When Call Me By Your Name premiered in 2017, it was widely lauded for its sensual but quiet portrayal of a queer first love story. Some authors, like NPR’s Glen Weldon, remarked on how surprising it was to watch a queer love story unfold without being disrupted by a homophobic world, as we’ve come to expect from such movies. And yet, somewhere in northern Italy is not a sealed off bubble from the rest of the world. Instead the outside world permeates the story in subtler and more profound ways, making what cannot be voiced as important as what is shown onscreen.

Illustration by Sasi Tee

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