marcella is coming
to dinner with her tribe.
Is Oliver in or out
tonight?)
ELIO
(shrugging, in French)
Je ne sais pas.
(Who knows?)
MAFALDA
Che muvi star!
19 EXT. TABLE UNDER THE LIME TREES - PERLMAN VILLA - EVENING 19

A gangly TEENAGER looks on with pretended disdain; his voice
is just changing, he has a dark fuzz, unshaven, on his upper
lip, he could be Elio three or four years earlier.
PERLMAN is amusing the boy’s sisters, TWO YOUNG NIECES, aged
about seven and nine, with a card trick. He has moved plates
and cutlery around to make space for entertaining the little
nieces.
PERLMAN
Scegli una carta. OK, ricordala
bene.
(Pick a card. OK, remember
it well.) (shuffles the
deck)
È questa?
(Is this it?)
20 INT. ELIO’S AND OLIVER’S BATHROOM - EVENING 20

Upstairs ELIO is shaving his own upper lip. He keeps
listening for sounds of the absent Oliver from his room - at
one point he could softly knock on the door, and upon hearing
nothing, look in.


Guests are gathering at the table. MAFALDA announces dinner
and removes the cards from the table, putting things back in
order. PERLMAN makes a funny face.
Two empty seats around the table. The absence of Signor
Ulliva is commented upon. MAFALDA asks ELIO, who just showed
up, whether Oliver will be joining them. “Sono le otto
passate” she says. ANNELLA appears from the living room,
followed by her guests.
ANNELLA
(in Italian)
Noi ci mettiamo a tavola.
(We’ll sit down.)
ELIO
(in Italian)
Non vi sembra ineducato come dice
“Later--”? arrogante? Mi sembra che
facciamo di tutto per farlo stare a
suo agio da noi.
(Don’t you think it’s rude
when he says “Later--”?
Arrogant? After all, it’s
just to show him a good
time here.)
PERLMAN
I don’t think so. I think Oliver is
shy. That’s what he is.
The camera stays on ELIO as he considers the possibility.
ELIO
You watch, this is how he’ll say
goodbye to us when the time comes.
With his gruff, slapdash, Later!
ANNELLA
Meanwhile, we’ll have to put up with
him for six long weeks. Won’t we?
PERLMAN
I’m telling you, he’s just shy.
You’ll grow to like him.
ELIO
Yeah, but what if I grow to hate
him?
ANNELLA
(to Elio)

Mio piccino!
(My little one!)
(to Mafalda)
Può togliere i piatti di Mr. Oliver?
(You can remove Mr.
Oliver’s place setting
away?)
This is performed instantly and without a hint of regret.
ELIO watches Oliver’s silverware, his place mat, glass,
napkin, disappear as if he had never existed.
ELIO grows thoughtful at the sudden violence of Mafalda’s

action - may even involuntarily put his own hand out to stop
her. The others take a seat.
PERLMAN picks up his napkin to perform a trick for the
children, wrapping it around his thumb.
22 INT. LIVING ROOM - PERLMAN VILLA - NIGHT 22
When everyone returns to the living room, PERLMAN asks his

son to play something he then goes in the bar.
ELIO
Non mi va.
(I don’t feel like it)
PERLMAN
Perchè non ti va?
(Why don’t you feel like
it?)
ELIO
(sharply)
Perché non mi va!
ANNELLA
(In French)
Pourquoi tu ne vas pas à Moscazzano
avec les autres?
(Why not to Moscazzano
with the others?)
ELIO
(In French)
J’en ai pas envie.
(I don’t want to.)
ANNELLA
Go see your friends. Go out. Do
something. Ne reste pas là comme une

araignée sur le mur, mon chéri!

(Don’t just be a spider on
the wall, darling!)
Spoiling everyone’s fun. A burst of laughter from the kids.
Perlman returns from the bar holding glasses.
The TEENAGE BOY pretends to be a spider and comes at his
cousin waving his arms menacingly.
ELIO gives in, and goes over to the piano. He starts playing
a lively piece.
23 INT. ELIO’S BEDROOM - PERLMAN VILLA - NIGHT 23

ELIO is on his bed, still dressed, in a restless half-sleep.
He hears a noise outside and quickly strips off his clothes,
putting on his pajama bottoms. But no one comes, there are no
sounds on the stairs or activity in the adjoining bathroom.
24 INT. ELIO’S BEDROOM - PERLMAN VILLA - DAWN 24

A ray of sunlight hits ELIO’s sleeping face. He wakes and
gets up. He goes over to the door that separates his room
from Oliver's. He grabs the doorknob and is about to knock,
but doesn't. He looks between the cracks of the door: he can
see Oliver sleeping, still in his clothes.
25 EXT. LIME TREES - PERLMAN VILLA - AFTERNOON 25

Another day. ELIO is sitting at his usual table under the
lime trees, working. From where he's sitting, Elio can see
PERLMAN and OLIVER through an open window in his father's
study. They are discussing Oliver’s manuscript on
Heraclithus. Elio tries to listen.
PERLMAN
I think your insights here are
persuasive, but--
OLIVER
Go on, I’m okay with criticism.
PERLMAN
You are? Good. I think this needs
firming up. It feels like you need
to accept the paradoxical nature of
this philosopher’s thinking, not
just explain it--

ANCHISE approaches Elio, carrying a large fish wrapped up in

a t-shirt, which he uncovers for Elio.
ELIO
Sei stato al fiume?
(You've been at the
river?)
ANCHISE
(smiling)
Si.
Anchise takes the fish towards the kitchen. Meanwhile in the
studio the conversation continues.
OLIVER
(nodding)
I’m okay with firming up - I’m okay
with paradox.
Back to the drawing board.

PERLMAN
Wait--
(ironic, re: Oliver's
shabby look)
Did you have a good time last night?
ELIO is distracted by the sudden burst of enthusiasm heard
from the kitchen over the fish Anchise caught.
26 EXT. SOUTH TERRAZZA - ABBEVERATOIO - PERLMAN VILLA - DAY 26

Later. ELIO sits with his head back on the cushion of his
chair, his eyes closed. OLIVER, far away, is sitting on the
edge of the trough, his feet in the water, reading the pages
from the manuscript he showed Perlman. He looks towards Elio.
OLIVER
(loud)
Are you sleeping?
He waves a sheet of his manuscript at him.
ELIO
(to himself)
I was.
Oliver gestures him to come closer. Elio does, slowly. He
notices Oliver is wearing a red bathing suit.
OLIVER

Just listen to this drivel: “For the

early Greeks, Heidegger contends,
this underlying hidden- ness is
constitutive of the way beings are,
not only in relation to themselves
but also to other entities
generally. In other words, they do
not construe hidden- ness merely or
primarily in terms of entities'
relation to human beings.”
Oliver looks at Elio.
OLIVER
Does this make any sense to you? Not
to me. Nor to your dad.
ELIO is pleased that Oliver has asked his opinion on the
manuscript.
ELIO
Maybe it did when you wrote it.
OLIVER, as if pretending to weigh Elio’s words carefully.
OLIVER
That’s the kindest thing anyone’s
said to me in months.
He speaks ever so earnestly, as if hit by a sudden

revelation, in a low tone. This makes ELIO feel ill at ease.
He looks away.
ELIO
Kind?
OLIVER
Yes, kind.
Silence returns. ELIO looks at OLIVER, in his red bathing

suit, lying on the edge of the trough. And OLIVER lets
himself fall in the water, to ELIO's surprise.
Still lives of Oliver's swim trunks of different colors
drying on the bedroom windowsill.
NARRATOR
Oliver had three personalities
depending on which bathing suit he
was wearing. Red: for bold, set in
his ways, gruff and ill-tempered
snappy-- dangerous. Yellow: good-
humored, funny, but not without

barbs - didn’t give in too easily.

He didn’t wear his green bathing
suit that often. It meant maybe that
he was eager to learn, eager to
speak, just eager, sunny.
27 EXT. ABBEVERATOIO - PERLMAN VILLA - AFTERNOON 27

ELIO observes OLIVER swimming in the narrow and long stone
trough. ANNELLA is close, but she's moving away with a basket
of freshly picked fruit. OLIVER comes out of the water with
his green swim trunks.
OLIVER
Elio! What are you doing?
ELIO
Reading my music.
Oliver lies down on a big towel, his belongings spread around
it.
OLIVER
No you’re not.
ELIO
Thinking, then.
OLIVER
About?
ELIO
Private.
ANNELLA, amused, listens to the conversation.
OLIVER
So you won’t tell me?
ELIO
So I won’t tell you.
OLIVER
(explaining to Annella)
So he won’t tell me. In that case
I’m going with your mom.
Putting on his espadrilles, OLIVER takes ANNELLA's basket and
follows her to the orchard, goes up to a ladder and climbs
it, stretching into the branches for the ripe fruit as ELIO
watches.

ELIO goes over to them and offers to hold the basket, which
is filling with apricots. OLIVER continues to toss down fruit
to ELIO and ANNELLA below.
DISSOLVE TO:
28 EXT. PERLMAN VILLA - AFTERNOON 28

OLIVER arrives on his bike from town, wearing the blue
bathing suit and the blue billowy shirt he had when he first
arrived. The house is quiet and deserted on a Saturday
afternoon.
29 INT. ELIO’S BEDROOM - PERLMAN VILLA - AFTERNOON 29
ELIO is on his bed wearing only a bathing suit. His right

hand is down inside his swim suit. He is tense, expectant,
alert to every sound. There are footsteps just outside his
door.
OLIVER, shirtless, enters the room from the bathroom. ELIO
quickly pulls his bathing suit higher with a jerking movement
as if caught in an embarrassing position.
OLIVER
Why aren’t you with the others at
the river?
ELIO is speechless, out of breath, says:
ELIO
I’m-- I’m-- I have-- an allergy.
OLIVER
Me too. We might have the same one.
ELIO shrugs. A beat.

OLIVER
Want to go for a swim? Just the two
of us?
ELIO
(still out of breath)
Later, maybe.
OLIVER
(extending his hand)
Let’s go now.
ELIO grabs his hand and turns on his side facing the wall,
away from OLIVER, to prevent him from seeing his confusion -

but in his movement is also a slight tugging which could have

pulled OLIVER down on the bed.
ELIO
Must we?
OLIVER straightens up, pauses again to look down, and still

grasping Elio’s hand, succeeds in pulling him upright.
OLIVER
I’m going to change. What about you?
He leaves Elio’s room. ELIO puts his hand - the one Oliver
had been holding - down inside his bathing suit, finds it
damp, pulls it out, then hits his forehead with his fist
saying: “Stupid! Stupid!” He strips off the trunks and, naked
and defiant, goes out into the bathroom while grabbing a new
pair of trunks.
30 INT. ELIO’S AND OLIVER’S BATHROOM - PERLMAN VILLA - AFTERNOON 30

ELIO, while wearing his swimsuit, gets a glimpse of OLIVER
naked in his room.
OLIVER
(calling out as he gets
into his bathing suit)
See you downstairs!
31 INT. STAIRCASE - BOCCHIRALE - PERLMAN VILLA - AFTERNOON 31

OLIVER comes down the stairs of the house followed by ELIO.
They are surprised to find CHIARA and MARZIA there. OLIVER
isn’t wearing any shirt and CHIARA makes a ball of the
billowy blue shirt he’d been wearing earlier and tosses it at
him. He puts it over the head of a bronze bust of Elio’s
grandmother.
CHIARA
Enough now. We’re going to the river
and you’re coming.
There are a number of Professor Perlman’s loose papers lying
on a chair in the bocchirale hallway. OLIVER starts gathering
them up.
OLIVER
Let me sort these papers out. Or his
father will skin me alive.
CHIARA

(in French)
En parlant de peau, approche.
(Talking about skin, come
here.)
She goes up to him and with her fingernails gently and slowly
tries to pull a sliver of peeling skin from his tanned
shoulder.
ELIO watches with envy, wishing he was the one doing that.
CHIARA
Tell his father that I crumpled his
papers. We'll see what he says then-
-
He takes the Perlman papers to the study. While he’s gone
CHIARA looks at Oliver’s manuscript lying on the chair.
CHIARA
(shouting)
I could do a better job translating
than whoever this is.
OLIVER
(returning)
Do you type good too?
CHIARA
I type good.
OLIVER
As good as you speak good?
CHIARA
Bettah. And I’d give you a bettah
price too. Stand still.
She pulls another patch of skin off his shoulder. As she’s
doing this he stands very close to her.
OLIVER
I need five pages translated per
day, to be ready for pickup every
morning.
Looking up at him.
CHIARA
Then I won’t do nu’in for you. Don’t
move.
(she extracts another
patch from his arm)
Find yuh-sef somebuddy else.

