Call Me By Your Name is indisputably a work of art. From its lush, sweeping cinematography to its heart-rending (and now Oscar-winning) script to its sun-soaked setting in the Italian countryside, everything about Luca Guadagnino’s coming-of-age romance is totally exquisite (and yes, we are including the film’s devastatingly photogenic stars Timothée Chalamet and Armie Hammer in that summation). Now, as new Instagram account is giving the film the painterly treatment it deserves, by overlaying its characters onto works of art by Monet.
Call Me By Monet (or @cmbynmonet) takes stills from Guadagnino’s film and drops Elio (Chalamet), Oliver (Hammer) and other characters such as the former’s mother (played by Amira Casar) and sometime girlfriend Marzia (Esther Garrel) into Monet’s vibrant landscapes, from poppy fields to cities at night. To date, the account has garnered around 28,000 followers from just 20 posts, further cementing Elio and Oliver’s status as the Internet’s favourite film couple.
The visually arresting images are the work of 22-year-old Filipino artist Mika Labrague, who details the title of each painting in her captions, alongside an appropriate quote from the film, making her posts a miniature lesson in art history.
In case you’re unfamiliar with the love story of 17-year-old Elio and 24-year-old Oliver, a crucial moment in Call Me By Your Name hinges around a reference to the Impressionist, as the pair’s first kiss happens on a visit to a spot where Monet supposedly sat to paint. The film, too, is based on the novel by André Aciman, who has spoken of being inspired by an 1884 painting by the artist, telling Elle Decoration that he used the image as the basis of his story and characters. ‘The villa in the Monet, the vision of the house. I loved the house, and I wanted to people it. I had no idea who was going to be in it,’ he said.
So aesthetically pleasing are Labrague’s designs that we’d part with good money for a hi-res print of a pensive Timothée Chalamet gazing out from Camille Monet at the Window, Argentuille, or perhaps Elio and Oliver lazing under the blue sky of The Wheat Field. We’ll let you pick your own favourites...