The best way to describe this story can be- when a languid summer turns into a love story or how a friendship leads to the bittersweet heartaches. Based on the book of the same name by André Aciman, the simple romance with complicated details makes it one of the compelling feature film of our times.

The story begins on a regular summer morning of 1983, in a small Italian town where the Perlman family spends the holidays on their family farm. This family of three- Ello, a 17 years student, an avid reader and talented musician, his mother- Annella whose family owns this farm, a modern, sophisticated woman and his father – Samuel, a professor of archeology are spending their summer days in this nondescript corner of the world.

And then one day comes Oliver, he is a student of Samuel and was invited to spend summer vacation at their Italian house to complete his academic paper. Coming from USA with foreign concepts and rather bashful behaviour, Oliver and Ello don’t get along so well at the beginning. While Ello is struggling to maintain his childhood friendships, Oliver is trying to adjust to rural life and living with his hosts.

Nothing happens in an instant, there is no hurried response to Oliver’s friendly behaviour; rather, at one point Ello seem irked by his father’s student’s behaviour towards young women. This all changes slowly with much of subtlety and grace, what starts with casual bike rides and walks in woods turns into a solid friendship. So when do they realise that there is more to their relationship beyond friendship? Does it happen due to Ello’s passion for words and lyrics or when Oliver accepts what he feels for Ello is more real than he felt ever before?

The way the story moves, captures the drama inherent in the plot line and made appealing by how it all unfolds, is certainly worth watching on the screen. Credit to director Luca Guadagnino and screenplay writer James Ivory, the original romance becomes so much charming for the audiences.

Talking about actors, although all fit into their characters naturally and have made significant contributions to this film; however special mention has to be made of the actor who brought Ello to life. Timothée Chalamet deserves all the accolades and awards for portraying such a complex character with ease. His expressive eyes and natural acting makes Ello so realistic that, in the end when that dreaded phone call comes, we are also wiping back our tears, feeling so sorry for him.

This movie is recommended to all those hopeless romantics who believe in love, all kinds of love, just that simple, heartfelt emotion.