She drops the bits of peeled-off skin into a plant.
MARZIA
(in French)
Allons nous baigner.
(Let’s go swimming.)
ELIO
Yeah, come on.
He hands OLIVER his sunglasses and hands him the red edition
of Lucretius, it was lying on a table and never leaves his
side.
OLIVER
(mumbled to Elio)
Thanks, Buddy.
There is an intimacy in these actions that ELIO both enjoys
and slightly flaunts.
In return, CHIARA takes Oliver’s arm to move him through the
door, leaving the other two to follow. As he leaves, OLIVER
puts on his blue shirt.
32 EXT. RESTAURANT WITH DANCE FLOOR - NIGHT 32

A restaurant bar with an open air dancing floor. Everyone
dances. CHIARA does her sexy dancing for OLIVER, who is
enjoying himself and is a very good dancer.
The music is “Paris Latino” by Bandolero. ELIO goes back to
their table with MARZIA and one or two of the others. He
watches CHIARA and OLIVER on the little dance floor.
She moves her thighs in between his. Their moves are not the
moves of people who stop at heavy petting.
MALE FRIEND # ONE
Ma ci sta provando?
(Is he hitting on her?)
MALE FRIEND # TWO
Ha già cuccato?
(Are they doing it, then?)
ELIO
Che ne so.
(I don’t care.)
MALE FRIEND # ONE
Quanto vorrei essere nei suoi panni.

(I’d love to be in his

shoes.)
FEMALE FRIEND # ONE
(to Marzia)
Chi non vorrebbe essere nei panni di
lei, piuttosto--
(Who wouldn’t want to be
in her shoes, I say--)
ELIO watches them dancing, thinks he’d give anything to be in
her shoes. MARZIA studies the look on his face. He pretends
to like watching them dance together.
MARZIA
(to EVERYONE)
Lo vuole a tutti i costi, eh.
(She’s really after him,
that’s clear.)
The music changes, “Love my way” by Psychedelic Furs hits the
dance floor. At the sound of this song OLIVER changes his way
of dancing to a more self-obsessed style. A perfect new-wave
style.
They all watch OLIVER’s solo act with surprise and amusement.
ELIO looks at him, mesmerized, until MARZIA pulls him back on
the dance floor. There is a strange energy and exchange of
glances between them. Elio chooses not to be embarrassed and
lets loose with a sharp little solo of his own. The others
applaud. Close on Marzia amused.
33 EXT. RIVER - NIGHT 33

ELIO and MARZIA are at the river. They strip their clothes
off.
MARZIA
(in french)
Tu n'es pas avec moi parce que tu es
fâché contre Chiara?
(You’re not with me
because you’re angry with
Chiara?)
ELIO
(in french)
Pourquoi je serais fâché contre
Chiara ?
(Why should I be angry
with Chiara?)

MARZIA
(in french)
A cause de lui.
(Because of him.)
ELIO shakes his head, feigning a puzzled look meant to show

that he can’t begin to guess where she’d gotten such a
notion. They run into the river. They swim and then come
ashore.
MARZIA
(towelling herself dry
with her sweater)
Retourne-toi. Ne me regarde pas.
(Turn around. Don’t stare
at me.)
She looks the other way while he gets back into his own
clothes. When they are no longer naked he takes her hand and
kisses it on the palm, then kisses the space between her
fingers, then her mouth. She’s slow to kiss him back.
ELIO
(in french)
Retrouvons-nous ici demain soir. Je
serai là avant toi.
(Let’s meet tomorrow
night. I’ll be here before
you.)
MARZIA
(in french)
Ne le dis à personne.
(Just don’t tell anyone.)

The same night. All the lights are off. ELIO, sleeping in his
bed, is woken up by the sound of Oliver peeing in the
adjoining bathroom - the careless, uninhibited male force of
it. ELIO listens, then stands up and goes towards the door.
35 EXT. GARDEN IN FRONT OF THE KITCHEN - PERLMAN VILLA - DAY 35

The next morning. OLIVER shows off his newly acquired talent
with a soft-boiled egg, neatly shearing off the shell. He
looks a bit hung-over, with circles under his eyes.
ELIO
(in something of an antic
mood we haven’t seen
before, self-mocking)

We almost did it. Marzia and me.

PERLMAN
(from behind his paper,
and raising his eyebrows)
And why didn’t you?
ELIO
Dunno.
OLIVER
(half-comforting, half-
mocking)
Better to have tried and failed--
ELIO
All I had to do was find the courage
to reach out and touch, she would
have said yes.
OLIVER
(seemingly off-hand)
Try again later.
ANNELLA comes in and while she is seating herself, asks:
ANNELLA
Try later, what?
PROFESSOR PERLMAN and OLIVER laugh, then the Professor
changes the subject.
PERLMAN
(to OLIVER)
I just heard from the people in
Sirmione, they say they’ve come up
with something. I’m going there
today, would you like to go with me?
OLIVER
I’d like that very much.
ELIO
Can’t I come too?
PERLMAN
On condition that you remain silent.
OLIVER
(teasing)
Silent as in too many opinions on
things, or silent as in Security:
not telling anybody what fabulous
things have been dug up?

PERLMAN
Nothing is being dug up. It’s what
has been brought up - out of the
water.
OLIVER looks awed.
36 EXT. MAIN ENTRANCE - PERLMAN VILLA - DAY 36

Later. ANCHISE is wiping the windshield of the Perlmans’ car.
ELIO comes out just as CHIARA arrives on her bike. She asks
him where Oliver is.
ELIO
(in French)
On va au lac de Garde avec mon père.
Il veut montrer à Oliver l'endroit
où ils draguent.
(We’re going to Lake Garda
with dad. He wants to show
Oliver where they’re
dredging.)
CHIARA is disappointed.
CHIARA
(in French)
Dis-lui que je suis passée.
(Tell him I came by.)
ELIO
(in French)
Est à l'intérieur, il aide mon père.
Tu étais incroyable sur la piste,
hier soir.
(He’s inside helping dad.
You were great on the
dance floor last night.)
CHIARA
(in French)
Il danse très bien.
(He dances great.)
ELIO
(in French)
Est beau aussi, non?
(And he’s great looking,
isn’t he?)
CHIARA
(in French)

Tu veux jouer les entremetteurs?

(What are you trying to
do, fix us up?)
She leaves him and goes into the house. ELIO gets in the back
seat of the car and waits. Then OLIVER and CHIARA come out.
They speak for a moment, standing close.
She kisses him on the cheek, then gets on her bike and takes
off. OLIVER gets into the front seat of the car, but ELIO
tells him to sit in the back.
ELIO
Dad always sits up front with
Anchise to navigate.
OLIVER gets in the back next to ELIO. He watches CHIARA
riding away.
ELIO
She seems to like you a lot - She’s
more beautiful than she was last
year.
OLIVER doesn’t respond.
ELIO
I saw her naked on a night swim. She
has a great body.
OLIVER turns to look at ELIO, surprised.
OLIVER
Are you trying to make me like her?
While talking their bare legs briefly collide.
ELIO
What would be the harm in that?
OLIVER
No harm. Except I like to go at it
alone, if you don’t mind.
There is a long pause as PROFESSOR PERLMAN comes out and
speaks to ANCHISE.
PERLMAN
(to Anchise)
Guido io oggi, non ti preoccupare.
Non fare quella faccia Anchise!
prenditi il pomeriggio libero.

(I think I will drive

myself today.Anchise,
don’t be so upset! take
the afternoon off.)
OLIVER
Don’t play at being the good host,
just don’t.
PERLMAN gets in the front seat. As there seems to be a tense
silence behind, he turns around as the engine starts.
PERLMAN
What’s going on, boys?
Oliver, come sit up front and be my navigator. OLIVER smiles
at Elio as if to say: "See?"
37 INT/EXT. PERLMAN CAR - DAY - LATER 37
PERLMAN drives the car through the countryside, OLIVER has a

map open on his legs. Hot air blows in through all the open
windows. They are silent as the news plays on the radio,
reporting on the P2 Masonic lodge. ELIO looks outside but his
attention is drawn to Oliver’s neck.
NARRATOR
ENTRY ON THE FACTS OF THIS ITALIAN
SUMMER 1983
38 EXT. SIRMIONE - GROTTE DI CATULLO - VILLA - DAY 38

PERLMAN, OLIVER and ELIO walk through the magnificent ruins
of the roman villa overlooking Lake Garda, the Grotte di
Catullo (Caves). Perlman is explaining to Oliver that only
part of the archaeological treasures of this area has come to
light.
PERLMAN
The ship went down in 1827 on the
way to the villa of Count Lechi here
on this island.
A delegation of archaeologists is waiting for them. The
senior member rushes up to PERLMAN and greets him. They all
gather in the small beach that is dominated by the ruins.
Perlman is showed with the arm of a statue. He is very
excited.
39 EXT. SIRMIONE - GROTTE DI CATULLO - BEACH - DAY 39

A salvage operation is in progress. Some small boats surround

a floating platform. At the center of the platform is a
winch. There are scuba divers and other people all around.
PERLMAN goes in the water and walks through the shallows
towards an inflatable boat that is standing by, ready to take
him to the platform. ELIO is proud of his father and like
Oliver is excited. The professor gestures them to join him.
40 EXT. FLOATING PLATFORM - LAKE GARDA - DAY 40

PERLMAN, OLIVER, ELIO and other men are on the boat, now next
to the platform. At the center of the platform below the
cable of the winch is a large opening. A steel cable is
lowered into the water and steadied by the site workers. The
wait. Finally the cable is pulled back up - it pulls an
antique statue out of the water.
PERLMAN, edging closer, watches the operation minutely. A
bronze Boxer slowly comes up through the opening in the
platform, secured by the husky divers, and as it does a
chain-metal trap inches underneath it to prevent it from
falling back into the water if something should go wrong.
The statue, missing its left arm but otherwise intact, is of
an athlete, a boxer, naked, a kind of fingerless glove and
wrist-strap. Like the damaged arm and gloved hand, the statue
is encrusted with the lake water deposits of a century.
It is still possible to admire the beauty of the athlete’s

face, set with enamelled eyes that seem to be staring
straight out through the murky water at his rescuers. A
photographer in fins goes in for a close-up. There is great
excitement.
41 EXT. SIRMIONE - GROTTE DI CATULLO - BEACH - AFTERNOON 41

Later, back on the beach. The bronze has been dried and
cleaned. PERLMAN is speaking in Italian with the other men
and women who took part in the operation, and who are
analyzing the find.
ELIO
Dad, why are we only finding him
now?
PERLMAN
A good question. His partner -
they’re a pair - is in the Vatican.
There are four known sets, after the
Praxiteles originals. This fellow is

Number Three. The Emperor Hadrian

had a pair, dug up at Tivoli, but
one of the more philistine of the
Farnese popes melted them down and
had them recast as a particularly
voluptuous Venus that was traded to
Napoleon later on.
OLIVER
I guess they didn’t need two pairs.
PERLMAN
No--
The sun is setting, casting its last rays on the long-missing
athlete for the first time in more than a hundred years.
Armed Carabinieri assemble to guard it for the night.
PERLMAN
Who would like to go for a swim
before we head back?
42 EXT. WATER - LAKE GARDA - SUNSET 42

They swim in a little cove not far from the rig that pulled
up the bronze Boxer. It is almost dark, with a cloud streaked
sky reflected in the water. The lights on the rig go on,
including a big floodlight. The lake is surrounded by snow
capped mountains.
Treading water, PERLMAN says to ELIO and OLIVER, who are
nearby, and referring to the armed guards left on the
floating platform with the athlete:
PERLMAN
They’re all such rogues. Our boxer
could be on a plane to the Geneva
antiquities market tonight for all I
know.
They laugh. The moon is beginning to rise over the water.

The same moon shines on the water of the river where MARZIA
waits for ELIO, as promised. She looks at her wristwatch.
44 EXT. PERLMAN VILLA - MAIN ENTRANCE - NIGHT 44

The Perlman car reaches the villa and all get out. ELIO runs
around the house to get his bike and wheels it out on to the
road.
ELIO
I have to go!! The two men smile at
Elio's passionate haste.
PERLMAN
Are you going too?
OLIVER
No Prof, I have to work.
PERLMAN
How about a drink to celebrate the
day?
OLIVER
That would be great.
45 INT. OLIVER’S ROOM - PERLMAN VILLA - NIGHT 45

OLIVER is sitting at his desk in his boxer shorts only,
working; only the desk light is on. A lit cigarette between
his fingers. A radio plays some summer music at a low volume.
Oliver wraps up his corrections on a page and marks it: “to

be typed”.
46 EXT. ROAD - RIVER - NIGHT 46

ELIO is riding on his bike on the way to the river, trying to
catch his date with Marzia. When he gets there, no one is
waiting. He calls her name.
There is a soft sound, little waves lapping on the river
shore. The moon is brighter than ever and has risen
considerably.
47 EXT. GARDEN - PERLMAN VILLA - DAY 47

The following day. A thunderstorm and heavy rain dashes the
plants in the garden and pours from the roof spouts.

Inside the villa the three PERLMANS are sitting on a row on a
big couch as the lights flicker.

