Every single part of Call Me By Your Name comes together to create a perfect whole, but I have to admit the music might be what has stuck with me the most. Sufjan Stevens was specifically asked to write two original songs for the film, "Mystery of Love" and "Visions of Gideon," and now the former has been nominated for an Oscar and landed its own music video — just in case you hadn't cried enough tears yet.
The video itself is simple, taking a montage of clips from the movie, as well as footage taken at the Museo Archeologico Nazionale of Naples, and setting them to the song that's come to define it, but the process behind Stevens' involvement in the movie is actually somewhat complicated.
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The musician told Deadline that director Luca Guadagnino originally wanted him to narrate the film as the voice of older Elio (Timothée Chalamet) in addition to writing the music, and to perform a song on screen. However, Stevens said he thought that was a mistake, and instead agreed to write a few songs for the movie without knowing exactly what Guadagnino would do with them.
"I’ve always been resistant to work in film," he told Deadline. "I think it’s because I’m always a little suspicious of the role of music in cinema. But Luca is an exception, because he’s one of those rare directors who uses music and sound so fiercely and with such mastery that you cannot imagine the films without the music."
Stevens wasn't the only musician on set. Chalamet also had to become a master of piano in order to play his role of the precocious Elio, which required flying out to set a month and a half early to study.
"I worked with an Italian composer Robert Solci every day for the month and half leading up to the movie, and sharpened those skills up," Chalamet told Newsweek. "And it’s good, because now I have them for life. It’s a nice party trick to sit down at the piano and play Bach with a Busoni or Liszt alteration."
Watch the full music video below!