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I first saw Call Me By Your Name (2017) in 2019. I was 14 years old and was easily bored by slow-paced, atmospheric movies. However, I found myself immediately captivated by the tear-inducing soundtrack, peaceful shots of the cast lounging around the villa, and the poignant dialogue that I gain more from during each watch. Although it’s embarrassing to admit, the movie launched me into the world of internet fandom. During the pandemic, my friends and I created a Timothée Chalamet fan account on Instagram, and I made it a personal mission to watch all his other movies. Since then, I have expanded my taste in film, and Call Me By Your Name hasn’t occupied a significant place in my mind in years. However, this May, I got the opportunity to take the Call Me By Your Name tour in Crema while studying abroad. Being transported straight into the film was a magical experience, reminding me why I loved it so much.
The tour, officially titled The Elio and Oliver Love Tour, stops at various locations around and outside of Crema, offering insight into the filming process. Although it was filmed 10 years ago, the city is still able to attract hundreds of people daily during the summer. I chatted with our tour guide and one of the tour's founders, Gary Potter, about how the film remains so relevant and maintains a dedicated fanbase almost a decade later.
For those unfamiliar with the film, Call Me By Your Name is based on a book by the same name. The story centers on Elio (Timothée Chalamet), a 17-year-old staying at his family’s home “somewhere in Northern Italy.” His father is an archaeology professor, and when Oliver (Armie Hammer), a graduate student, comes to stay with them for the summer, Elio becomes infatuated with him, leading to romance and self-discovery.
Potter lives in Bergamo, a city near Crema. He first heard about Call Me By Your Name when his friends started contacting him, wondering if he had seen it. As it didn’t circulate in Italy, except for in smaller, artsy theaters, he wasn’t familiar with it. “I was getting all of these phone calls and messages from family and friends. Everyone was saying, ‘Oh my god, you live near Crema, the most beautiful place. I love the movie. I can't stop watching it,'” Potter said. When a friend told him he was going to visit, Potter wanted to familiarize himself with the film so he could properly show him around.
As an art historian, Potter was captivated by Luca Guadagnino’s direction and the symbolism present in the film.
“I know that Luca worked on it for seven or eight years, and you can see his dedication, and the effort he put into it, how everything was so meticulously planned down to every word. It just made me fall in love more with his art, and who he is, as an artist, not just a director, but an artist. You can easily see every single scene, every single action was planned. It's all part of this journey. Everything is connected. That is one of the things that I never get tired of talking about because it's so much fun.”
It took a bit of time for the Crema tourism agency to partner with the Love Tour, as they wanted to do things their own way. However, once they saw how many people the film attracted, with tourism increasing 300% due to the film and the tour, the two groups began to work together. Early on, Potter had gone on a message board for fans of the film, where he was blown away by the love people had for it. “I was doing some research online, and I realized that there were these group chats with people in the millions, all over the world, every country, every continent, it was crazy. People talking about the film, not just how much they love it and how much it affected them, but they were sharing their own stories, too, about what was happening in their lives and how the film mirrored the first time they fell in love.” He put a message on the board about the tour.
“After that, it just exploded. We've never advertised beyond that. We never had to do anything. It's just word of mouth, and it just exploded and took off.”
The tour has also expanded to an annual fan meet-up called PeachCon. During this weeklong event, visitors have extended time to soak up the beauty of each location. There is also a dance in the square, along with cooking classes, arts and crafts, and trivia.
Potter has given the tour to everyone from film students learning about the importance of location shooting to the crew of the movie returning with their families. He fondly remembers a tour group composed of four generations of women in the same family. Potter shared:
“I'm always surprised at the wonderful people it brings out. It's a love story in many, many ways. It's not just a love story between two people. It's also a love story in a family, about how parents support their children. And, on many levels, it brings out so many incredible people.”
For Potter, the hardest part of the tour is meeting and connecting with different people through the film, whom he has to say goodbye to at the end of the day, before parting ways.
“We just try and keep sharing the love as long as we can. As long as people keep watching this film and feeling the film, we're gonna keep doing it as long as we can.”