ANNELLA
Have you seen my Heptameron?
PERLMAN
It must be over there--
ANNELLA finds the book.
ANNELLA
This version is in German, but I’ll
translate: Ein gut aussehender
junger Ritter ist wahnsinnig
verliebt in eine Prinzessin. Sie
auch ist in ihn verliebt. “--A
handsome young knight is madly in
love with a princess. She too is in
love with him-- --obwohl es so
scheint, als sei sie sich nicht
vollig ihrer eigenen Liebe bewusst.
--though she seems not to be
entirely aware of it. Despite the
friendship-- Freundschaft-- 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. One day he asks
the princess point-blank: Ich bitte
euch ratet mir was besser ist--
reden oder sterben. ‘Is it better to
speak or die’.
The lights suddenly all go out in the house; the music from a
long-playing record dies to a stop. There is a shout in the
kitchen, MAFALDA.
ELIO
(still thinking about the
Knight and the princess)
I’d never have the courage to ask
such a question.
PERLMAN
We were your age once. The things
you feel and think only you have
felt, believe me, We’ve suffered
through all of them, and more than
once - some you never get over and
others you’re as ignorant about as
you are today.
ANNELLA
(nodding in agreement)

Make new friends if the old ones

don’t interest you but stop hanging
around the house all the time.
Books, books, books, always books,
et toutes ces partitions--
(is all those score books)
-- play more tennis, go dancing more
often with Chiara and Marzia - tu
les aimes no?
(you like them, don’t
you?)
Get to know people--
PERLMAN
Find out why others are so necessary
in life and not just foreign bodies
to be sidled up to.
They have been sitting in near darkness. The rain beats
against the window panes.
ANNELLA spreads an afghan over the knees of the three of
them, saying “It’s getting cold in here”. Just then the
lights come back on and the music resumes. She looks at her
son and runs her fingers through his hair tenderly.
ANNELLA
Fai anche pazzie se devi.
(Do crazy things if you
must.)
49 INT. LIVING ROOM - KITCHEN - PERLMAN VILLA - DAY 49

The next day. The storm has passed, leaving a coolness. ELIO
is playing the piano. He is immersed in thought, his mind is
elsewhere. He breaks off, gets up, moves from room to room
downstairs. The kitchen is empty as well. It’s the hour of
siesta. Oliver’s bike is missing.
50 INT. STAIRCASE - CORRIDOR - PERLMAN VILLA - DAY 50

ELIO goes back inside and up the stairs very quietly and
along the corridor he shares with Oliver. He approaches
Oliver’s door like a detective looking for clues.
He is about to open it when he hears the sounds of someone

coming up the back stairs; he opens the door to his own room
instead, and walks in.
51 INT. CORRIDOR - ELIO’S - OLIVER’S ROOM - SHARED BATHROOM - 51

DAY

MAFALDA appears in the corridor, holding the laundry of the

two young men. She brusquely opens Oliver’s door, puts
Oliver’s shorts, socks, handkerchiefs, maybe the blue
“billowy” shirt, on his dresser. She goes out, then knocks on
Elio’s door.
ELIO says “Avanti” and she goes in with a pile of the same
sort of clothes belonging to him. He’s lying on his bed,
pretending to read a book.
She leaves; he can hear her retreating footsteps. When she is
safely gone he stealthily goes into Oliver’s room through the
bathroom they share. He looks around Oliver’s room.
52 INT. OLIVER’S ROOM - PERLMAN VILLA - DAY 52

He goes to the little pile of laundry and examines it, sees
the folded boxer shorts (or Jockey) - passes his fingertips
over them, then goes to the closet.
Hanging on a hook is the red bathing suit. He picks it up -
it’s dry - and brings it to his face. He rubs his face inside
it, smelling it, looks inside it as if searching for
something, kisses every inch of it, licks the inside of the
supporter as if trying to find a taste of Oliver.
ELIO quickly slips out of his own bathing suit and pulls on
Oliver’s. He undoes Oliver’s bed and gets into it, putting
the pillow over his face and kissing it savagely, smelling it
again and again, searching for Oliver’s scent, then wraps his
bare legs around it.
Suddenly he hears the sound of a bicycle approaching goes to
look out the window. He can just partly see OLIVER leaving
his bike by a wall and coming in the villa. Elio removes
Oliver’s trunks and tidies up the bed, exiting the room.
53 INT. CORRIDOR 1ST FLOOR - PERLMAN VILLA - DAY 53

ELIO runs towards the window at the end of the corridor and
looks down from it. No one. Finally Oliver appears going down
the steps and moving towards the stone trough. Elio runs to
the stairs and goes down to the ground floor.
54 EXT. ABBEVERATOIO - PERLMAN VILLA - DAY - LATER 54

ELIO is sitting under the trees with his score book open.
OLIVER sits on the edge of the stone trough with his feet in
the water, he is wearing his straw hat.

ELIO
My mom’s been reading this 16th
century French romance. She read
some of it to my Dada and I the day
the lights went out.
OLIVER
About the knight who doesn’t know
whether to speak or die? You told me
already.
ELIO
Yes.
OLIVER
Well, does he or doesn’t he?
ELIO
Better to speak, she said. But she’s
on her guard. She senses a trap
somewhere.
OLIVER
So does he speak?
ELIO
No, he fudges.
OLIVER
That figures. Listen, I need to pick
up something in town.
ELIO
I’ll go, if you want me to.
Beat.
OLIVER
Let’s go together.
ELIO
Now?
OLIVER
Why, have you got anything better to
do?
ELIO
No.
OLIVER puts some pages of his manuscript into his old frayed
book bag.
OLIVER

So let’s go.
ELIO puts down his fountain pen, closes his score book, and
in doing so knocks a half-full glass of lemonade onto the
grass. It doesn’t break. OLIVER, who is close by, comes over,
picks it up, and puts it back where it was.
ELIO
You didn’t have to.
Creating a little pause before replying, for emphasis.
OLIVER
I wanted to.
55 EXT. PERLMAN VILLA - DAY 55

On the way to the shed to collect their bikes, they pass
ANCHISE, who hands OLIVER his bike with a wry smile. OLIVER
smiles back.
ANCHISE
(Mixture of Italian and
English)
I straightened the wheel. It took
some doing. I also put air in the
tires.
OLIVER Grazie. ELIO and OLIVER reach the road, where they
pause for a moment. OLIVER pulls up his shirt and pulls down
the top of his shorts to expose a big scrape and bruise on
his left hip.
OLIVER
(showing ELIO his wound)
I fell the other day on the way back
and scraped myself pretty badly.
Anchise insisted on applying me some
sort of witch’s brew. He also fixed
the bike for me.
ELIO leans over closely to see Oliver’s scrape, which is
smeared with a black unguent.
ELIO
Does he give you the creeps?
OLIVER
Who?
ELIO
That’s what my aunt says. Anchise.

OLIVER
(pulling his clothes
together and turning out
on the road)
Of course not. Just a lost soul,
really, like most of us.
56 EXT. TOWN SQUARE - DAY 56

They arrive on their bikes at the little town square. OLIVER
buys a pack of cigarettes, Gauloises. He lights one up, then
offers one to ELIO.
OLIVER
You want to try one?
ELIO nods and OLIVER cups his hands very near Elio’s face and
lights his cigarette.
OLIVER
Not bad, right?
ELIO
(drawing on it)
Not bad at all. I thought you didn’t
smoke.
OLIVER
I don’t.
(taking another drag)
They walk their bikes towards the little World War I memorial
in the center of the square which is dedicated to the youth
of the town who perished in the Battle of Piave. They pause a
moment to read the plaque.
OLIVER
World War II? Did the Allies fight
near here?
ELIO
No. This is World War I. You’d have
to be at least eighty years old to
have known any of them.
OLIVER
Is there anything you don’t know? I
never heard of the Battle of Piave.
ELIO looks at OLIVER. He hesitates, then bursts out:
ELIO

I know nothing Oliver. Nothing, just

nothing.
OLIVER
(looking at him steadily)
You know more than anyone around
here.
ELIO
If you only knew how little I know
about the things that really matter.
OLIVER
What things that matter?
ELIO looks him straight in the eye for once, summoning up his
courage:
ELIO
You know what things. By now you of
all people should know.
Silence.
OLIVER
Why are you telling me all this?
ELIO
Because I thought you should know.
OLIVER
(he repeats ELIO’s words
slowly, playing for time
as he considers them)
Because you thought I should know.
ELIO
Because I want you to know
(blurting it out)
Because there is no one else I can
say this to but you.
There is a magnificent view. A tiny bus works its way uphill,
with some bikers struggling behind it. To buy time, OLIVER
turns to look at it before replying:
OLIVER
Are you saying what I think you’re
saying?
ELIO
Yes.

Now that he’s spilled the beans at last, ELIO takes on the
laid-back, mildly exasperated air which the felon has, once
he surrendered to the police, when he confesses how he robbed
the store. OLIVER looks at ELIO for a long moment, then
gestures towards the shop front where he takes his manuscript
to be typed up.
OLIVER
Wait for me here. Don’t go away.
ELIO
(looking at OLIVER with a
confiding smile)
You know I’m not going anywhere.
Two buses stop nearby to unload their passengers - older
women arriving from adjoining villages to shop. ELIO turns to
read the names listed on the monument. OLIVER returns.
OLIVER
(frowning)
They’ve mixed up my pages and now
they have to retype the whole thing.
So I have nothing to work on this
afternoon. Which sets me back a
whole day. Damn!
ELIO looks as if it has been his fault the typist made a
mistake.
ELIO
I wish I hadn’t spoken.
OLIVER
I’m going to pretend you never did.
ELIO
(unfazed)
Does this mean we’re on speaking
terms - but not really?
OLIVER thinks about this.

OLIVER
Look, we can’t talk about such
things, we really can’t.
He slings his bag with its papers around him and the two are
off down hill.
57 EXT. COUNTRY ROAD - SPRINGS - FONTANILI GAVERINE - DAY 57

Now that ELIO has laid his cards on the table, the scenery
and the fine weather buoy his spirits. They ride together on
the empty country road that at this time of day is all for
them.
The sun pounds exposed patches along the way, exposing the
undergrowth. Thirsty they stop by a factory. They look for
water and in the factory Oliver is surprised to see a
Mussolini picture hanging on a wall. They laugh. Later, at
another crossroad.
ELIO
Follow me. I’ll show you a spot
visitors have never seen. That is,
if you have time.
ELIO turns off into a little path towards some spring water
ponds surrounded by willow trees. ELIO leans his bike against
one of them, followed by OLIVER.
ELIO
This is my spot. All mine. I come
here to read. I can’t begin to tell
you the number of books I’ve read
here.
Oliver puts his hands in the water.
OLIVER
It's freezing cold!
ELIO
The spring is in the mountains, the
Alpi Orobie. The water comes
straight down from there.
Oliver freshens up his face with this water.
OLIVER
Do you like being alone?
ELIO
No one likes being alone. But I’ve
learned how to live with it.
OLIVER
Are you always so wise? So very
wise?
ELIO
I’m not wise at all. I told you, I
know nothing. I know books, and I
know how to string words together -
it doesn’t mean I know how to speak

about the things - about the things

that matter most to me.
OLIVER
But you’re doing it now - in a way.
ELIO
Yes, in a way - that’s how I always
say things: in a way.
Staring out at the view so as not to look at him, ELIO sits
down on the grass. OLIVER crouches a few yards away from ELIO
on the tips of his toes, as if at any moment he might spring
to his feet and go back to the bicycles.
ELIO
I come here to escape the known
world.
OLIVER
I like the way you say things. Why
are you always putting yourself
down?
ELIO
(shrugging)
I don’t know. So you won’t, I
suppose.
OLIVER
Are you so scared of what others
think? Or what I think?
ELIO shakes his head. OLIVER waits for ELIO to say something.
He stares at him.
In the silence of the moment, ELIO stares back. It is the

first time ELIO has dared to stare back at OLIVER openly.
Before this moment he has always cast a glance, then looked
away from Oliver’s steely gaze. It is as if, finally, ELIO is
saying to Oliver: This is who I am, this is who you are, this
is what I want. He stares back with an I-dare-you-to-kiss-me
gaze.
OLIVER
You’re making things very difficult
for me.
ELIO doesn’t back down. Neither does OLIVER.
ELIO
Why am I making things difficult?

OLIVER
Because it would be very wrong.
ELIO
Would?
OLIVER sits down on the grass, then lies down on his back,
his arms under his head, staring at the sky.
OLIVER
Yes, would. I’m not going to pretend
this hasn’t crossed my mind.
ELIO
I’d be the last to know.
OLIVER
Well, it has. There! What did you
think was going on?
ELIO
Going on? Nothing-- nothing.
After a long silence:
OLIVER
I see. You’ve got it wrong, my
friend - if it makes you feel
better, I have to hold back. It’s
time you learned to do that too.
Each leaning on one arm, both stare out at the view.
OLIVER
You’re the luckiest kid in the
world.
ELIO
(in something of a mocking
tone)
You don’t know the half of it.
OLIVER thinks about this. Then ELIO blurts out:
ELIO
So much of it is wrong.
OLIVER
What? Your family?
ELIO
That too.
OLIVER

Us, you mean?

