Call Me By Your Name ending explained: Inside Elio's heartbreak and Oliver's silence

Call Me by Your Name is full of warm sunshine and quiet moments that show what it’s like to fall in love for the first time. It quickly became a modern classic for how honestly it captures queer desire.

But what really sticks with people is its ending, a heartbreaking scene that leaves you feeling a mix of sadness, nostalgia, and a strange kind of hope. When Elio sits by the fire, lost in his thoughts as the credits roll, you’re left holding on to all the things that weren’t said out loud.

Set during a dreamy Italian summer, Luca Guadagnino’s film isn’t just a story about young love. It’s about how beautiful things can hurt when they turn into memories. It’s about how hard goodbyes can be. And it’s about the kind of heartbreak that stays with you and helps shape who you grow up to be.

What is Call Me By Your Name about?

Still from Call Me By Your Name (Image via Youtube @/Sony Pictures Classics)

Luca Guadagnino's coming-of-age film is a film adaptation of Andre Aciman's queer novel of the same name. The story follows Elio Perlman, a seventeen-year-old living with his family in Italy. Elio loves music, reads a lot, spends time with his family and friends, and basically lives a carefree life in the early 80s

Every summer, Elio's family invites a grad student over to stay with them as Mr Perlman's research assistant and in the summer in question the Perlman family hosts Oliver, a 24-year-old attractive, smart and confident young man from America. He instantly hits it off with the family and Elio helps him see around town. As they spend more and more time together, sparks begin and something romantic and sensual develops between them.

Call Me By Your Name gives a lot of time and space for their relationship to build over the summer. It is not only about the significant romantic moments, but also about the little stolen moments: sharing music, swimming in the river, and walking in the hot sun on the streets of Italy. It is in these tiny moments that the connection builds and it feels very real despite being allowed to develop slowly.

When Elio confesses about his feelings, Oliver gives in at first but later tells him that they shouldn't take things further. He starts detaching from Elio and spends more time with the other women in town. Eventually they get back together and start a romantic and passionate love affair.

However, Oliver's stay is short and as his departure nears, the Perlmans suggest that Oliver and Elio take a trip to Bergamo, where they spend three wonderful days hanging out, roaming in streets and falling in love. Eventually, Oliver has to leave.

After a tearful goodbye, Elio comes back home and spends his days in solitude and sadness. Seeing this, his father sits him down and speaks to him, telling him that the family knew of their affair and that whatever he had with Oliver was real, meaningful and far more extraordinary than he would like to admit.

At its heart, the film is not only about romance. It is about a coming of age, self-discovery and all those small moments that define who you become, full of beauty and wonder. Luca Guadagnino masterfully tells this story through visually spectacular looks, delightful acting, and a beautiful and entrancing soundtrack that sets the mood for a film that you'll not forget soon.

What happens in the ending of Call Me By Your Name?

Still from Call Me By Your Name (Image via Netflix)

The ending of Call Me By Your Name is subtle and yet carries a lot of weight. After many months have passed, Oliver calls the family during Hanukkah and speaks to everyone. He then talks to Elio as he tells him that the family knows about them.

Oliver responds and says that he had always known, given how Mr Perlman treated him almost like a son-in law. He then goes on to admit that he has been seeing a woman for some time and that he's engaged to her now and will be getting married the coming spring.

Visibly upset, Elio calls him by his name one last time, a little inside tradition that they did while they were together. Oliver reciprocates, calling him by his name, and tells him that he remembers everything.

After the phone call, the final moments see Elio crouching in front of a fireplace, his eyes damp as if trying to wash away the flood of emotions inside him. His face is lined with tears and filled with a mix of sorrow, yearning, and acceptance.

Everything about this is beautiful. This quiet, tender moment speaks volumes without the use of words. Elio is dealing with the anguish of losing Oliver, but also the beauty of everything beautiful that they shared. This scene captures the bittersweetness of first love: the joy and the heartache together, which leave us with a sense of losing something special, and a feeling of growth.

Is there a sequel to Call Me By Your Name?

Aciman's book does have a sequel that explored Elio and Oliver's future, although it has not yet made its way to the screen. Years later, Elio is now a gifted pianist and is slowly falling in love with an older man, Michel. As the two spend their days together, Elio realizes he has not yet gotten over Oliver. It's been fifteen years since their affair and he packs up to leave for the United States to reconcile with Oliver, who has left his wife after years of marriage and the two get back together.

Meanwhile Elio's father, Samuel Perlman's story also takes center stage in the novel as it explores his romance with a new, younger woman, Miranda, who he has a son with. After his death, Oliver and Elio raise him together, finally living the life that they had always dreamt of.