“I remember everything.” (Oliver to Elio, Call Me By Your Name).
Lately, I’ve been in the mood for films that give me that bittersweet feeling of summertime sadness.
Maybe it’s because the weather has been so chaotic lately, or maybe it’s just life’s little pitfalls that don’t seem to take a vacation no matter what month it is. That said, as summer is officially here, I needed a sun-soaked film — but nothing too sunny — a little bit of melancholy or conflict would be nice, to keep things interesting.
With this brief in mind, the first film that came to me was Call Me By Your Name. Honey-coloured hues in the Italian countryside + romance + a sensitive character played by Timothée Chalamet = summertime sadness. This one checks all the boxes.
From Italy I then hopped over to Greece, to reconnect with characters I fell in love with over 20 years ago, Jesse and Celine from The Before Trilogy. Driven by stimulating dialogue, this story comes from the perspective of a couple who have been together for a decade. Although it is set among olive trees, golden sunsets, deep blue waves, and vanilla-coloured architecture, this film doesn’t sugarcoat the characters’ feelings and ideas about life, love, and relationships.
Lastly, The Spectacular Now ends when summer begins, but its love story provides a relatable contrast between the hope and promise of summer, and the angst of growing up, making mistakes, and the journey of self-discovery.
I don’t mean to harsh your summer buzz — 100% happy summer movies are great too, but that’s not real. What is real is that summertime is fleeting and sometimes it doesn’t live up to our expectations past the age of say, eighteen. Call me cynical but at times, I’ve felt a little summertime sadness — and so has Lana Del Rey, so at least that’s two of us.
Read on for more about these three films. Caution: spoilers ahead.
CALL ME BY YOUR NAME (2017)
No one does anguish and longing quite like Timmy. At only twenty-eight, actor Timothée Chalamet has played roles from Paul Atreides in Dune (and Dune 2) to Willy Wonka to Lee in Bones and All, and (my favourite) Nic Sheff in Beautiful Boy. In Luca Guardagnino’s Call Me By Your Name, Timothée plays Elio, an introverted, Jewish-American seventeen-year-old boy living in 1980s Northern Italy with his family. Elio’s summer changes when Oliver (Armie Hammer), a confident, carefree twenty-four-year-old Jewish American doctoral student hired to work under Elio’s father moves in.
The film’s screenplay is based on the novel of the same name by André Aciman, and like the book, it tells a coming-of-age story that explores themes of desire, shared identity, family, and sexual self-discovery. The beautiful Italian landscape in this film is the perfect backdrop for the hot and sticky highs and lows of Elio and Oliver’s young, sensual, and fleeting summer relationship.
Where to rent: Amazon Prime, AppleTV, Google Play
You’ll like this if you like: Moonlight, Carol, Before Sunrise
Fun fact: Timothée Chalamet learned Italian and classical piano pieces for the film.
BEFORE MIDNIGHT (2013)
When Writer-Director Richard Linklater cast Ethan Hawke and Julie Delpy in 1995’s Before Sunrise, he paired two actors who fell in love with their characters and brought them to life with chemistry and banter so good that they almost seemed real. Linklater then filmed a sequel (2004’s Before Sunset) and eventually a third film, Before Midnight — which completed his now famous “Before” trilogy.
Before Midnight brings you into Jesse and Celine’s world two decades after their first meeting in Before Sunrise. Now over forty and in the thick of their careers and lives as parents, they accept an invitation to bring their children (including Jesse’s son from his first marriage) to spend the summer with a writer and his family at his villa in the Southern Peloponnese region of Greece. The film’s timeline follows Jesse and Celine over their last day and evening in Greece.
This last taste of summer vacation is both bitter and sweet. As they did the first time they met, Jesse and Celine are still discussing life and love, but the context is now less poetic and philosophical, and more rooted in the reality of their relationship. Their banter has turned slightly more bitter and hostile, but their love for each other remains. One of my favourite lines in the film is when Jesse says to Celine, “I fucked up my whole life because of the way you sing.” Underneath the bickering and the stresses that put pressure on most relationships are all the reasons they chose each other in the first place.
The end of summer seems to be a perfect time to place this third act of Jesse and Celine’s story. While the sun is setting on their warm season of rest and garden dinners by the sea, reminding them that the reality of work and school and their typical routine awaits them back at home, their love is proving it still exists, in the messy, real daily routine of life, with all the stresses, wrinkles, and grey hairs that it brings. It’s just a different kind of love.
Where to stream: Amazon Prime
Where to rent: AppleTV, Google Play, YouTube
You’ll like this if you like: Before Sunrise, Before Sunset, Boyhood, Scenes from a Marriage
Fun fact: Ethan Hawke and Julie Delpy co-wrote both the story and the screenplay with Linklater for this film. They also co-wrote Before Sunset’s screenplay.
THE SPECTACULAR NOW (2013)
Based on a novel by Tim Tharp, The Spectacular Now is not your typical coming-of-age high school film. In their senior year, leading up to the summer before college, the film’s main characters, Sutter (Miles Teller) and Aimee (Shailene Woodley) form a bond that’s both romantic and based on their shared struggles navigating their young lives. Sutter and Aimee’s contrasting personalities and perspectives on life fuel the storytelling in this film, where two intelligent teens make mistakes, fall in love and make hard choices.
There’s a realness to this movie, in large part due to the script and the excellent, naturalistic acting by Teller and Woodley. Amid scenes featuring prom dates, beach parties, school lockers, and road trips, The Spectacular Now also addresses tough subjects like addiction, codependency, death, family struggles, and self-esteem.
There’s so much hope and promise held up in that last year of high school, where it seems as if every choice you make will significantly affect everything that comes after graduation. Optimism lives inside Sutter and Aimee too, but it’s the kind that’s trying to push its way through a mass of grey clouds on a day in June when the forecast called for sun.
Where to stream: Amazon Prime
Where to rent: AppleTV, Google Play
You’ll like this if you like: Say Anything, Lady Bird, A Walk to Remember
Fun fact: Actors Kyle Chandler and Bob Odenkirk play small roles in this film, which was filmed in Athens, Georgia.
Streaming and rental sources listed are limited to the services and websites I subscribe to and/or have access to (in Canada) at the time of publishing. Feel free to search your streaming and cable services for these titles.
Your lovely descriptions are leading me to these movies with a strong pull. Thanks