ELIO doesn’t reply. OLIVER moves up close to him. Very close.
He stares right in Elio’s face, as though he likes Elio’s
face and wants to study it, linger on it.
OLIVER touches Elio’s lower lip with his finger, lets it
travel left and right, then right and left again. OLIVER
smiles at ELIO as he lies there, and that very smile fills
ELIO with a kind of apprehension about what will happen next.
What happens next is that OLIVER brings his lips to Elio’s
mouth in a warm I’ll-meet-you-halfway-but-no-further kiss, a
conciliatory kiss. ELIO’s return kiss is so famished he loses
himself in it.
OLIVER
(afterwards)
Better now?
ELIO doesn’t answer. He kisses OLIVER again, lifting his
face, as if to discover more, know more. Even with their
faces touching, their bodies are angles apart. ELIO lifts one
knee as if to face OLIVER.
OLIVER
I think we should go.
ELIO
Not yet.
OLIVER
We can’t do this - I know myself. So
far we’ve behaved. We’ve been good.
Neither of us has done anything to
feel ashamed of. Let’s keep it that
way. I want to be good.
ELIO
Don’t be. I don’t care. Who is to
know?
ELIO reaches for OLIVER in a quick, desperate move, lets his
hand rest on Oliver’s crotch. OLIVER doesn’t move. With total
composure, in a gesture that is both gentle and commanding,
he brings his own hand there, letting it rest on Elio’s for a
second. He twines his fingers into Elio’s, then lifts his
hand. A moment of silence.
ELIO
(suddenly abashed by his
own action)
Did I offend you?

OLIVER
Just don’t.
He gives Elio his hand and helps him stand up. He pulls up
his shirt to examine the scrape.
OLIVER
I should make sure it doesn’t get
infected.
ELIO
We can stop by the pharmacist on the
way back.
58 EXT. ROAD - DAY 58

They glide down the slope on their bikes, with wind in their
hair.
ELIO
We’ll never speak again, you know--
OLIVER
Don’t say that.
ELIO
I just know it. We’ll chit-chat,
chit-chat, chit-chat. And the funny
thing is, I can live with that.
OLIVER
You just rhymed.

Lunch. A middle-aged ART HISTORIAN COUPLE have been invited
to lunch. The man is pompous, his wife no less so, dropping
Italian expressions constantly into her conversation.
Both are English. ELIO and OLIVER can hardly keep from
laughing. PERLMAN shoots his son a warning glance.
Before dessert, as MAFALDA is clearing away the plates, and

as the others are preoccupied with a conversation about
Antonello da Messina, ELIO feels a warm, barefoot casually
brush his.
ELIO, thrilled, waits a few moments before withdrawing his
foot, so as not to give Oliver the impression he is recoiling
in panic. ELIO’s foot, after a few seconds, begins to seek
the other out. His toe suddenly bumps Oliver’s foot, which

had not moved away. Without warning, Oliver’s foot at once

moves onto Elio’s.
Softly, gently, it begins a caressing motion, never holding
still, but rubbing the arch of Elio’s foot with the smooth
round ball of Oliver’s heel, holding Elio’s foot in place.
The caresses are sometimes tied to the lady art historian’s
more ludicrous comments in Italian, Oliver’s way of
commenting on the pair. But it also is telling Elio that this
is strictly between the two of them, and is a return to the
intimacy of their secret kisses on the grass.
We see the stealthy foot-play. For Oliver it is all fun and
games, punctuating the conversation. ELIO becomes giddy as
MAFALDA serves him ice-cream. As he begins to eat, it notices
red spots appearing on the dessert. It’s coming from above
his head. He realizes that it is streaming from his nose,
that he is having a nosebleed.
ELIO
(covering his nose with
his napkin)
Ghiaccio, ice, Mafalda, per favore,
presto!
OLIVER, astounded, leaps up and hands him his napkin. ELIO
tries to be calm, explains to everyone how "It happens all
the time”. Holding the napkin to his nose to stanch the
stream of blood falling into his dessert, he rises and
leaves.
60 INT. KITCHEN - PERLMAN VILLA - DAY 60

ELIO is in the kitchen looking for ice to stop his nose
bleeding, but the freezer is empty.
61 INT. BAR - PERLMAN VILLA - DAY 61

Later. In a very tight and confined space beside the living
room is the Perlman bar. ELIO is sitting on the floor, his
head tilted back, and is holding a napkin full of ice - now a
mixture of blood and water - on his nose. Beside him is an
ice bucket.
OLIVER
Elio! Where are you?
OLIVER is the bocchirale hallway, looking for him. Elio waves
from the bar. Oliver goes over to him. ELIO smiles ruefully.
OLIVER

Was it my fault?
ELIO
I’m a mess, aren’t I?
OLIVER
I guess. The ancients said it never
hurts to be bled from time to time.
ELIO
Sit for a second.
ELIO shifts a little to make room. The place is very tight,
his bare feet touch Oliver's ankles for a moment.
OLIVER takes Elio's feet in his hands and begins massaging
them, pulling on his toes until they crack. ELIO cries out in
mingled pleasure and pain.
ELIO
Where did you learn to do that?
OLIVER
My Jewish grandmother. She did it
all the time to us.
Elio looks again at Oliver’s necklace with the Star of David
on his chest.
ELIO
I have one of those.
OLIVER
You don’t ever wear it?
ELIO
My mother says we are Jews of
discretion.
OLIVER
I guess that fits your mom--
ELIO
You’re going to kill me, you know
that? Ouch!
OLIVER
(giving a final tug to one
of Elio’s big toes, and
getting up)
I hope not.
OLIVER
Are you going to be okay?

ELIO
I’ll get over it.
OLIVER
Come on, stand up. Lie on the couch,
rest a little. I’ll stick around.
Oliver helps Elio up.
62 INT. BOCCHIRALE - PERLMAN VILLA - DAY 62

In the bocchirale OLIVER meets the sisters MARZIA and CHIARA.
They’re giggling.
CHIARA
How is he? Will he live?
OLIVER
I think so. He gave me a scare.
Bleeding all over the dining table.
CHIARA
Really? I’ll be back in a minute.
Don’t go anywhere.
The girls burst into the living room where Elio is lying on
the couch. CHIARA sits at the foot of it, MARZIA stands
peering down at ELIO. He looks up at her a bit sheepishly.
CHIARA takes a cigarette out of a pack and lights it. She
takes a drag on it, then holds it out close to the sole of
Elio’s bare foot. He pulls it up fast.
CHIARA
(in French)
Ça t'a fait mal ? Pourtant, tu as
des pieds de paysan qui ne sentent
rien. Paysan!
(You felt that? You have
peasant feet. They don’t
feel things. Peasant!)
MARZIA
(in French)
Laisse-le tranquille!
(Leave him alone!)
Marzia caresses his hair softly.

CHIARA
(in French)
Doucement. Tu vas encore le faire
saigner.
(Easy. You’ll make him
bleed again.)
She holds out her pack of cigarettes to him and he takes one.
She lights it for him and he smokes it.
CHIARA looks at him coolly, as if looking at a rival.
CHIARA
(in French)
Alors-- On sort ou pas?
(So-- are we going
somewhere?)
ELIO
(in french)
Peut-être. Mais si on sort, il ne
faut pas que ma mère me voie, elle
s'inquiéterait regardant autour. De
lui est Oliver?
(Maybe. But if I go out my
mother can't see me.
She'll get worried.)
(looking around)
Where’s Oliver?
CHIARA
(in french)
Est-ce que j’en sais?
(How would I know?)
64 EXT. RIVER - AFTERNOON 64

ELIO walks into the fresh water and swims. Down the river is
a group of his FRIENDS playing on the grass, Oliver isn’t
there. Elio is not unhappy. There is a rippling shaft of
sunlight on the water directly towards him. He swims into it.
65 INT. KITCHEN - PATIO - PERLMAN VILLA - LATER 65

ELIO makes himself a smoothie in Mafalda’s kitchen, cutting
up a peach, a banana, then a pear, dates. Mafalda wants to do
it for him and tries to take the knife away. To her, a
smoothie is a foreign concoction.
MAFALDA
Faccio io.

(Let me)
ELIO
No, no, faccio da solo.
(No, I’m doing it by
myself)
He puts the cut-up fruit into a blender. While the blender
makes the smoothie he glances from the window out in the
garden at ANNELLA sitting on the bench overlooking the south
garden.
She is working on a manuscript. He takes the smoothie out
into the garden, it is the last hour of the sun in the waning
day. He drinks the smoothie, feeling rested. He calls to his
mother.
ELIO
Est-ce qu’Oliver est là?
(Is Oliver around?)
ANNELLA
est il pas sorti?
(Didn’t he go out?)
MAFALDA exits from the kitchen. While ELIO goes to sit with
his mother.
MAFALDA
Signora vuole un frullato pure lei?
(Madame do you want a
smoothie too?)
ANNELLA
No grazie Mafalda, ceniamo tra poco.
(No, thanks Mafalda, we’re
going to dinner)
ELIO
Io esco stasera, non ceno
(I’m going out this
evening, I won’t have
dinner)
MAFALDA
Ma dove vai a quest’ora? Mi fai
preoccupare.
(But where at this hour? I
worry.)
ELIO
Ma di che?
(About what?)

MAFALDA
Secondo me non va bene. Signora--
(I’d advise against it)
ANNELLA
(Smiling)
Lasciamolo fare.
(Let’s leave him)
MAFALDA enters the kitchen.
ANNELLA
Est-ce pas,Oliver?
(You like him, don’t you?
Oliver?)
ELIO
Tout le monde aime Oliver.
(Everyone likes Oliver.)
ANNELLA
Il t’aime bien aussi - plus que toi,
je pense.
(He likes you too - more
than you do, I think.)
ELIO
Est ton impression?
(Is that your impression?)
ANNELLA
Est celle d’Oliver.
(No, it was Oliver’s.)
ELIO
Quand t’a-t-il dit cela?
(When did he tell you
that?)
ANNELLA
Il y a un moment.
(A while ago.)
ANNELLA caresses ELIO’s hair. He abruptly stands up. Then
sits down again.
66 EXT. SOUTH TERRAZZA - PERLMAN VILLA - EVENING 66

After dinner. ELIO is in the terrazza, waiting for Oliver to
return. He tries to read a book but he cannot concentrate.(We
notice that he is now wearing his Star of David.)


Late night. ELIO is sitting at his desk, wide awake. He has
left the bathroom door intentionally ajar, hoping that the
light from the foyer might stream in just enough to reveal
his body.
As ELIO hears OLIVER step onto the landing in the hall, he
jumps back in his bed pretending to be asleep. OLIVER walks
past Elio’s room without stopping, without even a hesitation,
and goes into his own room and shuts the door.
A few moments later ELIO hears Oliver open the door from his
bedroom into their common bathroom. Then he hears the door
into his own room from the bathroom click shut, as if being
locked. ELIO sits up in bed.
ELIO
(to himself, under his
breath)
Traitor. Traitor!!

The next day. ELIO is the last to arrive. He pretends to
ignore OLIVER, who is cracking open the top of his soft-
boiled egg. ANNELLA looks at OLIVER in a worried way:
ANNELLA
Guarda un po’ quanto sei pallido.
(How gaunt you look!)
PERLMAN looks up from his paper.
PERLMAN
I pray to God you made a killing
last night, otherwise I’ll have to
answer to your father.
OLIVER
(speaking down into the
messy egg-cracking
business)
I never lose, Pro.
PERLMAN
Does your father approve?
OLIVER
I pay my own way. I’ve paid my way
since high school. My father
couldn’t possibly disapprove.

PERLMAN
Did you have a lot to drink last
night?
OLIVER
(buttering his bread)
That - and other things.
PERLMAN
I don’t think I want to know.
OLIVER
Neither does my father. And to be
perfectly frank, I don’t think I
care to remember myself.
ELIO looks up at this.
PERLMAN
Do you save your winnings?
OLIVER
Save and invest, Pro.
PERLMAN
I wish I’d had your head at your
age; I would have spared myself many
mistaken turns.
OLIVER
Mistaken turns? I can’t picture you
even imagining a mistaken turn.
PERLMAN
That’s because you see me as a
figure, not a human being. Worse
yet: as an old figure. But there
were. Mistaken turns, that is.
Everyone goes through a period of
traviamento - when we take, say, a
different turn in life, the other
via. Dante himself did. Some
recover, some pretend to recover,
some never come back, some chicken
out before ever starting, and some,
for fear of taking any turns, find
themselves leading the wrong life
all life long.
Both young men listen. At the end OLIVER proceeds to crack
another egg. He has big bags under his eyes. He does look
gaunt.
OLIVER

Sometimes the traviamento turns out

to be the right way, Pro. Or as good
a way as any. I know myself.
PERLMAN
(lighting a cigarette, and
nodding)
At your age I knew nothing. But
today everyone knows everything, and
everyone talks, talks, talks.
ANNELLA
Perhaps what Oliver needs is sleep,
sleep, sleep.
OLIVER
Tonight, I promise, Signora P., No
poker, no drinking. I’ll put on
clean clothes, go over my
manuscript, and after dinner we’ll
all watch TV and play canasta, like
old folks in Little Italy.
ANNELLA sighs melodiously, relieved that Perlman’s words have
convinced him to stay home and rest.
She offers Oliver more coffee, tells her seventeen year old
son not to slouch in his chair. MAFALDA brings in some
apricot juice in a chilled silver pitcher.
69 EXT. MAIN ENTRANCE LAWN - PERLMAN VILLA - DAY 69

OLIVER is doing some work for Perlman, specify. He seems hard
at work and does not look up as ELIO approaches. ELIO doesn’t
know how to break the silence. Then he sees and kicks the
volleyball lying under the nearby lime trees. The ball hits
Oliver “waking him up” from his work.
ELIO
(despite himself, sounding
peevish)
I waited for you last night.
Oliver throws back the ball at him.
OLIVER
Why didn’t you come into town?
Elio stops the ball.
ELIO
Dunno.

OLIVER
We had a nice time. You would have
too. Did you rest at least? Mafalda
said you went swimming.
ELIO
I was okay. Restless, I guess.
OLIVER goes back to staring at the page he is writing and
mouthing the syllables. Elio kicks the ball again.
ELIO
Are you headed into town this
morning?
OLIVER
Later, maybe.
ELIO
I was going to head into town
myself.
OLIVER
Ummmm. I see.
ELIO
A book I ordered finally arrived.
70 INT. PERLMAN STUDIO - PERLMAN VILLA - DAY 70

From inside his studio PERLMAN watches the two boys talking
on the lawn.
71 EXT. MAIN ENTRANCE LAWN - PERLMAN VILLA - DAY - CONTINUES 71

The conversation continues.
OLIVER
I’ll pick it up for you if you want.
ELIO
It was just that I was hoping we’d
go together.
OLIVER
You mean like the other day?
ELIO
I don’t think we’ll ever do anything
like that again. But yes, like that.
(beat)

That day belongs to a different time

warp. We should leave sleeping dogs
-
OLIVER listens, now looking at Elio straight in the face.
OLIVER
That voice of wisdom is your most
winning trait. Do you like me that
much, Elio?
ELIO
Do I like you? Do I like you,
Oliver? I worship you.
OLIVER’s face softens. He is touched by Elio’s forthright and
brave avowal.
OLIVER
I’ll go with you but - no speeches.
ELIO
No speeches, not a word.
OLIVER
(gathering his things)
What do you say we grab our bikes in
half an hour?
72 EXT. SPRINGS - FONTANILI GAVERINE - DAY 72

The vital, pure, and joyful sight of a fresh water spring,
the unstoppable stream gushing out from earth.
NARRATOR (V.O.)
Two young men travelling by bike,
riding into town and back-- They
swam, played volleyball, ate, drank,
and late at night ran into each
other on the very same piazzetta
where two mornings before so much -
but actually nothing - was said
between them. Oliver was with a
girl, Elio also was with a girl. If
he hadn't messed things up with his
dramatics, Elio could have enjoyed
this for its own sake. Every day
they could have ridden into town and
back, and even if that was all
Oliver was willing to give Elio, he
would have taken it.

73 EXT. STREETS OF CREMA - DAY 73

ELIO and OLIVER walk their bikes along the streets of Crema.
ELIO stops and gives a book to OLIVER, who opens it and reads
what he has written.
OLIVER
Zwischen Immer und Nie--
(For you in silence,
somewhere in Italy in the
mid-eighties.)
This is the best present I’ve
received all year.
ELIO
I’m glad then. I just wanted to--
(lightly)
I know - no speeches. Ever.
74 EXT. COUNTRY ROAD - FONTANILI GAVERINE - DAY 74

On the return ride, ELIO ignores the turn to “his place”, i
Fontanili. OLIVER, on the other hand, recognizes it, and as
he passes sees the pathway disappearing into the trees.
Oliver’s POV of the path.
75 EXT. SOUTH TERRAZZA - PERLMAN VILLA - SUNSET 75

The PERLMANS are sitting having a drink at sundown. They are
joined by OLIVER, his hair glistening and slicked back after
his late afternoon shower. He makes himself a light drink and
eases back into his chair with a sigh of content. His ‘star’
look beams all over his features.
ANNELLA
Our muvi star--
OLIVER
I’ll miss all this, Mrs. P.
ANNELLA
And we will certainly miss you.
PERLMAN
You must think of this place as your
second home - or third, or fourth,
whatever. But the welcome mat will
definitely be out
(to ELIO, who has just
strolled in.)

Isn’t that true?

ELIO
(cautiously)
Any time--
ANNELLA
Ennnnnni taaim--
PERLMAN
How is the work going?
OLIVER
It’s going.
PERLMAN
Planning to go into town tonight?
OLIVER
Not tonight. Maybe tomorrow.
PERLMAN
No poker either?
OLIVER smiles and shakes his head.
76 INT. KITCHEN - PERLMAN VILLA - NIGHT 76

Later, after dinner. MAFALDA is cleaning up the kitchen.
ELIO, restless, comes in and goes to the fridge, scoops up
some ice cream into a bowl, and goes outside, eating as he
walks.
77 EXT. GARDEN - PERLMAN VILLA - NIGHT 77

ELIO stands in the garden with the bowl of ice cream and
looks up at Oliver’s window. There is a faint glow, like that
of a desk lamp. A red bathing suit is drying. From inside we
hear the sound of the Perlmans’ television.
78 INT. LIVING ROOM - PERLMAN VILLA - NIGHT 78

ELIO, restless, uncharacteristically idle, sits down with his
parents to watch tv. The news on tv talk about the first
socialist government presently taking power in Italy, under
the guide of Bettino Craxi. ELIO half watches. He lights a
cigarette.
ANNELLA
(engrossed)

Not in here!
ELIO gets up and goes into his father’s study, to his desk,
at the telephone. He dials Marzia’s number and she answers.
MARZIA (VOICE)
(in French, there is a
flatness of tone)
Tu es encore malade?
(Are you still sick?)
ELIO
(in French)
C'était rien. Tu veux sortir ? Je
peux passer te prendre en vélo, on
peut aller--
(It was nothing. Do you
want to go out? I can come
on my bike and pick you
up. We can go to--)
MARZIA
(in French)
OK, je viens.
(Yeah. I’ll come.)
79 EXT. STREETS - CREMA - NIGHT 79

Elio and Marzia are wheeling their bikes through the town
streets. Elio sees a bookstand and asks Marzia to hold his
bicycle. We stay with Marzia who sees Elio feverishly browse
through the stand.
He finds something he likes and buys it. Returns to her and
gives her the book. On impulse, ELIO kisses MARZIA behind the
ear. She seems to freeze. He kisses her again and whispers:
ELIO
Ca t’a dérangé?
(Did it bother you?)
MARZIA
(whispering back, in
French)
Bien sûr que non.
(Of course not.)
80 EXT. STREETS - PIAZZA PREMOLI - CREMA - NIGHT 80

Outside in the street. They converse as they walk in French.
MARZIA

Pourquoi tu m’as acheté ce livre?

(Why did you buy me this
book?)
ELIO
Parce que j'en avais envie.
(Because I felt like it.)
MARZIA
Oui, mais pourquoi tu l'as acheté
pour moi? Pourquoi m'acheter un
livre à moi?
(Yes but why did you buy
it for me? Why buy me a
book?)
ELIO
Je comprends pas ta question.
(I don’t understand what
you’re asking.)
MARZIA
N’importe qui comprendrait pourquoi
et toi tu ne comprends pas!
(An idiot would understand
why I’m asking but you
don’t.)
ELIO
Je te suis toujours pas.
(I still don’t follow.)
MARZIA
Tu es désespérant.
(You’re hopeless.)
ELIO
Si tu ne me le dis pas, je vais
imaginer des choses--
(If you don’t tell me,
I’ll imagine all sort of
things--)
MARZIA
Sei un coglione. Tu n'es qu'un
crétin. Donne-moi une cigarette.
(Give me a cigarette.)
They are walking very slowly, wheeling their bikes. There are
frequent bursts of sound from behind shuttered windows: TVs,
family arguments, music.
MARZIA

Tu lis vraiment autant que ça ? Je

veux direi: moi aussi, j'aime lire,
mais je ne le dis à personne.
(Do you really read that
much? Don’t get me wrong.
I like to read, too. But I
don’t tell anyone.)
ELIO
Pourquoi tu ne le dis pas?
(Why don’t you tell
anyone?)
MARZIA
Je ne sais pas-- Les gens qui lisent
sont cachottiers. Ils cachent ce
qu'ils sont vraiment. Les gens qui
cachent n'aiment pas toujours ce
qu'ils sont.
(I don’t know-- People who
read are hiders. They hide
who they are. People who
hide don’t always like who
they are.)
They wheel their bikes in the direction of Piazza Premoli, a
beautiful town square dominated by a marvellous 18th century
palazzo.
ELIO
Tu caches qui tu es vraiment?
(Do you hide who you are?)
MARZIA
Parfois. Pas toi?
(Sometimes. Don’t you?)
ELIO
Si, sûrement. Tu le fais avec moi
aussi?
(I suppose. Do you hide
from me?)
MARZIA
Non, pas avec toi. Ou si, peut-être,
un petit peu.
(No, not from you. Or
maybe, yes, a bit.)
ELIO
Comment ça?
(Like what?)
MARZIA

Tu sais très bien ce que je veux

dire.
(You know exactly like
what.)
ELIO
Pourquoi tu dis ça?
(Why do you say that?)
MARZIA
Pourquoi? Parce que je pense que tu
peux me faire souffrir et que je ne
veux pas souffrir.
(Why? Because I think you
can hurt me and I don’t
want to be hurt.)
She thinks for a moment.
MARZIA
Pas parce que tu cherches à blesser,
mais parce que tu changes toujours
d'avis, alors, on ne sait donc
jamais à quoi s'en tenir. Tu
m'effraies.
(Not that you mean to hurt
anyone, but because you’re
always changing your mind,
so no one knows where to
find you. You scare me.)
ELIO leans over in one of their pauses and kisses MARZIA
lightly on the lips. She stops by the gate of Palazzo
Premoli.
MARZIA
Tu m'embrasses encore?
(Kiss me again?)
Once they are close, he holds her face with both hands and
leans into her as they begin to kiss, his hand going up under
her shirt, hers goes in his hair. They enter the Palazzo
courtyard and enter a dimly lit corner.
Her hips respond to his, without inhibition. There is nothing
between their bodies but their clothes. She slips a hand
between them and down into his trousers.
MARZIA
(in a surprised tone)
Comme tu es dur!
(You’re so hard.)

He tries to speak, tells her “You’re making me harder” - but

she cuts him off.
MARZIA
Embrasse-moi encore.
(Kiss me again.)
He does so.
MARZIA
Ma tu mi vuoi veramente bene? Tu
tiens vraiment à moi?
(Do you really care for
me?)
She is frank, human, vulnerable, eager to confide. She keeps
her hand down in his pants as they kiss more passionately,
and his hands stray all over her body.

A deserted spot on the river, later. MARZIA and ELIO make
love on the grass. He pulls out just in time and ejaculates
on her belly. They burst out laughing.
ELIO
Je suis désolé! Je suis désolé!
(I’m sorry! I’m sorry--)
82 INT. ELIO’S BEDROOM - PERLMAN VILLA - DAWN 82
Later. It is now dawn. ELIO is in his room sitting naked at

his desk. His small lamp is on. He takes up a school notebook
and tears out a page. He begins writing the note to Oliver:
Please don’t avoid me. He crumples that up. Please don’t
avoid me. It kills me. He crumples that up too, and writes:
Your silence is killing me. He says to himself, out loud,
ELIO way over the top.
He writes: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.

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
Insommia.
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.
84 INT. ELIO’S BEDROOM - PERLMAN VILLA - DAY 84

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.

OLIVER and PROFESSOR PERLMAN project images of classical
athletes in his study. On the screen is a close-up detail of
a 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 never a straight
body in these statues, they are all
curves, sometimes impossibly curved
and so nonchalant, hence their
ageless ambiguity. As if they’re
daring you to desire them.
OLIVER, not unmoved by these images, grins, pats his own
belly and sucks in.
86 EXT. TABLE UNDER THE LIME TREES - PERLMAN VILLA - DAY 86

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.
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

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.
87 INT. KITCHEN - PERLMAN VILLA - DAY 87
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.)

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.
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.)
89 INT. KITCHEN - PERLMAN VILLA - AFTERNOON 89

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.
90 INT. STAIRCASE - 1ST FLOOR 90

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.
91 INT. SMALL SPIRAL STAIRCASE - PERLMAN VILLA - DAY 91

A small and narrow spiral staircase. ELIO jogs up the steps
with MARZIA.
92 INT. ATTIC - PERLMAN VILLA - AFTERNOON 92

ELIO and MARZIA enter the attic, it is filled with old
furniture, books, and other unused stuff.
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.

93 EXT. PERLMAN VILLA - LATE AFTERNOON 93

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.
94 INT. ELIO’S BEDROOM - PERLMAN VILLA - EVENING 94

ELIO finds his father in his room going through all his son’s
shirts hanging in the closet in order to pick out the
unwanted 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--
ELIO
Mom called them that.
PERLMAN
--and then accept gifts from them.
Is it because they’re gay or because
they’re ridiculous? Is that it? I
hope not. And if you know as much
about economics when you’re Zafar’s
age you’ll be a very wise man indeed
and a credit to me. Now get into
this.
The shirt isn’t so bad: a loose Hawaiian one with big white
flowers on a black background. ELIO changes into it.

ELIO bounds into the living room, where PERLMAN is serving

LAUREL and HARDY champagne, making something of an entrance.
They rise and salute him with their glasses, exclaiming and
exchanging delighted glances as their host’s beautiful son
descends in their midst wearing the shirt they had given him.
PERLMAN and ANNELLA look at ELIO for a moment, as if seeing
him anew, then pour out a glass of champagne for him. On the
table in front of them are a number of big black and white
photographs of the bronze Boxer being pulled up out of the
water.
96 INT. LIVING ROOM - PERLMAN VILLA - LATER 96

ELIO is playing the piano. For his final selection, he has
chosen a piece by Poulenc. The others listen almost
reverently. His wristwatch is on the piano.
As he is concluding, OLIVER comes in from outside and makes
his way towards the stairs. The others turn as he passes. He
smiles in greeting, and makes “I don’t want to disturb you”
motions with his hands before disappearing.
ELIO is unperturbed. The sudden appearance of OLIVER may
inject a dash of fire to the final - if wee-bit hurried -
notes. ELIO stands up as his audience applauds and makes a
little bow.
ELIO
(nodding in appreciation)
I’m afraid I have to go to bed now.
He shakes hands with the guests,
thanks them anew for his shirt,
kisses his mother, and runs up the
stairs. The big clock shows almost
eleven.

Later still. ELIO sits at his desk. He has taken off the
Hawaiian shirt and is now wearing a T-shirt. He smokes a
cigarette while he writes in his journal. We see his pen
forming his thoughts.
ELIO breaks off to listen for sounds coming from Oliver’s

room. Dead silence. His watch says a quarter to twelve.
Barefoot, he gets closer to the door that separates the two
rooms. He looks through the cracks but sees no light.

He returns to his post. He glimpses himself in the mirror and

says to his reflection: “Do I know you?”.
He turns his face from side to side to catch different
lights. He goes at the bathroom door to listen, but there are
no sounds from inside.
98 INT. OLIVER’S ROOM - PERLMAN VILLA - NIGHT 98

OLIVER is lying fully dressed on his bed, in the dark,
smoking a cigarette. A half-full ashtray is resting on the
pillow next to him.
His espadrilles lie on the floor where he kicked them off.
Oliver’s expression is enigmatic compared to Elio’s, calmness
itself. He hears Elio run the tap in their adjoining bathroom
and looks up.
99 INT. ELIO’S AND OLIVER’S BATHROOM - PERLMAN VILLA - NIGHT 99

In the bathroom ELIO pees. He’s careful not to make any noise
and aims high. He says softly, looking down at his penis, “Do
I know you?” He flushes the toilet and turns off the tap.

When ELIO emerges from the bathroom he hears voices coming up
from below as the guests are leaving. He reaches the window
and looks down at “Laurel and Hardy” who stand by the car
saying their goodbyes and laughing affectionately.
The two men get into their car, the PERLMANS waving as it
drives away. Right in that moment ELIO rises his gaze and
sees OLIVER on the balcony above the main entrance.
101 INT. CORRIDOR - EXT. BALCONY - PERLMAN VILLA - NIGHT 101

ELIO runs into the corridor and reaches the balcony where
OLIVER is smoking.
OLIVER
I’m glad you came. I could hear you
moving in your room and for a while
I thought you were getting ready to
go to bed, had changed your mind.
ELIO

Change my mind? Of course I was

coming.
ELIO steps close to the ledge.
ELIO
So you do smoke?
OLIVER
Sometimes.
ELIO
(not knowing what else to
say)
I’m nervous.
OLIVER
Me too.
ELIO
I am more so.
102 INT. OLIVER’S BEDROOM - PERLMAN VILLA - NIGHT 102

OLIVER sits on the bed, his legs crossed, looking smaller,
younger. ELIO stands awkwardly at the foot of the bed, not
knowing what to do with his hands. He keeps putting them in
his pockets, then taking them out again.
OLIVER
(placing the full ashtray
onto the floor)
Come, sit.
Hesitating, ELIO crawls onto the bed and sits facing him,
cross-legged like Oliver, making sure their knees don’t
touch.
Needing suddenly to shed his shyness and inhibitions, ELIO
decides he has to lean against something and slides up to the
top of the bed, resting his back against the headboard beside
OLIVER.
ELIO looks down at the bed and at the two of them side by
side on it, a moment he has dreamed of. Now here we are, he
thinks, hardly able to believe it.
As if to highlight that moment, OLIVER stretches his legs
out, his bare feet next to ELIO’s own.
OLIVER
You okay?

ELIO
Me okay.
With his toes, ELIO reaches over to Oliver’s toes and touches
them. He slips his big toe in between Oliver’s big toe and
his second toe. OLIVER does not respond. Since he is sitting
on Oliver’s left he figures these are not the toes that
touched him at lunch the other day.
It was his right foot that was guilty, so ELIO tries to reach
it with his own right foot, in a kind of desperately playful
mood.
OLIVER
What are you doing?
ELIO
Nothing.
Somewhat absentmindedly, awkwardly and without conviction,
OLIVER reciprocates the movement, seeking out Elio’s other
foot. ELIO moves closer to OLIVER, then hugs him. A kind of
child’s hug, which OLIVER responds to only by saying, half-
humorously:
OLIVER
That’s a start.
ELIO shrugs, not wanting to speak.
OLIVER
Does this make you happy? You aren’t
going to have a nosebleed are you?
It does, and ELIO nods yes, then no. Finally, OLIVER brings
his arm around ELIO. He doesn’t stroke him, doesn’t hold him
tight.
ELIO loosens his own hold for a moment, giving him time
enough to bring both his hands, seeking skin, under Oliver’s
loose shirt and resume his embrace.
OLIVER
You sure you want this?
ELIO nods again, Yes.
OLIVER
We haven’t talked.
ELIO shrugs his shoulders, meaning "No need to."
OLIVER lifts Elio’s face with both hands and stares at him
the way he did on the cliff, even more intensely.

OLIVER
Can I kiss you?
Then he suddenly pulls back, as if he might laugh, and runs
his fingers through Elio’s hair, messing it up. ELIO brings
his mouth to Oliver’s in a fiercely eager kiss. Something
seems to clear away between them, and both abandon themselves
to the kiss.
ELIO hungrily kisses Oliver’s closed eyes, his nose, his
ears, his throat, discovering them with his lips. OLIVER
kisses him back as eagerly, even roughly.
ELIO gets under the covers. There are some things lying on
the bed that hadn’t been removed - a book, some magazines, a
pack of cigarettes, and ELIO slips a foot under them as if
they weren’t there; they all fall onto the floor. OLIVER gets
under the covers too and starts to undress ELIO.
OLIVER
(whispering)
Off, and off, and off, and off--
(tossing them away)
ELIO is soon naked and lies back under the sheet in a kind of
ecstasy as OLIVER moves his hands over his body, as
inquisitive as Marzia’s had been the night before in the
street. When OLIVER pulls the sheet back, ELIO loves being
naked before him. No secrets.
OLIVER kisses him, kisses his body, takes his penis (off-
screen) briefly in his mouth, then returns to kiss Elio’s
open lips again more deeply, as if he too is finally letting
go.
OLIVER is also naked, and not a part of him isn’t touching
ELIO now. They stare at each other. ELIO looks away, because
OLIVER is staring at him. Then he looks back, and now stares
at OLIVER, as they settle into a mock wrestling position with
Oliver’s shoulders rubbing Elio’s knees.
ELIO looks into Oliver’s eyes in an intensity of love and
expectation, wanting this moment to last forever, knowing
there will be no coming back from this. When it happens -
when OLIVER enters ELIO - there is a degree of pain and
discomfort. ELIO flinches and fights an impulse to stop him,
which OLIVER sees.
OLIVER
You’re okay?
An eternity seems to pass between Elio’s reluctance to make
up his mind and Oliver’s instinct to make it up for him. They
fuck. Bodies are entangled. Elio is flushed, turning from

side to side as he alternates obscenities with Oliver’s name;

Oliver’s face is more implacable, his lips softly repeating
what ELIO says, until he bends forward to say to him:
OLIVER
Call me by your name and I’ll call
you by mine.
They continue their rhythm, taking ELIO in a realm he has
never known before, and murmuring his own name as if it were
Oliver’s: Elio-- Elio-- Elio. The Star of David bounces on
Oliver’s chest.
A LITTLE LATER
OLIVER pulls out and says to ELIO (Oliver) that he is going
to come. ELIO watches the formidably discreet, formidably
cool OLIVER make faces and peak before his very eyes. When he
comes, it’s all over Elio’s chest, saying “I want to! I want
to!”. It is a shock at first when OLIVER spreads his semen
out with the palm of his hand over Elio’s stomach and chest.
OLIVER, still straddling ELIO, picks up his billowy blue
shirt from the floor and cleans him with it.
ELIO
Did we make noise?
OLIVER
Nothing to worry about.
ELIO
Mafalda always looks for signs.
OLIVER
She won’t find any.
ELIO
You wore that shirt on your first
day here. Will you let me have it,
leave it here when you go?
OLIVER doesn’t answer and tosses the shirt aside. He takes
ELIO in his arms, looks down into his face. He smooths out
Elio’s hair with his hand. ELIO is falling asleep. OLIVER
continues to hold him.
103 INT. OLIVER’S ROOM - PERLMAN VILLA - DAWN 103

Dawn. Light is coming in. OLIVER is still cradling ELIO in
his arms but has shifted to a more comfortable position for
them both. ELIO opens his eyes, sees OLIVER looking down at
him but instead of smiling or lifting his face to be kissed,

he closes his eyes again, as if blotting OLIVER, the bed, the

room, and all that has happened out.
He tries to sit up, stretches his limbs, and pulls the sheet
over his nakedness. OLIVER stares at him, as if to register
Elio’s morning after emotions.
OLIVER
You’re not happy. You’re feeling
sick about it, aren’t you?
ELIO shrugs the comment away not wanting Oliver looking into
his heart.
OLIVER
I knew we shouldn’t have. I knew it.
We should have talked.
ELIO
Maybe.
OLIVER
(stung, “maybe” isn’t the
word he wanted to hear)
Did you hate it?
ELIO
No, I didn’t hate it at all.
ELIO stays put on Oliver’s bed out of an exaggerated sense of
courtesy. Relenting, he smiles back at OLIVER for the first
time, though he wishes at that moment for OLIVER to be miles
away.
OLIVER
You can go back to sleep, if you
want.
ELIO reaches up and hugs him, then closes his eyes. OLIVER
continues to study his face, his own expression one of
uncertainty. With his eyes still shut, ELIO says, “You’re
staring at me.” But at once he opens them again and sits up,
brushing Oliver’s hand away, and rises gingerly from the bed.
ELIO
Let’s go swimming.
104 INT. BOCCHIRALE - PERLMAN VILLA - DAWN 104

In the dim light of dawn, OLIVER and ELIO leave the villa on
bikes.

105 EXT. RIVER - FIRST LIGHT OF DAY 105

At the river, OLIVER walks knee-deep in the water with the
blue shirt on, then dives in and swims away. Elio is swimming
200 meters away, from a distance they look like two complete
strangers.
106 EXT. RIVER - DAY 106

ELIO and OLIVER walk towards their bikes.
OLIVER
Are you going to hold last night
against me?
ELIO
No.
He said this too swiftly to sound convincing.
107 INT. STAIRS - ELIO’S ROOM - PERLMAN VILLA - DAY 107

Back at the villa. There are some sounds from the kitchen but
OLIVER and ELIO succeed to get back home without being seen.
They reach their respective doors and, while ELIO is going
in, OLIVER hesitates before going through his and steps into
Elio’s room instead. ELIO is taken by surprise. OLIVER shuts
the door.
OLIVER
Take your trunks off. Surprised,
ELIO, who doesn’t have it in him at this moment to disagree,
lowers them and gets out of them. He feels awkward.
OLIVER
Sit down.
ELIO does, and almost before he’s settled, OLIVER brings his
mouth to Elio’s penis and takes it all in (off-screen).
OLIVER
(with a wry smile)
Well, this is promising. You’re hard
again. Good.
He jumps up and goes out in an instant. ELIO lifts himself

out of the low chair carefully and pulls on his pajama
bottoms. Then he throws himself across his bed.

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

Breakfast. The PERLMANS, MAFALDA coming in and out from the
kitchen, ELIO. Then OLIVER comes in and sits next to him.
When no one is looking, OLIVER slips his smooth foot under
Elio’s, as if snuggling it there, instead of placing it on
top as he always had before. Calmly, he focuses on his soft-
boiled egg. They eat breakfast.
OLIVER
I’m going to town, I have to collect
my typed up pages. Later I'd like to
show them to you, Professor.
PERLMAN
(imitating Oliver)
Later.
Everyone laughs, Oliver also is amused.
PERLMAN
Before you leave we'll certainly
find the time to go over these
revisions.
The thought of Oliver's departure marks a shadow on Elio's
face.
OLIVER
So-- Later!
More laughing. OLIVER leaves the table and walks away. ELIO
stands and follows, as his parents look at him.
108 EXT. MAIN ENTRANCE - PERLMAN VILLA - DAY 108
ELIO pulls his bike out and at the gate, a bit gingerly, sits
on it. It hurts, but he goes after Oliver.
109 EXT. PIAZZA DUOMO - CREMA - DAY 109

The central square with Crema's Duomo. ELIO sees OLIVER at
the newstand, sitting on his bike and scanning the headlines
of the International Herald Tribune, before heading in the
direction of the post office. ELIO rushes up to him.
OLIVER
Something wrong?
ELIO
I just had to see you.

OLIVER
Aren’t you sick of me?
ELIO
I just wanted to be with you. If you
want, I’ll go back now.
OLIVER stands still, dropping his hand with the bundle of
unsent letters, and simply stands there staring at ELIO,
shaking his head.
OLIVER
Do you have any idea how glad I am
we slept together?
ELIO
I don’t know.
OLIVER
It’s just like you not to know. I
don’t want you to regret any of it.
I just dread the thought of having
messed you up. I don’t want either
of us to have to pay one way or
another.
ELIO
I’m not telling anyone. There won’t
be any trouble.
OLIVER
I didn’t mean that. I’m sure I’ll
pay for it somehow, though. For you,
however you think of it, it’s still
fun and games, which it should be.
For me it’s something else which I
haven’t figured out, and the fact
that I can’t scares me.
ELIO
Are you sorry I came here?
OLIVER
I’d kiss you if I could.
ELIO
(coming up close to
Oliver)
Fuck me, Elio.
OLIVER repeats his own name three times in Elio’s ear.
LIFE IN THE GARDEN

A second unit series of shots of life in the garden.
110 INT. KITCHEN - PERLMAN VILLA - EARLY AFTERNOON 110

MAFALDA is washing dishes in the kitchen. She clears away the
dessert plates from lunch with their fruit peelings. ANCHISE
enters the room with a basket full of huge, glowing,
succulent-looking peaches.
MAFALDA
(in Italian)
Put them over there.
MAFALDA points to the fruit bowl at the center of the table.
ELIO enters the kitchen from the outside, with a book in his
hands and a towel on his shoulders. His eyes fall on the
freshly picked fruit. He picks out two and leaves the room.
111 INT. STAIRCASE - PERLMAN VILLA - EARLY AFTERNOON 111

On the stairs he meets ANNELLA on her way up to nap and
kisses her. She looks pleased by this unexpected show of
affection from her teenage son. He eats a peach.
112 INT. ATTIC - PERLMAN VILLA - EARLY AFTERNOON 112

ELIO enters the attic. Puts the remaining peach on the old
bedside table and lies down on the mattress where he made
love with Marzia. He opens his book and starts reading but,
easily distracted, starts looking outside the window at the
glorious summer sky. He tries reading again, but still no
chance.
His gaze scans the room, the abandoned objects, the dark
corners-- the peaches. He stretches out his hand to one and
plays with it. He turns its crease towards him. Then opens it
half-way with his thumbs and pushes the pit out. The pit
falls on the attic floor.
He brings the fuzzy, blush-colored peach to his groin and
lowers his swim trunks. He presses himself into it until the
parted fruit slides down his erection. The fruit is leaking
on him. Though firm, it breaks apart.
Holding the two halves of the reddened core in either hand,
he begins to rub himself with them. When his orgasm comes,
very soon, he carefully aims the spurts into the open peach.
“What a crazy thing this was!” he thinks, as he holds the
fruit in both hands and looks around. He places the two

halves of the raped peach on the bedside table and covers

himself with the towel. Later. Elio wakes to the sound of
someone entering the attic.
OLIVER
I was looking everywhere for you--
What are you doing up here?
OLIVER sits next to him on the mattress. He starts kissing
him on one arm. He removes the towel to reveal, to his
surprise, that Elio is not wearing his swimsuit. He then
swiftly leans down bringing his lips to Elio's groin, but
after a moment he looks up with a questioning expression.
OLIVER
What have you done?
OLIVER looks at the broken peach beside them. He picks it up.
OLIVER
(holding it out)
Is this what I think it is?
ELIO nods in mock shame.

OLIVER
You tried out the plant kingdom?
Next will be minerals? You’re
rejecting the animal kingdom
already? That would be me, I
suppose.
ELIO
I’m sick, aren’t I?
Oliver pulls off his bathing suit.
OLIVER
I wish everyone were as sick as you.
Want to see sick?
He peers into the peach for a moment, ELIO pretends to hide
his eyes.
OLIVER
Now may I taste it?
ELIO
Don’t!
But OLIVER dips a finger into the core of the peach and
brings it to his mouth.

OLIVER
The peach juice helps a lot.
(offering it)
Want to try it?
ELIO
(reaching for Oliver’s
hand holding the peach)
Let it go! No!
OLIVER holds it farther away.
ELIO
Look, you don’t have to do this. I’m
the one who came after you.
Everything that’s happened is
because of me -
OLIVER
(still holding the peach
away from ELIO)
Nonsense. I wanted you from day one.
I just hid it better.
ELIO lunges out again to grab the fruit from Oliver’s hand,
but with his other hand OLIVER catches hold of his wrist and
squeezes it hard.
ELIO
You’re hurting me.
OLIVER
Then let go.
ELIO reaches out to him, bursting into tears. He muffles his
sobs against Oliver’s bare shoulder. Then OLIVER holds him
close.
OLIVER
(as if soothing a child)
Whatever happens between us, Elio, I
just want you to know--
ELIO
(sobbing)
What?
OLIVER
(taking hold of Elio’s
hand)
Don’t ever say you didn’t know.
They kiss as lovers committing themselves.

113 INT/EXT. HUT - PERLMAN VILLA - NIGHT 113

The same night. The Perlman house is mostly dark, the window
shutters all closed. There is a little light out in the hut
next to the garage, where Anchise sleeps. We see him through
the window, sitting at a table working on something. He has
taken some tool apart and is cleaning the pieces, filing an
edge of metal and so forth.
114 INT/EXT. PERLMAN VILLA - NIGHT 114

Through another lit window, in Mafalda’s part of the house,
we can see MAFALDA ironing. She is carefully pressing the
sleeve of Oliver’s blue shirt.
115 EXT. GARDEN - PERLMAN VILLA -NIGHT 115

The garden of the villa in the darkness, alluring and
enigmatic.
ELIO
What are you thinking about?
OLIVER
Things. Going back to the States.
The courses I have to teach this
fall. My book. You.
ELIO
No one else?
OLIVER
No one else.
Silence.
ELIO
In two weeks you’ll be back at
Columbia. I don’t know what I’ll do
then. At least you’ll be somewhere
else, where there aren’t any
memories-- We wasted so many days -
so many weeks.
OLIVER
Wasted? I don’t know.
ELIO
--why didn’t you give me a sign?
OLIVER
I did. At least I tried.

ELIO
When?
OLIVER
Once, when we were playing
volleyball, I touched you-- Just as
a way of showing-- I liked you. The
way you reacted made me feel I’d
almost molested you. I decided to
keep my distance.
116 INT. MASTER BEDROOM - PERLMAN VILLA - NIGHT 116

From the open window of their bedroom the Perlmans can hear
Elio and Oliver talking. Not the words. But the tone of the
conversation is undeniably intimate.
ANNELLA is on a small sofa. PERLMAN is already in bed, they
look at each other for a long moment. The off-screen voices
are almost whispers, they continue. PERLMAN stands, moves a
sofa chair to be closer to his wife, then sits on it. He
takes her hand and kisses it.
PERLMAN
Elio e Oliver si sono proprio
trovati.
(Elio and Oliver have
grown quite fond of each
other)
ANNELLA
Sì, hanno una bella amicizia.
(Yes. They have a
beautiful friendship)
PERLMAN
È un peccato che parta--
(It’s a shame he’s
leaving) (beat)
Sta tornando il fresco.
(The nights are getting
cool again)
ANNELLA smiles at her husband. Aroused, he reaches over for
Annella to pull her toward him.
117 INT. ELIO’S BEDROOM - PERLMAN VILLA - DAY 117

Next day. Oliver’s blue shirt is on a hanger, all clean and
pressed by Mafalda, with an attached note: “For Oliver, from
Elio.” Elio strips off the shirt he’s wearing and puts on the
fresh one from Oliver.

He looks at himself approvingly in the mirror after buttoning

it up, then says to his image: “I do know you, and you’re not
so bad.” He unbuttons the top couple of buttons in order to
acquire Oliver’s more laid-back look.
ELIO wears the shirt down to breakfast. No one comments on
it, including OLIVER, who puts his bare foot under Elio’s
when he takes a seat.
MAFALDA puts an egg down in front of OLIVER, but before she
can prepare it for him ELIO takes it and expertly cracks the
top for him with his spoon. PERLMAN observes his son’s
protective concern that no speck of the shell should fall
into Oliver’s egg.
ELIO
Americans never know how to do it.
PERLMAN
I’m sure we have our way--
Oliver’s foot under the table resting on Elio’s signals that
maybe he should let it go and he seizes the second egg,
cracking it himself.

Later. ELIO runs down the stairs wearing a bathing suit and
OLIVER’s blue shirt, carrying a towel. The front door opens
and MARZIA walks in. She looks at him questioningly. ELIO
would like her not to be there.
MARZIA
(in French)
Tu as disparu pendant trois jours.
(You’ve been gone three
days.)
ELIO
I-- had to work.
MARZIA
(in French)
Mais tu as disparu--
(But you disappeared.)
Elio doesn’t know what to say, or do.
MARZIA

Est-ce que je suis ta copine?

(Am I your girl?)
Elio doesn't reply. MARZIA leaves, trying to keep from
crying.

By the pool. PERLMAN and ANNELLA sit at a table in their
bathing suits having a drink. ELIO and OLIVER sit on the edge
of the pool at the other end, their feet in the water.
ELIO
I hurt her feelings. Love hurts.
OLIVER, thinking they are unobserved by the others, caresses
Elio’s foot next to his in the water with one of his own.
Perlman sees this from where he is sitting with ANNELLA, and
nods to her in the boys’ direction. She looks over towards
OLIVER and ELIO.
PERLMAN
Oliver told me he has to go to
Bergamo for a couple of days to do
some research at the university
there before he leaves. He would
then fly home directly from Linate
ANNELLA
Oh-- maybe Elio could go with him?
It would be nice for them to get
away for a couple of days.
(beat)
Where would they stay?
PERLMAN
He said something about a pensione.
ANNELLA
(laughing and pretending
to be horrified)
Oh, no! Let’s make them a hotel
reservation. A pensione, oy!
Perlman laughs with his wife.
121 EXT. WAR MEMORIAL - PANDINO - DUSK 121

OLIVER and ELIO, still wearing their swimsuits, are in front
of the War World I Memorial for Fallen Soldiers, in the

nearby town of Pandino. Elio crosses the steps and tries to

put his arms around it; he stands there spread-eagled.
ELIO
They’re too big for even two men to
get their arms around.
OLIVER
Let’s see.
OLIVER goes up and his arms flung out. Then attacks the
problem from the other side of the monument, facing it, and
putting his arms around it in a kind of embrace. Unseen by
them, a young couple – a boy and a girl – are embracing in
the underbrush nearby.
They smile at the two young men and renew their own hugging.
They look like a shepherd and shepherdess, wearing simple,
everyday work clothes. Unseen, they watch ELIO and OLIVER,
whose extended fingertips almost touch, but not quite.
They are still several inches apart as they stretch their
bodies, exhaling with their effort. But the stone gleams
stubbornly in the space between their fingers. OLIVER decides
to cheat, and moves in ELIO’s direction, until they make
contact. They yell and OLIVER gathers ELIO into his arms and
kisses him. The boy and girl in the shadows resume their own
kiss.
OLIVER puts a hand inside ELIO’s bathing suit, but ELIO
pushes him away.
ELIO
Not here. Not in all this, not on
this stone.
The two young men run back to their bikes and ride off,
watched by the young couple. The “Shepherd” moves his hand on
the breast of the “Shepherdess,” and she lets him keep it
there.
122 EXT. COACH STATION - MONTODINE - DAY 122

OLIVER puts his suitcases in the open trunk of a waiting
coach. He is saying his goodbyes to the PERLMANS before he
and ELIO get on it. ANNELLA kisses Oliver with great
affection; PERLMAN shakes his hand warmly, all formality
gone.
Both say “Come back soon!" The driver closes the trunk. ELIO
says goodbye to his parents, unable to hide an honest smile

of happiness. Chiara arrives driving her bike to salute

Oliver but the coach is leaving--
The Perlmans and Chiara watch the coach drive away as Elio
and Oliver take seats inside it.
123 INT/EXT. BUS - FROM CREMA TO ALPI OROBIE - DAY 123

Oliver smiles and waves to Chiara on the half-crowded bus.
OLIVER dozes off, his head on ELIO’s shoulder. ELIO looks at
him, his gaze full of unaccountable emotions. Outside the
window the summer landscape changes from the flat plains into
the first alps, the Orobie.
124 EXT. BOSCO - PRATO - CASCATE DEL SERIO - DAY 124

A small forest of beech and fir trees. ELIO and OLIVER walk
on a trail with their backpacks.
They cross a small bridge over a creek and reach a large
grass field, looking towards the mountain patiently awaiting
something. Oliver looks at ELIO and hugs him, a friendly
grab-hug. Then a hand moves down on Elio's thigh, and he
looks around.
The explosion of water in the mountain is violent and
unexpected. The river leaps three times on the rocks before
it reaches the bottom of the valley. OLIVER jumps up and in a
very American impulse howls at this spectacle of water. ELIO
laughs. They run to the water and disappear into the cascade.
125 INT. HOTEL BEDROOM - BERGAMO - AFTERNOON 125

ELIO and OLIVER enter their hotel bedroom in Bergamo. They
look around and laugh, for no apparent reason. Later. There
is a large window looking out over the front entrance of the
hotel and a parking lot adjoining it.
OLIVER stands looking out as ELIO comes up from behind him,
putting his arms around Oliver’s waist. Both are wearing
boxer shorts.
126 EXT. STREETS - BERGAMO - NIGHT 126

Elio and Oliver are drunk. They stroll in the streets of the
old town, stumbling, laughing. Taking advantage of a deserted
alley OLIVER pushes ELIO against the wall and kisses him.
Then suddenly stops.

ELIO
What?
OLIVER
Listen!
ELIO
Listen to what?
Among the soft sounds of the sleeping city is a distant
melody.
OLIVER
This song!
ELIO
There’s no song. You’re
hallucinating.
Elio tries to kiss him again but Oliver grabs his hand and
pulls him away.
OLIVER
Let’s go!
127 EXT. PIAZZETTA - BERGAMO - NIGHT 127

In a small square in the old part of town three young men and
a girl are leaning on a wall. They are wearing oversized
jackets and make-up; they are early examples of the "New
Romantic" fashion.
At their feet is a radio playing “Love My Way”, the song that
was also playing at the open-air dancing bar a few weeks
earlier. OLIVER looks at ELIO as if to say "See?", then
salutes the youngsters, only to be ignored.
OLIVER
Psychedelic Furs. The best! The New
Romantics seem uninterested.
OLIVER starts dancing, as we already saw him do, alone. He
then grabs the girl, intending for her to dance with him, and
it seems like the situation could go badly.
OLIVER
(in lousy Italan)
Li ho visti a New York l’anno
scorso. Richard Butler-- spettacolo!
(I saw them in New York
last year. Richard Butler-
- awesome!)

RAGAZZA NEW ROMANTIC

(romagnolo accent)
Davvero? Li abbiam visti anche noi
in concerto! Siamo andati a Londra
facendo l’àutostop--
(Really? We saw them in
concert too! We hitch-
hiked to London--)
OLIVER
Best way to travel around!
So the other New Romantics join the dance, with their
syncopated moves. ELIO doesn't dance, he looks, uncertain. At
the song's climax he bursts out puking suddenly and
abundantly.
128 EXT. STRADA CON FONTANA - BERGAMO - DAWN 128

OLIVER holds ELIO's forehead as he pukes. Elio stands away
from the wall making an "I'm okay now" gesture, and goes to
the fountain nearby to splash water on his face.
ELIO
It's the best day of my life and I
end it with puking!
Oliver looks around to check that nobody is looking and
starts kissing him again. Elio lets himself go.
With his eyes still closed he hears male voices passing
nearby muttering something against them, but he doesn't care.
IT’S THE KISS OF A LIFETIME.
129 INT. HOTEL BEDROOM - DAWN 129

OLIVER and ELIO are hugging on their hotel bed. OLIVER looks
at ELIO sleeping. A HISSING sound in the distance.
130 EXT. BINARIO - STAZIONE DI CLUSONE - DAY 130

It is the sound of a train arriving at the station, on the
main platform. ELIO and OLIVER together look at the train
come to a stop. ELIO is wearing Oliver’s blue shirt. On the
platform are a few travellers ready to leave.
Oliver's bags are those for his trip back home; they are
about to say goodbye. The train doors open, some people come
out, others get in while saying their goodbyes to their

counterparts. Elio and Oliver aren't moving, they try to

delay the inevitable, if only for a few seconds.
The voice on the intercom informs that the Express train for
Rome is about to depart from Platform 1.
ELIO
Did you get your passport?
OLIVER
Yeah, I did.
The travellers are all on the train, except for Oliver--
The conductor is a few cars down, looking at his watch. A
moment of suspended, cruel silence.
OLIVER
There's emptiness behind your eyes/
there's dust in our hearts/ Love my
way, it's a new road--
Elio listens to these words, which Oliver starts to sing
sweetly, whispering.
OLIVER
I follow where my mind goes, so
swallow all your tears, my love/ And
put on your new face/ You can never
win or lose, if you don't run the
race.
They hug. OLIVER grabs his bags and enters the train.
The train leaves. Elio watches it disappear in the distance.
Wiped out, he walks along the platform and sits on a bench,
his gaze lost in thoughts. After a long beat he stands and go
to the--
131 EXT. PHONE BOOTH - STAZIONE DI CLUSONE - DAY 131

ELIO dials a number on a public phone, he does so
mechanically. A few moments later somebody picks up.
ELIO
Mafalda? Maman-- Bonjour. Oui, je
vais bien. Je suis à Clusone, à la
est parti. Maman,s'il te plaît, tu
pourrais venir me chercher?
(Mafalda? Mom-- Hey. Yes,
I'm fine. I'm in Clusone,
at the station. Yes-- he

left. Mom-- please could

you come pick me up?)
132 INT/EXT. CAR - COUNTRY ROAD - AFTERNOON 132

ANNELLA is with ELIO in the car. She is driving back to the
villa. ELIO is silent. Oliver’s blue shirt is open over
Elio's bare chest and blows in the wind.
She looks at him. She reaches out with her free hand and
caresses his cheek, the sweetest gesture. Elio’s face
crumples. He starts to cry. She wipes his tears away with her
free hand but he cannot stop.
133 EXT. STREETS OF TOWN - AFTERNOON 133

The Perlman car is parked in town. ELIO is alone, sitting on
the passenger seat. The car's radio is playing some summer
song. In the distance, a group of Elio's friends are walking
about.
Among them is MARZIA, who notices the Perlman car, then Elio.
She waves at her friends and leaves them to come towards him.
MARZIA
Ciao.
Elio notices her only when she is close.
MARZIA
How are you?
ELIO
Good, thanks.
Elio tries straightening up to hide his emotions, his face
recently upset by tears.
MARZIA
(in French)
J'ai lu le livre que tu m'as offert,
les poèmes. Ils sont très beaux.
J’aime beaucoup cette Antonia Pozzi.
(I read the book you gave
me, the poems, they are
beautiful. I really love
Antonia Pozzi.)
“Nell’aria della stanza - non te
guardo - ma già il ricordo del tuo
viso”

(In the room’s air - not

you do I look at - but
already the memory of your
face)
Elio nods, smiling back at her.
MARZIA
I'm sorry you feel so bad. I just
wanted to tell you that I'm not mad
at you. I love you.
(Je suis désolée que tu
sois si malheureux. Je
voulais juste te dire que
je ne t'en veux pas. Je
t'aime.)
Elio is surprised and comforted by Marzia's words. She
extends her hand to him.
MARZIA
On reste amis?
(Friends.)
Elio shakes her hand, then exits the car and hugs her,
sighing. Annella is approaching.
ELIO
Pour la vie?
(Forever?)
MARZIA
Pour la vie.
(Forever)
134 EXT. PERLMAN VILLA - AFTERNOON 134

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?)
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

anything further, and goes inside.
135 INT. STAIRCASE - PERLMAN VILLA - AFTERNOON 135

ELIO meets MAFALDA coming down the stairs.
MAFALDA
I fixed up your room the way it was.
ELIO frowns, angered by this news.
136 INT. OLIVER’S ROOM - PERLMAN VILLA - AFTERNOON 136

Elio’s room, in which Oliver has stayed. Alone now, ELIO
enters it and looks around. Everything of his has been put
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.
137 INT. PERLMAN STUDIO - PERLMAN VILLA - EVENING - NIGHT 137

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.
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
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. And perhaps it’s
not to me that you’ll want to speak
about these things. But feel
something you obviously did.
ELIO looks at his father, then drops his eyes to the floor.

PERLMAN
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
Have I spoken out of turn?
ELIO shakes his head.
PERLMAN
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 to come
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
We may never speak about this again.
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?
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”)
138 EXT. CAMPAGNA - PERLMAN VILLA - WINTER - DAY 138

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 divinely ours. They could look
the other way and speak of
everything but, they would always
know. They had found the stars, Elio
and Oliver. And this is given once
only. He crosses the gate and comes
back in the garden. He enters the
house.
139 INT. KITCHEN - STAIRCASE 139

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.
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.
ELIO
(lowering his voice when
he is sure they’ve left

the room)
They know about us--
OLIVER (V.O.)
I figured.
ELIO
How?
OLIVER (V.O.)
From the way your father spoke - he
made me feel like a member of the
family - almost like a son-in-law.
You’re lucky. My father would have
carted me off to a correctional
facility.
ELIO
(daringly)
“Elio, Elio”
OLIVER (V.O.)
(After a very long beat)
Oliver-- I remember everything --
140 INT. PROFESSOR PERLMAN’S STUDY - PERLMAN VILLA - AFTERNOON 140

The PERLMANS and MAFALDA are at a big table spread out with
what look like application letters, with photos attached.
It’s the ritual that takes place every year, they evaluate
several letters of proposal sent by advanced graduate
students in America, or young aspiring scholars from there.
It's the ritual that brought about the choice of Oliver last
year. ELIO enters the room, he looks over the photos, the
resumés. There are half a dozen young men and a couple of
young women.
ANNELLA
E questo?
(This one?)
But Elio is not interested in this. They watch him leave the
study.
141 INT. DINING ROOM - PERLMAN VILLA - NIGHT 141

Elio enters the dining room all dressed for the celebration
lunch. Light is dimming outside the windows. Activities
around the table between Annella and Mafalda (placing
flowers, lighting candles etc). Elio crouches in front of the

fire. His face lost in thoughts. The entire end credit

scrolls on his close up. Near the end
ANNELLA
Elio, Elio
Elio is so deeply in his thoughts that only after a long beat
after Annella calling him he turns toward the sound of her
voice.
FADE TO BLACK.

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Call Me By Your Name 1.

1 INT. ELIO’S - OLIVER’S ROOM - PERLMAN VILLA - DAY 1

The sound of an approaching car. ELIO, 17, barefoot and in

2 INT. STAIRCASE - PERLMAN VILLA - DAY 2

Generated on January 21, 2022

Aiuta Oliver a portare le sue cose

3 INT. PROFESSOR PERLMAN’S STUDY - PERLMAN VILLA - DAY 3

4 INT. STAIRCASE - PERLMAN VILLA - DAY 4

5 INT. OLIVER’S ROOM - PERLMAN VILLA - DAY 5

They enter Oliver’s bedroom. OLIVER drops his backpack and

But Oliver is not listening, already asleep. Elio walks out

6 EXT. GARDEN - PERLMAN VILLA - DAY 6

Generated on January 21, 2022

charge of the domestic duties of the place, and she is

One of the trees is shaking. In the dappled light under the

7 INT. STAIRCASE - PERLMAN VILLA - DUSK 7

Later. MAFALDA, at the bottom of the stairs, rings a bell.

8 INT. ELIO’S - OLIVER’S ROOM - BATHROOM - PERLMAN VILLA - DUSK 8

About to shut the door, ELIO nods.

Generated on January 21, 2022

9 INT. STAIRCASE - BOCCHIRALE - PERLMAN VILLA - DAY 9

10 EXT. GARDEN IN FRONT OF THE KITCHEN - PERLMAN VILLA - DAY 10 10

MAFALDA asks him if he would like juice. He says “Please”.

She looks down at the discarded egg.

She slices the top off and returns to her kitchen.

Both Professor PERLMAN and ANNELLA look up, interested.

Generated on January 21, 2022

Elio turns in his seat to get a better view of Oliver, who is

MAFALDA returns with a pitcher of apricot juice on a little

OLIVER tastes it, then enthusiastically downs it.

ELIO realizes he is staring at OLIVER, his head tipped back

MAFALDA brings him a third egg.

It’s somewhat intimidating. He lowers his eyes.

11 INT. PROFESSOR PERLMAN’S STUDY - PERLMAN VILLA - DAY 11

Generated on January 21, 2022

PERLMAN is attempting to devise a new filing system for his

open boxes with more letters. OLIVER is helping him, ELIO is

ANNELLA enters carrying a little tray with a pitcher of more

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

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

Generated on January 21, 2022

ELIO and ANNELLA listen carefully, surprised.

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

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

Generated on January 21, 2022

12 EXT. ROAD TO CREMA - DAY 12

13 EXT. CAFE - CREMA TOWN SQUARE - DAY 13

Generated on January 21, 2022

ELIO smiles, says nothing. They both laugh.

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

OLIVER seems to be miles away, but as ELIO is getting on his

14 EXT. SOUTH TERRAZZA - PERLMAN VILLA - DAY 14

Generated on January 21, 2022

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

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

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

15 INT. LIVING ROOM - PERLMAN VILLA - DAY 15

Generated on January 21, 2022

ELIO says, softly, over his playing:

16 INT. ELIO’S BEDROOM - PERLMAN VILLA - LATER 16